江苏省仪征中学2023级高二下学期英语限时（一）

                                         Score: 105          Time: 40 min

一．阅读理解（27.5分）

A

For even the most city citizens, a quick escape into nature is always a welcome breath of fresh air. Try looking for an urban garden nearby — they often hide themselves just around the corner. Click here to know more of the coolest gardens in cities around the world.

Sky Garden

As London’s highest public garden, this social space offers splendid 360-degree views of the city. With a restaurant, observation decks and beautiful plant life, there is something for everyone in this city-center escape from urban life.

The BeltLine

In a massive, 22-mile loop (环线) around the city, the BeltLine connects many Atlanta neighborhoods with parks, trails, restaurants and art shows. Although it is still under construction, the sections that are open to the public act as alternative space to enjoy the outdoors.

Jardins de Rubió i Lluch

This walled, shady garden is in the courtyard of the historic Hospital de la Santa Creu. Decorated with lilac and mandarin trees — and string lights in the evenings — this small garden square is the perfect place to sip a coffee away from Barcelona’s crowded atmosphere.

Dumbarton Oaks

The garden at this historic estate in Georgetown was listed as one of the 10 best gardens in the world by National Geographic in 2014. It has both a formal, carefully manicured (修剪整齐的) garden as well as a naturalistic garden — allowing visitors the ability to choose what they want to see.

1. Where is the passage taken from?

A. A magazine. B. A website. C. A newspaper. D. A book.

2. Which garden best suits people who enjoy overlooking the city?

A. Sky Garden.     B. The BeltLine.    C. Jardins de Rubió i Lluch.   D. Dumbarton Oaks.

3. What do the four gardens have in common?

A. They are all mixtures of entertainment and art.

B. They are all mixtures of urban and rural gardens.

C. They are all good places for people to get close to nature.

D. They are all quiet places for people to enjoy a relaxed dinner.

B

A virtual reality headset has restored sight to people who are legally blind. While it didn’t cure the physical cause of their blindness, the device let people with severe macular degeneration (黄斑退化) go on with activities like reading and gardening — tasks they previously found impossible.

Macular degeneration is a common, age-related condition. It affects many people worldwide. It leaves people with a blind spot in the centre of their vision and causes legal blindness. The new system, called Iris Vision, uses VR headset to make the most of peripheral vision (周边视觉). It records the person’s surroundings and displays them in real time, and the user can widen the image as many times as they need for their peripheral vision to become clear. Doing so also helps to effectively reduce or remove their blind spot.

In a trial, 30 people used the system for two weeks, filling out questionnaires on their ability to complete daily activities before and after the period. “They can do things that for years were not even a consideration,” says David Rhew at Samsung Electronics America. According to Rhew, the vision of participants was all but restored with the headset. “The baseline rate of vision in the individuals came in at 20/400, which is legally blind, and with the use of this technology it improved to 20/30, which is pretty close to 20/20 vision,” he says. Tom Peterson has serious macular degeneration. When he first started using the device, “It was an emotional experience. I sensed that I could see again and tears started coming,” he says.

The results were presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (眼科学) annual meeting. The headset is now being used in 80 ophthalmology centres around the US, and the next step is to adapt the software to work for other vision disorders. Some have commented that it is heavy for long periods of use. “Many people with macular degeneration regularly use eight to ten different tools, such as telescopes and magnifying glasses, to help them with daily life, but Iris Vision can replace them all,” says Perski.

4. What may lead to legal blindness?

A. Too much reading.   B. A blind spot.    C. Increasing ages.   D. Macular degeneration.

5. Why is Tom Peterson mentioned in paragraph 3?

A. To explain the process of the trial.       B. To show the problems with the trial.

C. To prove the effectiveness of Iris Vision.  D. To promote the new product of Iris Vision.

6. What attitude does Perski hold towards Iris Vision?

A. Objective. B. Negative.      C. Supportive.       D. Critical.

7. What’s the best title of the text?

A. A VR headset —new ways to cure blindness    

B. A VR headset —good news for blind people

C. Macular degeneration —a deadly eye disease   

D. Macular degeneration — an important body organ

C

Climate change is not only a human problem; animals have to adapt to it as well. Some “warm-blooded” animals are shapeshifting (变形) and getting larger legs, ears, and beak s to better control their body temperatures as the planet gets hotter. Bird researcher Sara Ryding of Deakin University in Australia describes these changes in a review.

“It’s high time we recognized that animals also have to adapt to these changes, and this is occurring over a far shorter time than would have occurred through most of evolutionary time,” says Ryding. “The climate change that we have created is putting a lot of pressure on them, and while some species will adapt, others will not.”

Ryding notes that climate change is a complex phenomenon that’s been occurring gradually, so it’s difficult to determine just one cause of the shapeshifting. But these changes have been occurring across wide geographical regions and among a variety of species, so there is little in common apart from climate change.

Strong shapeshifting has particularly been reported in birds. Several species of Australian parrot have shown, on average, a 4% to 10% increase in size since 1871, and this is positively associated with the summer temperature each year. North American dark-eyed juncos, a type of small songbird, had a link between increased size and short-term temperature extremes in cold environments. There have also been reported changes in mammalian (哺乳动物) species. Researchers have reported tail length increases in wood mice. “The increases in appendage (附肢) size we see so far are quite small — less than 10% — so the changes are unlikely to be immediately noticeable,” says Ryding. “However, prominent (突起的) appendages such as ears are predicted to increase.”

Next, Ryding intends to investigate shapeshifting in Australian birds by 3D scanning museum bird samples from the past 100 years. Undoubtedly, it will give her team a better understanding of which birds are changing appendage size due to climate change and why.

8. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?

A. To introduce a bird researcher.            B. To present a shapeshifting phenomenon.

C. To explain the cause of climate change.     D. To state the terrible influence of climate change.

9. What can be inferred about animals’ shapeshifting from paragraphs 2 and 3?

A. It is slower than their evolution. B. It’s impossible to determine its cause.

C. It is a global phenomenon beyond species. D. Climate change is its potential cause.

10. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A. The examples of shapeshifting. B. The effects of shapeshifting.

C. The explanations of shapeshifting. D. The history of shapeshifting.

11. Which of the following will Ryding’s next study focus on?

A. The speed of shapeshifting. B. The cause of climate change.

C. The samples of Australian birds. D. The understanding of bird history.

二．七选五（12.5分）

With such a wide range of platforms and devices available to the everyday reader, the physical book, while not yet extinct, may end up going that way. Why? ___12___.

With a rapid increase in digital reading platforms, reading is no longer a common problem for bookworms. ___13___ They’re designed to simplify the process of reading on the go. You can select a book, track your progress, and even submit reviews. With no need to carry around physical books, readers are much more likely to pick up where they left off whenever and wherever they may be.

Readers can also carry around their favourite books within an e-reader. Common examples include the Amazon Kindle, Onyx Boox, and PocketBook. These hand-held devices offer fantastic portability, readability and variety. ___14___ They are much smaller and lighter than physical books, making them an ideal option for those always on the go.

Social media has had a great effect on our reading habits. It governs our daily life. With physical books no longer a key form of entertainment for children, it has been replaced with digital alternatives. Social media and video games have replaced the ways in which we traditionally read and tell stories. ___15___.

As is known to us all, technology has changed the ways in which we read at home as well as in the classroom. ___16___ Exposure to the digital potential of reading is introduced at an early age. Virtual learning platforms have also exploded in popularity in recent years. Technology in the classroom is no longer a luxury but a necessity to keep up with the modern age.

A. There are a number of apps out there.

B. Books and lessons are delivered online.

C. We are still reading but just in a different way.

D. Lots of people find it difficult to fit reading into their daily routine.

E. Some e-readers also allow users to access the Internet for various purposes.

F. There’s nothing worse than realizing you have forgotten your favourite book.

G Here are some ways technology has transformed our reading habits in recent years.