阅读理解

Guided tours at the National Museum at South Kingston

Out of Hours Titano Tours

Book a tour with one of our knowledgeable tour guides to get up close to all the main characters in our world-famous Dinosaurs gallery. You'll get to learn how dinosaurs were first discovered, how they adapted to life on Earth and why they're so important to our science today.

13:00-14:00 Weekends only.

Behind the Lens Tour

Have you ever wondered why wildlife photography can be used to make a difference to the natural world? Join our hosts for a special tour of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition and discover the stories behind the photos. We will introduce you to some surprising stories as well as the impact that these photos have had on wildlife conservation efforts.

9:00-10:00 Wednesday Friday.

Behind the Scenes Tour:Spirit Collection

Go behind the scenes with our science educators for a look at the Museum's fascinating zoology collection preserved.As we explore some of the Darwin Centre's 27 kilometers of shelves, you'll encounter treasures hidden among the 22 million animal specimens (标本)housed here.

14:00-15:00 Monday closed.

History of the Natural History Museum Tour

With stories stretching from Water house to Darwin, you'll get to journey through time and discover more about how the incredible' Cathedral of Nature' became world-famous. What's more, once the tour is finished, you will have the opportunity to visit the whole Museum at your own pace, newly equipped your behind-the-scenes knowledge.

14:00-15:00 Monday to Friday.

1. （1） What can you do on Behind the Lens Tour?

   A . Tell stories about nature. B . Dig into wildlife photography. C . Discover tips to take photos. D . Join in a group to protect wildlife.
3. （2） Which tour can you take if you go to the museum on Monday afternoon?

   A . Out of Hours Titano Tours. B . Behind The Lens Tour. C . Behind the Scenes Tour:Spirit Collection. D . History of the Natural History Museum Tour.
5. （3） In what column of the museum website could you find the text?

   A . Shop. B . Join and Support. C . What's on. D . Membership

阅读理解

The turn of the year is traditionally the time for reviewing one's life, and perhaps for making some resolutions as to what to concentrate on in the coming year; and for many years past I have taken advantage of the holiday period to review my own goal and ambition.

One thing I do decide to do this year, with some unwillingness, is to give up writing the Grumpy Old Bookman column in this magazine. It's not that I've lost interest in the book world, you understand. But Leonard Woolf, husband of writer Virginia Wool, used to say That a man should change his career every seven years. Though personally I would say that changing your whole career so often is going a bit far, I do find, during my own working life, that it acts as a great refresher if you can occasionally try a new job within the same organization or line of business.

It is in fact well over 15 years since our editor wrote to me and asked if I would be interested in writing a regular piece about what was, even then, a rapidly changing publishing scene. He approached me because since 2004 I had been writing a regular blog called, amazingly enough, Grumpy Old Bookman.

As my monthly survey of developments in both traditional and digital publishing continued, in this magazine, I began to realize that writers in this century, of both fiction and non-fiction, are living in something close to a paradise. Once, you struggled for years to find a publisher--or an agent if you wanted one--but now you can publish your own stuff, either digitally or in paperback, without it costing you a penny piece. Amazing.

After about five years of producing such columns, at just under a thousand words a time, it occurred to me that, rather than let these essays drift away on the seas of time, it might be of value to potential readers to publish my thoughts and comments in book form. Hence, in 2014, I published the first 69 GOB columns in paperback format, using Amazon's Create space facilities.Title:Writers Rejoice! monthly diary of the dawn of the digital age, which was my first trial. And now I sincerely wish a new 2022.

1. （1） Why does the author want to give up writing the column?

   A . He follows Leonard Woolf's suggestion. B . Re is very keen on trying something new. C . He is fed up with the career linked to booksD He's used to changing his job every seven years.
3. （2） According to the author, what can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

   A . It is a blessing to live in the present times. B . Publishing industry is a profitable business. C . It is rather hard to publish books nowadays. D . Now it is amazing to find a publisher easily.
5. （3） What do you think of the author?

   A . Purposeful and good at self-reflecting. B . Dedicated but easy to doubt himself. C . Emotional and good at controlling himself. D . Ambitious but reluctant to change himself.
7. （4） What does the author mainly want to tell us?

   A . Giving up timely is another virtue. B . The beginning of a year is a new start. C . Reflection can drive us to push forward. D . Changing the job means a new opportunity.

阅读理解

As a kid growing up in a suburb of London, I loved to go looking for the perfect park bench. Some Sunday mornings, my dad could be persuaded to drive to new parks. We'd have a kick-around with a soccer ball, share a bag of Dotritos and check out all the benches in the area, reading the words on them.

The good park bench leaves me in a state, somewhere between nostalgia(怀旧)and eager antic ration (一份滑稽). Where once I was excited by the words carved on wood, I now find, as a 10-year-old, that I'm more appreciative of each bench's quiet stoicism(坦然谈定), the way they are willing to wait out their tum in every weather, remaining available to all-comers. Like a good book or piece of music ,a park bench allows for a sense of solitude and community at the same time, which is crucial to life in a great city.

Part of my recession with park benches is as spaces where history settles. By planting seeds of curiosity, and making space for reflection, park benches become doors to the past. Maybe that's the greatest power of the park bench:its rapacity(贪婪)encourages the art of observation. A good bench catches us in our quietest, most vulnerable (脆弱的) moments, when we may be open to imagining new nanauves and revisiting old ones. Our masks are taken off, hung from the bench's wrought iron (锻铁). On other nearby benches,babies are being burped (打嗝). Glances exchanged. Sandwiches eaten. Newspapers read it.

Lately, I've found me sitting on a lot of cramped metal benches of the kind that don't invite you to stay long,or uneasy ones that leave you cold. That's because public seating is becoming an endangered species. Our cities are becoming more like Disneyland, which has been quietly removing public seating and replacing it with more restaurant seating. If you want a moment's rest in 2Ist-century America, you have to open your wallet.

One recent Sunday, I wandered through Central Park. To be in Central Park in what is hopefully the pandemic's twilight is to be reminded of the beauty of living in a city that still makes space for park benches in the modem cityscape.

1. （1） How did the writer lead in the topic?

   A . By describing the scene of the park. B . By introducing his childhood experience. C . By revealing his passion for London. D . By showing his father's affection for him.
3. （2） What can we learn about the writer after he grew up?

   A . He liked the feel park benches brought to him. B . He enjoyed the peace in the park very much. C . He was still crazy about the words on the bench. D . He was suffering great frustration in his 40s.
5. （3） What does the underlined word "solitude" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

   A . Achievements. B . Loss. C . Happiness. D . Privacy.
7. （4） Why is public seating becoming an endangered species?

   A . It is commercialized. B . It is usually made of metal. C . It is quite out of date. D . It is uncomfortable to sit there.

阅读理解

In the threatening trouble of climate change,growing commercial crops on solar farms is a potentially efficient use of agricultural land that can both increase commercial food production and improve solar panel performance and longevity (寿命)according to a new Comell research.

"We now have, for the first time, a physics-based tool to estimate the costs and benefits of co-locating solar panels and commercial agriculture in terms of increased power conversion efficiency and solar-panel longevity," said lead author Henry Williams,a doctoral student in Comell Engineering.

"There is potential for agrivoltaic(农业光伏)systems where agriculture and solar panels coexist to provide increased passive cooling through taller panel heights, more reflective ground cover and higher evapotranspiration (蒸散)rates compared to traditional solar farms," said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "We can generate renewable electricity and conserve farmland through agrivoltaic systems." In New York, for example, about 40% of solar farm capacity has been developed on agricultural lands, while about 84% of land suitable for solar development is agricultural, according to a previous research study from Zhang's group.

The engineers showed that solar panels mounted over vegetation reveal surface temperature drops compared to those built over bare ground. Solar panels were mounted 4 meters above a cotton crop and the solar panels showed temperature reductions by up to 10 degrees Celsius, compared with those mounted a half-meter above bare soil.

"As you decrease the solar panel operating temperature, you can increase efficiency and improve the longevity of your solar panels," said Williams, "We're showing double benefits. On one hand, you have food production for farmers, and on the other hand, we've shown improved longevity and improved conversion efficiency for solar developers."

"Up to this point, most of the benefits from agrivoltaic systems have been around areas with abundant sunshine," said Zhang, "This research is taking a step toward evaluating the application of agrivoltaics in climates representative of the Northeastern U.S. in relaxing the land-use competition it faces."

1. （1） What does the new Comell research convey?

   A . Growing commercial crops can relieve climate change. B . It's costly to improve solar panel performance and longevity. C . Commercial agriculture can increase power conversion efficiency. D . The coexistence of solar panels and commercial crops is mutually beneficial.
3. （2） Why does the author list the figures in Paragraph 3?

   A . To show the promising future of agrivoltaics. B . To indicate the lack of solar farms in New York.

   C To tell agricultural lands are based on solar farmsD.To demonstrate agncultural farms are more developed.

5. （3） What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

   A . The Northeastern US is rich in agricultural lands.
   B . Hot climate zones are ideal for developing agrivoltaics. C . The research made a breakthrough in land-use competition. D . The application of agrivoltaics in Northeastern US proved practical.
7. （4） Which is a suitable title for the text?

   A . Approaches to Tackling World Climate Change B . Methods of Increasing Agricultural Production C . Agrivoltaics Have Been Well Received in the US D . Growing Crops at Solar Farms Generates Higher Efficiency

阅读下面短文，从知文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Once upon a time, we were all question-asking experts. We started asking our parents numerous questions as kids.By preschool, our inquires even reached the depths of science, philosophy, and the social order. Where does the sun goat night? Why doesn't that man have a home like we do? Why do rocks sink but ice floats? .

Why does the child's urge to ask questions grow inactive in so many adults? An important factor is how the social environments surrounding us change as we age. Schools transform from a place for asking questions to one funded by our ability to answer them. And we recognize that society rewards the people who propose to have the answers.

. We can be braver about asking questions in public and encouraging others to pursue their curiosity, too. In that encouragement, we help create an environment where those around us feel safe to ask questions.

When it comes to how we phrase questions, we are advised to open with less sensitive questions, favor follow-up questions, and keep questions open-ended. We can also practice asking questions of and for ourselves by keeping a running list of questions in a journal. Finally, we could set aside time to ask absurd questions like "How would you accomplish a week's work in two hours?" This type of questions forces us to break the boundaries of our comfort zone.

In the world that does not look much as it did years ago, we must ask questions. Great questions can open up our capacity to change because they allow us to draw people in, opening them up to sharing knowledge, ideas, and opinions. And they are also our primary means of learning about the world. In short, asking questions is the best way to deepen our understanding of the things that matter to our life. As any child could probably tell us if we asked.

A.Then, at some point,our inquiring desires disappear.

B.It is a high-payoff behavior especially in times of change.

C.The questions we ask depend on our attitudes as well as the situations.

D.But as we grow up,asking questions fills us with worry and self-doubt.

E.As such, one way to renew our inquiring spirit is to change the atmosphere.

F.We learn to sell ourselves on the job market by what we know, not what we don't

G.It not only removes the publicity from question asking, but offers us a place to experiment.

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

Steph Clemence always intended to go to college. 1 when her father died in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters on a2 income, paying for college became out of the question.

3 going to college, Steph found a job, and tried to4 what to do with a life so different from her plan. The 5 came from two pages from her English teacher, Dorothy Clark. One afternoon she walked into the classroom carrying a stack of papers titled "Mrs.Clark's Book List." It wasn't homework, the teacher announced, but it could be a road 6 . "Some of you might not go on to higher education," Mrs. Clark said, "but you can7 to learn."

"I was determined to8 myself," Steph says. She studied the9 and so it began. Each of those books sparked her10 to learn more. "Reading books is like a treasure hunt," says Steph. "What am I going to11 . How will my heart change?" That made her look for other books that weren't on the list, hoping to12 her knowledge.

When the original list13 , she typed up a new copy. And then another. Over the years, the family moved around a lot. Through it all, the reading list was a constant in Steph's life, traveling with her14 on vacations. Now Steph is 70, and she never did get to college. But she has only four books15 to read from the list. She expects to complete them sometime in 2023.

阅读下而材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或所给单词的正确形式。

Exploring the moon is a dream that we Chinese have been pursuing for ages, and we are proud of the  (achieve)in the past decade.

On Dec 2, 2013, as key part of the second step of the three-phase lunar probe (探测)projects, China started the Chang'e 3 mission to explore the moan. After about 12 days of fight, the Chang'e 3 probe (success) soft-landed on the til, becoming first Chinese spacecraft on the moon. And China is the first country (reach) this goal in nearly four decades. It then released the first Chinese lunar rover, Yutu, which worked there for nearly 1,000 days, until July 2016.

On Dec 8, 2018, China launched its fourth lunar probe, Chang'e 4, toward the far side of the moon,  always faces away from Earth. Twenty six days into its journey, the unmanned spacecraft made a soft-landing in the south basin, (start)mankind's first close observation of the moon's little-known far side. The mission score component--the Yutu 2 rover--(work)on the moon for nearly 1,400 days so far, (long)than any other rover of all time.

On Nov 24, 2020, the Chang'e 5 robotic mission (launch)from Wenchang and landed on the moon on Dec 1. The mission brought 1,731 grams of lunar rocks and soil back Earth on Dec 17. The 23-day mission made China the third county that has retrieved(带回)lunar sample.

第一节假如你是杭州光明国际学校学生会主席李华，随着亚运会的成功举办和圆满结束，借着亚运会的余辉，本着"传承亚运精神、发扬亚运精神"，你所在城市开展了"全民健身运动 (National Fitness Program)"。请你代表学生会，给全校学生写一份倡议书，呼吁大家积极参与活动，内容包括：1.发起建议：2.具体做法：3.活动意义。

注意：1，写作词数应为80左右：2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入词数，可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯，3.请按如下格式在答思卡的相应位置作容，

Dear fellow students,

With the successful holding and complete conclusion of the Asian Games,the National Fitness Program is proceeding with full vigor in our city. 

After all, the greatest wealth is health.

The Student Union

第二节阅读下面材科，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一筒完整的短文。

Flora and her dad were going to move to a new house. Friday, a truck would come for the furniture. Then the next week, workers would dig up the yard. Where Flora and Papi had grown flowers, the workers would put in a parking lot.

"Our poor flowers," Flora sighed to herself, looking at the bright purple blooms and soft and green weed coming out of the soil. She sat outside, selling things she didn't want to take to the new house. Beside her hung a sign that said "Yard Sale". Her yard sale was the first one of the year on Apple Street and several of her neighbors had come over to have a look.

Papi came out. He held a dish piled high with nuts. "Here's a snack for everyone," he said. Flora's dad loved sharing things. Most of all he loved sharing jokes.He smiled when he saw Flora's sign and winked(眨眼)at the customers gathered around.

"Yard sale? What are you selling yards of? Or meters of?" he asked. "Ribbons? Carpet? Cloth? Where's your ruler?"

"Not that kind of yard," joked Mrs. Ciro. "It must be this nice grassy yard we're standing on that's for sale."

"How much for the weed by your sign?" asked Mr. Johnson, joking.

Flora gave no response. She didn't think their jokes were funny. She felt extremely in low spirits at the thought that the lovely yard was already sold, and soon their poor flowers and weed would be ruined." Deader than a doorknob, "Papi's papi would say", she thought to herself bitterly, "What's worse, the new house doesn't have any flowers at all."

With a sigh, Flora dug her heels deep into the grass. But when she felt the soft earth move under her heels, she knew what she could do.

She whispered her clever plan to Papi. He nodded, smiling, and sat down in her seat instead.

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Flora fetched old flowerpots and found a trowel(园艺铲)to dig with. 

Now she was ready for selling the yard and joking with customers.