第二部分 阅读（共两节，满分50分）
第一节 （共15小题；每小题2.5分，满分37.5分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。
A
Family-Friendly Events in January
ZooLights: Glow Wild Jan. 1–19
The Phoenix Zoo’s yearly holiday light show is on until Jan. 19, allowing families one or more opportunities to enjoy the city’s zoo, with millions of lights giving an added dimension to the festivities.
Glow Wild, 455 N. Galvin Pkwy., Phoenix, phoenixzoo.org, $11.95 members, $13.95 general admission.
Downtown Mesa Festival of the Arts Jan. 4–18
The Downtown Mesa Festival of the Arts features the work of established and emerging artists, including those who create woodwork, metal crafts, food items, art, photography and gifts.
On Macdonald, off of Main Street in Downtown Mesa, dtmesafest.com, free admission.
Family Fun Winterfest Jan. 4
OdySea Aquarium in the Desert is hosting the third annual Family Fun Winterfest in its Desert Courtyard, featuring real snow for the kids to play in. This free event features everything from bounce houses to rides, games, snowflake crafts and face painting to go with various stands set up by local sellers, with food and other offerings for sale at the event.
9500 E. Via de Ventura, Scottsdale, odyseainthedesert.com, free.
Youth Fine Arts Course Jan. 18–Mar. 7
Mesa Arts Center is hosting an eight-week youth arts course on Saturdays to teach artistic skills and knowledge through fun and challenging art classes in a wide variety of art materials, including painting, drawing, mixed media and sculpture, ensuring mentally stimulating sessions for all.
Mesa Art Center, 1 E. Main St., Mesa, mesaartscenter.com, $93.
21. How can you get a discounted ticket to the ZooLights show?
A. Bring a friend. B. Get a membership.
C. Join a tour group. D. Book a ticket online.
22. What can you do at Family Fun Winterfest?
A. Have free food. B. Enjoy real snow.
C. Take art classes. D. Meet local artists.
23. Which event lasts the longest?
A. ZooLights: Glow Wild. B. Downtown Mesa Festival of the Arts.
C. Family Fun Winterfest. D. Youth Fine Arts Courses.
B
As a young girl growing up in France, Sarah Toumi dreamed of becoming a leader who could make the world a better place. Her passion to help others was awakened when, from the age of nine, she accompanied her Tunisian father to his birthplace in the east of the country during holidays. There she organized homework clubs and activities for children.
Toumi witnessed first-hand the destructive effect of desertification. “Within 10 years rich farmers became worse off, and in 10 years from now they will be poor. I wanted to stop the Sahara Desert in its tracks.” A decrease in average rainfall and an increase in the severity of droughts (干旱) have led to an estimated 75 per cent of Tunisia’s agricultural lands being threatened by desertification.
Toumi recognized that farming practices needed to change. She is confident that small land areas can bring large returns if farmers are able to adapt by planting sustainable crops, using new technologies for water treatment and focusing on natural products and fertilisers (肥料) rather than chemicals.
In 2012, Toumi consolidated her dream to fight the desert. She moved to Tunisia, and set up a programme named Acacias for All to put her sustainable farming philosophy into action. “I want to show young people in rural areas that they can create opportunities where they are. Nobody is better able to understand the impact of desertification and climate change than somebody who is living with no access to water.”
By September 2016, more than 130,000 acacia trees had been planted on 20 pilot farms, with farmers recording a 60 per cent survival rate. Toumi estimates that some 3 million acacia trees are needed to protect Tunisia’s farmland. She expects to plant 1 million trees by 2018. In the next couple of years, Toumi hopes to extend the programme to Algeria and Morocco.
24. How did Toumi’s holiday trips to Tunisia influence her?
A. They made her decide to leave the country.
B. They helped her better understand her father.
C. They fired her enthusiasm for helping others.
D. They destroyed her dream of being a teacher.
25. What is the main cause of the desertification of Tunisia’s farmland?
A. Low rainfall. B. Soil pollution.
C. Cold weather. D. Forest damage.
26. Why did Toumi set up Acacias for All in Tunisia?
A. To create job opportunities for young people.
B. To help the children obtain a basic education.
C. To persuade the farmers not to use fertilizers.
D. To facilitate the protection of their farmland.
27. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Saving Water in Tunisia B. Planting Trees of Native Species
C. Holding back the Sahara D. Fighting Poverty in North Africa
C
For years, David James, who studies insects at Washington State University, had wanted to examine the migration (迁徙) patterns of West Coast monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶). The route the butterflies travel has been hardly known because the populations are too small to follow. For every 200 monarchs tagged (打标签) by a researcher, only one is usually recovered at the end of its trip, James says, and finding even 200 in the wild to tag is unlikely. Knowing the route is vital to conservation efforts, but James had no way to figure it out – until he got a phone call from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The prison was looking for new activities to improve the mental health of those serving long-term sentences. So James began working with prisoners to raise monarchs through the whole process of their transformation. The adult insects were then tagged and released from the prison. Over five years, nearly 10,000 monarchs flew from the facility. Elsewhere in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, researchers released another few thousand.
The tags included email addresses, and soon after the first butterflies took off, James started receiving messages from people who had spotted them. The butterflies, the reports confirmed, wintered in coastal California. Twelve of them landed at Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz. Several more headed to Bolinas and Morro Bay.
The work helps researchers identify ideal places to plant milkweed and other vegetation that are important to the life cycle of West Coast monarch butterflies. It also brought out the gentler side of some of the prisoners. “They were very worried that they were going to harm the butterflies,” James says. Watching the monarch change their form also touched the men. “This butterfly changed,” James recalls prisoners telling him, “and maybe we can too.”
28. What was hard for David to do in his study?
A. Gain financial support. B. Hire qualified workers.
C. Build a new laboratory. D. Find enough monarchs.
29. Why are the butterflies tagged before being released?
A. To guarantee their safety. B. To enable them to fly longer distances.
C. To track their travel routes. D. To distinguish them from other species.
30. What makes the prisoners feel that they can change?
A. The patience the butterflies showed. B. The hardship the butterflies underwent.
C. The transformation of the butterflies. D. The devotion of James to the butterflies.
31. What is the last paragraph mainly about?
A. The impact of the research. B. The findings of James’ study.
C. The release of the prisoners. D. The life cycle of the butterflies.
D
We all know that unpleasant feeling when we’re talking about something interesting and halfway through our sentence we’re interrupted. But was that really an interruption? The answer depends on whom you ask, according to new research led by Katherine Hilton from Stanford University.
Using a set of controlled audio clips (录音片段), Hilton surveyed 5,000 American English speakers to better understand what affects people’s perceptions of interruptions. She had participants listen to audio clips and then answer questions about whether the speakers seemed to be friendly and engaged, listening to one another, or trying to interrupt.
Hilton found that American English speakers have different conversational styles. She identified two distinct groups: high and low intensity speakers. High intensity speakers are generally uncomfortable with moments of silence in conversation and consider talking at the same time a sign of engagement. Low intensity speakers find it rude to talk at the same time and prefer people speak one after another in conversation.
The differences in conversational styles became evident when participants listened to audio clips in which two people spoke at the same time but were agreeing with each other and stayed on topic, Hilton said. The high intensity group reported that conversations where people spoke at the same time when expressing agreement were not interruptive but engaged and friendlier than the conversations with moments of silence in between speaking turns. In contrast, the low intensity group perceived any amount of simultaneous (同时) chat as a rude interruption, regardless of what the speakers were saying.
“People care about being interrupted, and those small interruptions can have a massive effect on the overall communication,” Hilton said. “Breaking apart what an interruption means is essential if we want to understand how humans interact with each other.”
32. What does Hilton’s research focus on?
A. What interruptions mean to people. B. Whether interruption is good or not.
C. How to avoid getting interrupted. D. Why speakers interrupt each other.
33. What do participants of the study need to do?
A. Record an audio clip. B. Answer some questions.
C. Listen to one another. D. Have a chat with a friend.
34. What do low intensity speakers think of simultaneous chat?
A. It’s important. B. It’s interesting. C. It’s inefficient. D. It’s impolite.
35. What can we learn from Hilton’s research?
A. Human interaction is complex. B. Communication is the basis of life.
C. Interruptions promote thinking. D. Language barriers will always exist.
第二节 （共5小题；每小题2.5分，满分12.5分）
阅读下面短文，从短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。
There has been a very serious decline in the numbers of shallow-water fish as a result of overfishing. People still want to eat fish, so the fishing industry must look at other sources, especially the deep waters of the Atlantic. 36
Conservation measures will have to be put in place if these deep-sea fish are to survive. Research on five such species shows that numbers have declined by between 87 percent and 98 percent. 37 Many species could well disappear completely if the present trend continues. These are species that have been swimming in our oceans for hundreds of millions of years.
The problem is emphasised by the fact that the decline in numbers happened in less than twenty years. Deep-sea fish take a long time to reproduce and normally live for many years.
38 The average size of such fish also declined, with one species showing a 57 percent decline in average size. This is of particular concern, as large fish tend to produce more offspring than small ones.
39 The deep-sea species have been caught as if they were the fast-breeding (快速繁殖) fish like sardine and herring. It is like killing elephants as if they reproduced at the same rate as rabbits.
The damage done by overfishing goes beyond the sea environment. Millions of people make a living in the fishing industry. 40 Measures must be taken to not only conserve ecosystems, but also sustain livelihoods and ensure food security.
A. Billions of people rely on fish for protein.
B. Many people now choose not to eat deep-sea fish.
C. Unfortunately, their reproduction rate is very low.
D. This puts them in the category of “critically endangered”.
E. None of these facts has been taken into account by the fishing industry.
F. Overfishing is a major cause of decline in populations of ocean wildlife.
G. This has resulted in a sharp decline in the numbers of many of the species caught.
第三部分 语言运用（共两节，满分30分）
第一节 （共15小题；每小题1分，满分15分）
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。
Dr. Smith of New York works at a center for children who can’t learn well. One day a father brought his son to him for 41 at his office.
The father told Dr. Smith about his son. “My son has 42 in learning and can’t even play baseball. He isn’t doing well because he doesn’t try. I have done everything for him. I have even shouted at him. But nothing 43 .”
After Dr. Smith tested the boy, he 44 his father. He asked the father to sit in front of a 45 and then gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. There was a 46 on the paper. He asked the father to look only in the mirror and 47 the lines of the star with the pencil. The father made the same 48 anyone makes. Every time he 49 the pencil, it went the wrong way. The father’s face became red.
At this 50 the doctor shouted at him, “Hurry up! Why are you 51 so long? You can’t do such an 52 thing! You don’t know left from right!” These 53 made the father very angry.
“Now you can 54 , can’t you?” The doctor said to him. “Your son has felt just like that all the time. You scolded (训斥) him too often, so he didn’t try any more. He was afraid of making mistakes.”
55 the father understood everything. He put his face down. Now he felt so sorry.
41. A. testing B. acting C. teaching D. playing
42. A. confidence B. interest C. experience D. difficulty
43. A. returns B. helps C. appears D. remains
44. A. waited for B. searched for C. believed in D. called in
45. A. mirror B. television C. painting D. desk
46. A. face B. line C. number D. star
47. A. remove B. follow C. cross D. cut
48. A. decisions B. choices C. mistakes D. patterns
49. A. touched B. dropped C. moved D. sharpened
50. A. speed B. corner C. end D. point
51. A. staying B. taking C. preparing D. writing
52. A. easy B. important C. obvious D. exciting
53. A. ideas B. words C. questions D. instructions
54. A. relax B. leave C. understand D. promise
55. A. Interestingly B. Absolutely C. Suddenly D. Unfortunately
第二节 （共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The government has awarded $5 million to three different local nonprofit organizations. The money will 56 (distribute) over a four-year period and is aimed at helping approximately 1,000 homeless people in the county of Arvada.
One agency, 57 (base) in Woodbridge, is expected 58 (receive) $1.5 million. The agency director says that they will focus their resources on 59 (educate) the homeless. “We will probably build another school-home with this money,” he said. “A school-home is exactly 60 it sounds like. It is a school and a home. We have already built four school-homes throughout the county. We get the homeless off the street, 61
we educate them so they don’t have to return to the street. We teach them how to be gardeners, painters, carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, and air-conditioning repairmen.
“You wouldn’t believe 62 success that we have had. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, our office air-conditioning went out. My secretary called a repairman. To our surprise, the repairman 63 (be) one of our first homeless students. He now owns his own air-conditioning business, plus two houses, two cars and a boat! He has a dozen employees. He’s doing better than I am. He fixed our air-conditioning 64 free. I think I might sign up for the air-conditioning class 65 (I).”
第四部分 写作（共两节，满分40分）【参考范文略】
第一节 （满分15分）
你刚观看了你校与英国一所友好学校联合在线上举办的音乐会。请在线上留言板上写一则评论，内容包括：
1．音乐会特点；
2．观看感受；
3．意见建议。
注意：
1．写作词数应为80左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
This online concert is absolutely fantastic.
第二节 （满分25分）
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
My husband and I enjoy seeing life through the eyes of our children. It’s amazing to watch as they discover their world.
While we were outdoors last summer enjoying the sunshine, our oldest daughter, Kaytlin, called me to the doorway. Beneath the steps was a baby red squirrel.
We watched it from a distance, not wanting to disturb it or scare off its mother. But after a long wait – and looking all around our house for signs of a nest or a mother – we realized the tiny squirrel was lost.
Shaking terribly, he was weak, thin, and hungry. We tried to find an expert to help, but the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website showed that there were no wildlife experts in our area. After some quick research, we concluded that the best way to give the squirrel a fighting chance was to care for him ourselves. So a trip to the local store for milk and supplies was in order.
More research taught us how much to feed him, how to estimate his age, how and when to wean (断奶) him, and that we should let him go as soon as he could survive on his own.
Our daughters and I took turns in feeding “Squirt.” Kaytlin took on the most responsibility. She taught him to eat from a bottle, and she woke in the night for his feeds.
To our relief, Squirt soon became healthy and strong. Within a few weeks he became more active. He would chatter (吱吱叫) for his next meal, playfully go around the girls, and lie down on them for sleep. It wasn’t long before he was weaned onto solid food and reintroduced to the wild.
His first few visits to the great outdoors were funny. Just like a child, he would play in the grass some and then run back to Kaytlin for safety. Soon she had him climbing trees and finding nest material.
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。
One day in the trees, Squirt met up with a family of gray squirrels.
One night, Squirt didn’t come back to our house and it rained hard.
,
