宁波2025-2026学年第二学期期末教学质量检测试题(卷)高一英语

一、单项选择（共25题，共 125分）

1、________ is known to us, there is a close connection between smog and pollution.

A．It

B．Which

C．There

D．As

2、I am interested in_________ you have improved your spoken English in such a short time.

A.how B.which C.when D.if

3、—The light in the office is still on.

— Oh I forgot _______.

A.turning it off B.turn it off C.to turn it off D.having turned it off

4、I think that Han Meimei in Class 9 ________ her sister in appearance but not in character.

A. looks B. compares

C. resembles D. equals

5、The government has taken some measures to solve the shortage of electricity , but it may be some time _________the situation improves.

A. since B. when

C. before D. unless

6、Writing stories and articles _____what I enjoy most.

A.is B.are C.was D.were

7、________ good, the food was sold out soon.

A．Tasting

B．Tasted

C．Being tasted

D．Taste

8、We had a long way to go, and the snowstorm ________ our difficulties.

A.referred to B.added to

C.belonged to D.turned to

9、Luckily, the weather ______ sometime after lunch and we headed for the school.

A. turned up B. ended up

C. cleared up D. came up

10、On her son's arrival, she ______ her son's face as if she hadn't seen him for years.

A.noticed B.looked at C.scanned D.saw

11、Many young people in the west are expected to leave ________ could be life’s most important decision—marriage—almost entirely up to luck.

A．as B．that C．which D．What

12、The _____ of the trees in the water was very clear.

A．mirror

B．sight

C．reflection

D．shadow

13、“How could you treat me like that?” John asked his wife, eyeing her angrily from _______ the kitchen table.

A. at B. across C. through D. on

14、The Marvel (漫威) Cinematic Universe or MCU for short is the shared place ________ all 22 films featuring the comic book characters are set.

A．which

B．that

C．when

D．where

15、This writing is so confusing that it’s difficult to ________ what he is trying to express.

A.leave room for B.mistake for C.make out D.live through

16、In the process of getting rid of racial________,the USA is left far behind.

A.discrimination B.compromise C.substitute D.disadvantage

17、The secretary made a note of it _____ she should forget.

A.in order that B.in case

C.so that D.ever when

18、Scientists are hoping for a ____________ in the search for a cure for cancer.

A. reputation B. breakthrough

C. civilization D. sensation

19、The boy lost in the desert felt___________ as he couldn't tell the right direction.

A.desperate B.thrilled C.dynamic D.clumsy

20、Some of the material presented may not be ______ to you or your circumstances.

A. parallel B. similar

C. relevant D. optional

21、Many graduates, fresh out of university, often fail to find their ideal jobs where _______ work experience is usually required.

A．relevant

B．rough

C．severe

D．scientific

22、--- Does the young man _____ the company?

--- No, the company is _____ his father.

A. in possession of; in the possession of B. have possession of; in the possession of

C. take possession of; in possession of D. have possession of; in possession of

23、Word came ___ some American guests would visit our school .

A.whether B.that C.as D.how

24、—Were you worried about your son last night?

—Yes. It was________that I went to bed.

A.until he returned B.until he did return

C.not until he returned D.not until did he return

25、Balance in the body was said to be at the heart of _________ made traditional Chinese therapy so effective.

A.which B.that C.who D.what

二、阅读理解（共4题，共 20分）

26、When you’re meeting someone for the first time, you’re eager to make a good impression. Your body language can make a great difference.

★ Shake hands firmly

Weak handshakes can make you seem shy and anything but confident. 【1】 You won’t impress anyone by giving them a painful hand.

★ 【2】

Stand up straight, but don’t tighten up, or you may look nervous. Make sure to check your posture and straighten up as needed.

★ Keep a suitable amount of eye contact

【3】. Not only are you paying attention, but you’re interested as well. Whenever there is a natural pause in the conversation, feel free to casually glance at something else. Eye contact is good, but nonstop staring can be a little unsettling!

★ Nod and smile when appropriate

Try nodding three times to show that you’re really absorbing what he is saying. When it comes to smiling, 【4】! If you turn up the corners of your mouth but your eyes remain neutral (无感情的), you could leave a bad impression.

★ Laugh genuinely

Even if you’re in a formal setting, if he has clearly said something that was intended to encourage a laugh, laugh! Show him that you have a sense of humor, and you’re listening to what he is saying. 【5】, laughter is a great way to help you look cheerful.

A．Keep your posture relaxed

B．make sure it reaches your eyes

C．keep your feet close together

D．This applies to both sitting and standing

E．If you’re in a worrying or nervous situation

F．Your handshake should be firm but not too tight

G．It is important to keep eye contact in a conversation

27、Purchasing groceries online has typically been seen as a convenient way to shop for food without having to put on pants. But according to a recent study, shopping in your underwear may also benefit the environment.

According to the study, conducted by University of Washington engineers, grocery delivery services can cut carbon emissions (排放) in half, and possibly more. The reasoning is fairly straightforward: Packed trucks can provide groceries to many people in a single trip, thus removing many cars from the road. “A lot of times people think they have to inconvenience themselves to be greener, and that actually isn't the case here,” said Anne Goodchild, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering who worked on the study. “From an environmental perspective, grocery delivery services overwhelmingly can provide emissions reductions.'

By surveying Seattle residents about their grocery purchasing habits and analyzing the data they collected, the researchers determined that delivery trucks produced 20 to 75 percent less CO2 than the cars that would otherwise have been used to get groceries.

Why the difference The reductions were maximized in denser places, or when companies plotted efficient delivery routes that allowed them to hit many homes in one go. The difference between taking efficient routes versus a more random approach accounted for up to a 90 percent reduction in CO2 emissions alone, the study found.

“Indeed, it is not he delivery service that's green so much as it is the city itself,” says TIME'S Bryan Walsh. “The population density of Brooklyn is over 3400 per 8quare mile compared with a little less than 90 people per square mile for the U.S. as a whole. It can't be said enough: The greenest thing any of us can do is live in dense cities or at the very least, support policies that enable greater population density”.

【1】Why is purchasing groceries online environmentally friendly?

A．Because it saves people the trouble of putting on pants.

B．Because groceries are provided to many people in one go.

C．Because it makes people prefer living in a dense city.

D．Because people have to be inconvenienced to be greener.

【2】What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Why companies plot different delivery routes.

B．Why emission reductions rate differs so greatly.

C．Why less cars have been used to get groceries.

D．Why the population density of city is so different.

【3】Which of the following may be a greener way of life?

A．Driving your own car.

B．Shopping in your outwear.

C．Living in urban areas.

D．Inconveniencing yourself.

28、 The Alpha Go program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become.

But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically—can they be honest and fair?

One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to avoid hitting a child running across the road, even if that will put their passengers at risk? What about making a sudden turn to avoid a dog? What if the only risk is damage to the car itself, no to the passengers?

Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelliger beings. Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.

About the same time as AlphaGo’s victory, Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ took a bad turn. The software, named Taylor, was designed to answer messages from people aged 18-24. Taylor was supposed to be able to learn from the messages she received. She was designed to slowly improve her ability to handle conversations, but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she started saying nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.

Alpha Go’s victory and Taylor’s defeat happened at about the same time. This should be a warning to us. It is one thing to use AI within a game with clear rules and clear goals. It is something very different to use AI in the real world. The unpredictability of the real world may bring to the surface a troubling software problem.

Eric Schmidt is one of the bosses of Google, which own AlphaGo. He thinks AI will be positive for humans. He said people will be the winner, whatever the outcome. Advances in AI will make human beings smarter, more able and “just better human beings.”

【1】What does the author want to show with the example of AlphaGo’s victory?

A.Computers will win human beings.

B.Computers have unmatched potential.

C.Computers are man’s potential opponents (对手).

D.Computers can become highly intelligent.

【2】What is said to be the bigger challenge facing humans in the AI age?

A.How to make super-intelligent AI machines share human feelings.

B.How to ensure that super-intelligent AI machines act ethically.

C.How to prevent AI machines doing harm to humans.

D.How to avoid being over-dependent on AI machines.

【3】What do we learn about Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ Taylor?

A.She could not distinguish good from bad.

B.She could turn herself off when necessary.

C.She was not made to handle strange situations.

D.She was good at performing routine tasks.

【4】What does Eric Schmidt think of artificial intelligence?

A.It will be far superior to human beings.

B.It will keep improving as time goes by.

C.It will prove to be valuable to human beings.

D.It will be here to stay whatever the outcome.

29、 I took a motor rickshaw to the train station in the city of Belapur. The driver didn't speak much English, but understood "Belapur Railway Station”. I had my tabla, a traditional drum from India, my suitcase with my clothes and other essentials. The feeling of flying by cars in this little machine is: as if you are inside a box with tiny wheels, dashing through terrible traffic.

I arrived at the station safely, and took a heavy breath as I unloaded my baggage before the ticket office. It was the first time that I had taken a train in India. I wanted to go to Tilak Nagar, where I was going to learn traditional vocal music. Standing in line, I counted at least 20 people staring at me. I bought my ticket, which was only 55 cents for a 20-minute train ride. The prices still blow me away.

When the train came after 15 minutes or so, I got on with all speed, as the train only stop for a few seconds. The locals again stared at me. This was a train especially for local transport

After a while, a young man asked me if he could talk to me. He wanted to know if I was in a band. I stated no, but I love to play the tabla. Through the conversation I knew he was a student of engineering with his exams being tomorrow--I wished him good luck for the exam sincerely, as I know what it means to Indian students to get good marks on their exams. If students do not get good enough scores, job opportunities will be few in a highly-competitive environment.

The student I met helped me unload my luggage as the train reached Tilak Nagar Station. He shook my hand strongly and looked into my eyes with marks of genuine care and friendship, despite us meeting for only 20 minutes.

【1】Which word can best describe the motor rickshaw?

A.fast B.comfortable

C.safe D.slow

【2】Why did so many people stare at the author at the station?

A.Because he was carrying a strange instrument.

B.Because his suitcase was too large for him.

C.Because he was a foreigner to the local people.

D.Because he couldn't understand what they said.

【3】What do we know about the young man mentioned in the passage?

A.He wanted to learn to play tabla from the author.

B.He was a student on the way to a university.

C.He was a genuine and helpful university student.

D.He wished to find a job in Tilak Nagar.

【4】What can be the best title for the text?

A.Traveling Is the Most Memorial Time B.A Warm-hearted Indian Student I Met

C.I Learn to Play the Tabla in India D.My First Train Travel in India

三、完形填空（共4题，共 20分）

30、Within a minute’s walk of my house there was a wild stretch of unspoiled woodland, where there were blackberry plants, squirrels and their young. I _________ walked in this park with Rex --- a friendly, harmless little dog; and _______ we rarely met anyone in the park, I took Rex along without a leash(狗绳).

One day we met a mounted policeman in the park, a policeman eager to show his _______.

“What do you mean by letting that dog run _______ in the park without a leash and a muzzle(口套)?” he shouted at me angrily. “Don’t you know it’s against the law?”

“Yes, I know it is,” I replied softly, “but I didn’t think he would do any _______ out here.

“You didn’t think! You didn’t think! The law doesn’t know about what you think. That dog _______ kill a squirrel or bite a child. Now, I’m going to _______ this time; but if I catch this dog out here again without a leash, you’ll have to tell it to the _________.”

I humbly _________ to obey.

And I did obey --- for a few times. But Rex didn’t like the muzzle, and neither did I; so we decided to take a __________. Everything was lovely for a while, and then we got into ________. Rex and I raced over the hill one afternoon and there, suddenly --- to my __________ --- I saw the majesty of the law, riding on a horse. Rex was out in a front, heading straight for the officer.

I was in for it. I knew it. So I didn’t ________ until the policeman started talking, I beat him to it. I said: “ Officer, you’ve caught me ________. I’m guilty. I have no alibis, no excuses. You ________ me last week that if I brought the dog out here again without a muzzle you would fine me.”

“Well, now,” the policeman responded in a soft tone, “I know it’s a ________ to let a little dog like that have a run out here when nobody is around.”

“Sure it is,” I replied, “____________ it is against the law.”

“Well, a little dog like that isn’t going to harm anybody,” the policeman protested.

“No, but he may kill __________,” I said.

“Well now, I think you are taking this a bit too seriously,” he told me.

“I’ll tell you what you do. You just let him run over the hill there where I can’t see him --- and we’ll forget all about it.”

That policeman, being human, wanted a feeling of ________; so when I began to condemn myself, the only way he could nourish his self-esteem was to take the kind and generous attitude showing __________.

【1】

A．seldom

B．sometimes

C．frequently

D．never

【2】

A．when

B．since

C．if

D．while

【3】

A．authority

B．force

C．magic

D．dignity

【4】

A．loose

B．freely

C．wildly

D．quickly

【5】

A．wrong

B．damage

C．good

D．harm

【6】

A．can

B．might

C．will

D．must

【7】

A．give you up

B．let you off

C．give in to you

D．put up with you

【8】

A．owner

B．policeman

C．judge

D．children

【9】

A．listened

B．promised

C．agreed

D．kept

【10】

A．change

B．chance

C．charge

D．cheat

【11】

A．trap

B．difficulty

C．trouble

D．shape

【12】

A．disappointment

B．surprise

C．joy

D．regret

【13】

A．wait

B．move

C．say

D．walk

【14】

A．on the scene

B．blue-blooded

C．in spot

D．red-handed

【15】

A．warned

B．told

C．informed

D．taught

【16】

A．appeal

B．temptation

C．urge

D．crime

【17】

A．and

B．so

C．but

D．because

【18】

A．blackberry

B．birds

C．children

D．squirrels

【19】

A．importance

B．achievement

C．happiness

D．respect

【20】

A．sympathy

B．regret

C．mercy

D．optimism

31、 A few years ago my wife and I took a trip to Costa Rica. Upon arrival we rented a car and _______ for our first destination a few hours away. I had a map so I figured I'd be in great _______. About 20 minutes into the drive I found myself _______ in the unmarked streets and dirty roads. Upset, I turned to Siri, a virtual(虚拟的)assistant in my phone, for help.

I typed the _______ to the destination in my phone and instantly Siri had _______ the best route to get there and we were on our way.

The only _______ was that things didn't always go the way I thought they would. With the streets not being well _______, I would sometimes miss a turn and head in the _______ direction. Luckily, Siri never got _______ with me. Any time I missed a turn Siri would simply ________ and say, “Rerouting. ________ the route.” And within a few seconds, Siri would have a new route ________ to get us to our destination.

Sometimes the new route meant I had to ________ to the right turn and sometimes Siri found a different route that took my new location into ________. Eventually we made it to our hotel ________ and enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.

Most people make the ________ of thinking that success comes from setting a goal and then ________ straight towards it. The ________ is that there is no straight path to success. There isn’t even the ________ path. There are many paths that can get you to your goals. You just have to be ________ to recalculate your route when you miss a turn or there is something in your way.

A．paid

B．headed

C．applied

D．allowed

A．detail

B．shape

C．condition

D．demand

A．lost

B．absorbed

C．surrounded

D．knocked

A．schedule

B．approach

C．number

D．address

A．polished

B．consulted

C．opened

D．discovered

A．link

B．difference

C．problem

D．answer

A．marked

B．built

C．arranged

D．expanded

A．wrong

B．new

C．clear

D．original

A．generous

B．mad

C．concerned

D．familiar

A．break down

B．turn on

C．cut in

D．go away

A．Changing

B．Cancelling

C．Targeting

D．Giving

A．checked

B．obeyed

C．planned

D．predicted

A．point

B．return

C．lead

D．deliver

A．order

B．effect

C．place

D．account

A．safely

B．frequently

C．steadily

D．gradually

A．excuse

B．accident

C．trouble

D．mistake

A．looking

B．escaping

C．marching

D．turning

A．pattern

B．truth

C．consequence

D．privilege

A．first

B．suitable

C．accurate

D．only

A．proud

B．willing

C．anxious

D．mild

32、 The past 10 months has been the most influential months of my life.

As a junior, I left my comfortable home in Illinois and _______ going to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. There I attended a local poorly-equipped school and _______ for an adventure. I experienced so many _______when I arrived, fighting each day to _______ in a new social environment — overcoming racial differences, handling social _______ and being challenged by the polluted environment. However, I _______ that I could create change as well later on.

During the summer vacation I _______ to be a counselor (顾问) at an Easter Seals camp for people with _______ needs who require assistance because of disabilities — improving their ability to do things alone — instead of choosing a _______ teen summer job. It was the most tiring work I’d ever experienced but the most __________ I knew that I’d helped improve over 850 campers’ __________.

As the new school year began, our department had a renovation (翻新). I offered to help clean up all the __________ books. Instead of recycling hundreds of those books, I __________ the department that the books could serve a higher __________. This simple act resulted in an all-out book drive ____________ the schools in Arizona. We currently have boxes of books waiting to be shipped. These books will make a __________ to the entire community’s educational system, enabling teachers and students to get __________ to invaluable resources.

The 10-month experience in Arizona __________ me greatly. It made me become a person with patience, appreciation, determination, and __________ enthusiasm. I trust that it is through enthusiasm, ideas and action that all changes can __________.

【1】A.required B.risked C.escaped D.considered

【2】A.settled on B.settled back C.settled up D.settled in

【3】A.pleasures B.wonders C.blows D.burdens

【4】A.survive B.succeed C.recover D.return

【5】A.cases B.communications C.conflicts D.responsibilities

【6】A.discovered B.expected C.admitted D.remembered

【7】A.promised B.decided C.afforded D.learned

【8】A.basic B.normal C.special D.natural

【9】A.unique B.practical C.popular D.common

【10】A.interesting B.rewarding C.demanding D.appealing

【11】A.patience B.independence C.intelligence D.confidence

【12】A.unturned B.valuable C.useful D.unwanted

【13】A.reminded B.comforted C.informed D.convinced

【14】A.plan B.target C.purpose D.standard

【15】A.benefiting B.satisfying C.representing D.observing

【16】A.difference B.point C.request D.reservation

【17】A.connection B.permission C.access D.reference

【18】A.transformed B.defeated C.tricked D.impressed

【19】A.after all B.above all C.at large D.at least

【20】A.help B.spread C.matter D.occur

33、 Eleven years ago, it seemed as if the world came to an end. My husband of 19 years, the father of my two sons, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the_______of seven months, Bill went from_______easily at tennis to needing my help to go to the bathroom.

It was the best seven months of my life. Maybe I don't actually_______ that. But it was certainly the time when I felt most_______. During those seven months, I came to_______that whatever else I did in my life, nothing would_______ more than taking care of my husband. I discovered that the minor complaint of an annoying coworker, or a flat tire pales in _______with the beauty of sincere laughter, the_______of a bakery. There were moments of _______ laughter, and tenderness in every day. I found I could train myself to see beauty____________bother.

In the days after Bill's diagnosis and brain surgery, being his caregiver also meant being fully____________ as much as possible. During his last weekend, when we had dinner together a relative visited. I ____________that she'd changed her appearance, and not in a good way. It was the kind of____________ I'd usually keep to ____________. Just then, Bill voiced ____________ what I’d been thinking, in that truthful way he had, and I found myself ____________out loud. I thought I could live with this man forever, but he____________ in four days.

Eleven years later, I haven't made much achievements. ____________every day, I try to be the person I became during those seven months. I try to be a little less judgmental, a little more generous, a little more ____________ for the small moments in life.

I am a better person for having been Bill's caregiver. It was his last, best ____________ to me.

【1】A. routine B. course C. event D. basis

【2】A. winning B. hitting C. striking D. beating

【3】A. believe B. mean C. think D. decide

【4】A. alive B. awake C. afraid D. alone

【5】A. hope B. admit C. understand D. accept

【6】A. matter B. differ C. suffer D. help

【7】A. conflict B. comparison C. conversation D. touch

【8】A. taste B. meaning C. smell D. sense

【9】A. sadness B. fear C. panic D. joy

【10】A. other than B. rather than C. more than D. less than

【11】A. responsible B. absent C. present D. informed

【12】A. felt B. watched C. noticed D. informed

【13】A. thought B. concept C. suggestion D. view

【14】A. himself B. myself C. herself D. ourselves

【15】A. completely B. exactly C. partly D. accurately

【16】A. laughing B. shouting C. screaming D. calling

【17】A. died away B. got away C. went away D. passed away

【18】A. And B. But C. Or D. While

【19】A. thoughtful B. powerful C. careful D. grateful

【20】A. gift B. experience C. lesson D. subject

四、短文填空（共4题，共 20分）

34、阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Smell the flowers before you go to sleep and you may just end up with rosy dreams. Have a whiff of rotten(腐烂的)eggs during the night and your dreams may be【1】(pleasant). So says researcher Dr. Boris Stuck, 【2】invited sleeping volunteers to a rose vs. rotten egg test in the University Hospital Mannheim in Germany. The subjects didn’t dream about roses【3】eggs, but rather he found that what they smelt affected the emotions of【4】(they) dreams.

And if you think【5】(smell) have a say in dreams, wait for what TV tells us. A UK study reveals that people exposed【6】black-and-white film and TV in their youth are to have monochromic(单色的)dreams throughout their life more【7】(probable). Eva Murzyn from the University of Dundee tested two age groups— one half 【8】(age) over 55 and【9】other half under 25.

The result? Under 5% of the dreams of the under-25s were in black and white. 【10】(watch)color TV in childhood seems to be the reason why.

35、Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

On a broiling afternoon when the men were away at work and all the women napped, I moved through majestic depths of silences, silences so immense I could hear the corn 【1】. Under these silences there was a / an orchestra of natural music playing notes no city child would ever hear. A certain cackle from the henhouse meant we had gained an egg. The creak of a porch swing told of a momentary breeze blowing across my grandmother’s yard. As I 【2】 along a mossy bank to surprise a frog, a 【3】splash told me the quarry had spotted me and slipped into the stream. Wandering among the sleeping houses, I learned that tin roofs crackle under the power of the sun, and when I tired and came back to my grandmother’s house, I padded into her dark cool living room, lay 【4】 on the floor, and listened to the hypnotic beat of her pendulum clock on the wall ticking the meaningless hours away.

I was enjoying the luxuries of a rustic nineteenth-century boyhood, but for the women Morrisonville life had few 【5】. Their lives were hard, endless, dirty labor.

For baths, laundry, and dishwashing, they hauled buckets of water from a spring at the foot of a hill. To heat it, they chopped kindling to fire their wood stoves. They boiled laundry in tubs, scrubbed it on washboards until knuckles were 【6】, and wrung it out by hand. Ironing was a business of lifting heavy metal weights heated on the stove top.

They scrubbed floors on hands and knees, thrashed rugs with carpet beaters, killed and plucked their own chickens, baked bread and parties, grew and conned their won vegetables, patched the family’s clothing on treadle-operated sewing machines, 【7】before the men to start the stove for breakfast and pack lunch pails, polished the chimneys of kerosene lamps, and even found time to tend the flowers that grew around every house. By the end of a summer day a Morrisonville woman had toiled like a serf.

At sundown the men drifted back from the fields exhausted and 【8】. They scrubbed themselves in enamel basins and, when supper was eaten, climbed up onto the porch to watch the night arrive. Presently the women 【9】 them, and the twilight music of Morrisonville began.

The swing creaking , rocking chairs 【10】 on the porch planks, voices murmuring approval of the sagacity of Uncle Irvey as he quietly observed for probably the ten-thousandth time in his life, “A man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.”

36、Directions: Complete the following passages by using the words in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Why Cold weather Causes So many Flight Cancellation?

Each year, about 60,000 flights get canceled because of bad winter weather, which costs airlines and airports an estimated $3 billion. But it’s not the freezing cold temperatures that cause problems for planes. After all, 【1】 jets fly 10 kilometers up, where temperatures hover around -50 degrees Celsius.

In fact, planes 【2】 in cold weather, since cold air is denser and leads to better thrust. Clearly, the real problem isn’t what’s going on up there. It’s what’s happening on the ground.

When a 【3】 polar vortex (极地涡旋) struck the Midwestern US in January 2019, temperatures dropped to -40 degrees Celsius and airline canceled 3,000 flights nationwide. In these situations, when temperatures start 【4】, everything slows down. Cargo doors can freeze up, along with the nozzles that pump fuel into planes, which delays the 【5】 process.

Even the plane itself can freeze over. Just a quarter-inch - thick layer of ice on a plane can disrupt the way air flows over its wings.

Les Westbrooks: The number one reason, I would say, that the reason flights get delayed in cold weather is going to be because there’s some kind of frozen precipitation, from frost to snow to a sheet of ice, adhering to the aircraft, adhering to the wings of the aircraft 【6】.

That’s Les Westbrooks, a retired airline pilot and an associate professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He says that 【7】, these planes are “de-iced” - but this also delays takeoff. The crew can spray the plane with a special hot water/ glycol mixture. It can take around 40 minutes to de-ice large passenger airplanes, so planes often have to wait “their turn” for the de-icing station, which, of course, can trigger more delays.

And ice on the runway, of course, creates another set of 【8】. In 2014, a plane at JFK skidded off an icy runway and into a mound of snow, leading to an hours-long shutdown at the airport. And even though crews can remove ice from the runway, scraping it off the pavement can lead to potholes (坑洞) and other 【9】, which makes takeoffs and landings more dangerous. And of course, snow and freezing rain on the ground can affect visibility to the point where officials have to decide it’s not safe to fly at all.

But if ice and snow aren’t the problem in these extremely cold temperatures, it’s usually another factor: people.

Les Westbrooks: The airplane flies at high altitudes, -60 degrees. It’s made to do that. Humans are not made to be outside in -60 degrees weather. And so the human factor becomes a big, big factor, when it becomes extremely cold.

Baggage handlers, aircraft fuelers, and mechanics all have to stay warm. Some airports, like O’Hare in Chicago, set up heated shelters for their employees. Of course, with everyone taking breaks to warm up, not as much gets done, which leads to even more delays and cancellations. Passengers start missing their 【10】 flights, and that, along with passengers who can’t make it to the airport due to bad road conditions, leads to half-empty planes.

In fact, many airlines might preemptively cancel flights before bad weather even hits. So, in the end, you can still blame cold weather for cancelling your flight.

37、Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

AI artwork sells for $432,500 — nearly 45 times its high【1】 — as Christie’s becomes the first auction house to offer a work of art created by an algorithm. This portrait, however, is not the product of a human mind. It was created by an【2】 intelligence, an algorithm defined by that algebraic formula with its many parentheses. And when it went under the【3】 in the Prints & Multiples sale at Christie’s on 23-25 October, Portrait of Edmond Belamy sold for an【4】 $432,500, signaling the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage.

From a distance, Portrait of Edmond de Belamy looks almost plausible. Up close, however, the paintwork becomes a grid of mechanical-looking dots, the man’s face a golden blur with black holes for eyes. Look into those eyes. They show no sign of feeling or life. Did a computer make this?

The answer is yes. The first artwork【5】 by AI to be sold at Christie’s, its【6】 price would seem to suggest that in future we will get computers to make art for us. Robot van Gogh will harmlessly cut its ear off and robot Picasso will be a genius.

Is this the future AI art visionaries such as the French collective Obvious, which programmed this “painter” by getting it to compare its own work with 15,000 pre-20th century portraits, have in mind? Or are they just, God forbid, making a fast buck from deceivable art collectors? Because believing the algorithm that knocked this up to be in any meaningful way an “artist” is like thinking your voice-interaction programme is out to get you. Dream on. Computers would need to replicate human consciousness before they could replicate the funny thing humans do called “art”.

Art is a way in which human 【7】 expresses itself, and is equally true of the earliest cave art, Rembrandt’s portraits and Duchamp’s urinal. And that is what is missing from Portrait of Edmond Bellamy. Art is a way humans communicate ideas, perceptions and feelings to each other. It has no 【8】 outside the human passion to communicate. So in what meaningful sense can an AI replica of certain【9】 traits of old master paintings be called art?

For a robot to really make art, it would need an autonomous mind that was emotional as well as【10】. No AI developer has yet claimed to be anywhere near achieving that and if they ever do, their creation will probably have better things to do than paint portraits — like destroy humanity.

Maybe afterwards robots will invent their own kind of art, but it won’t be some poor pastiche of human genius.

It will be beyond anything we organics could imagine.

五、书面表达（共4题，共 20分）

38、假定你是李华，你想参加学校举办的英语诗歌朗诵比赛，请你给外教Mr.Smith发一封邮件，请他帮你选一首诗，并给予指导。内容包括：

1.请求帮助；

2. 主题必须是爱和友谊；

3.期待回复。

注意：1. 词数不少于100；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3. 开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Mr.Smith,

How is everything going?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

39、假定你是李华，你的美国朋友Tom 想在他的学校以“Chinese poetry”为主题举办一系列活动，他写信向你求助，请给他回信，提供至少两条建议。

1. 你应该介绍中国诗的历史；

2. 你应分享诗的不同形式。

注意：1. 词数100左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

40、假定你是李华，2020年5月21日是第一个“世界茶日（International Tea Day）”。你的英国笔友Steve想了解一下茶在中国的情况。请你给他回封邮件，介绍一些常识。

内容包括：

1.简介中国人对茶的态度；

2.喝茶之于健康的作用；

3.邀请他来中国体验一下。

注意：

1.字数100词左右；

2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

41、假定你是李华，暑假在伦敦学习，得知当地美术馆在中国新年期间要举办"中国民俗艺术展"。请写一封信申请做志愿者，内容包括：

1.写信目的；

2.个人优势；

3.能做的事情。

注意：1.词数100左右（开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数）；

2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Sir or Madam,

_______________________________________________________________________________

Sincerely,

Li Hua