What would you think if someone suggested knocking down St Paul’s Cathedral to widen the road? Or pulling down Big Ben to make way for a car park? It would be ridiculous, right? But when it comes to devastation (毁灭) of the natural world, we aren’t so easily shocked. But we should be…or we’ll be in a lot of trouble.

Nature is shrinking by the day. Ancient forests are destroyed. Wetlands are becoming dry. Woodland is disappearing, and all in the name of progress. This is bad in itself, but it’s devastating for biodiversity.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals and other living things that are all interconnected. The ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis (光合作用) by green plants. Insects, worms and bacteria break down waste and make soils rich. And tiny organisms clean the water in rivers and sea. In fact, all life on the earth exists thanks to the benefits of biodiversity. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. And 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals. Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve all living things.

The loss of biodiversity could be devastating. “It is wrong to think that biodiversity can be reduced indefinitely without threatening humans,” said Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, known as the “father of biodiversity”. He warned, “We are about to reach a critical point beyond which biodiversity loss will become irreversible (不可挽回的).”

But what can we do? The present problem is that the concept of biodiversity is so vague (含糊的). People might care about giant pandas, but it is much harder to excite them about the fate of tiny sea creatures which are being boiled to death in the cooling systems of power stations along coastlines. The Guardian newspaper is trying to help. It has launched the Biodiversity 100 campaign to try to convince governments around the world to take action to deal with the widespread concerns about biodiversity. This includes persuading the UK government to create a series of marine reserves to reserve the decrease in the sea-life caused by industrial fishing, stopping fishing sharks by the Japanese fishermen and banning the killing of dingoes (wild dogs) in Australia, among many other things.

There is a lot to do. And we’d better act quickly if we don’t want to end up with a planet that can’t sustain life!

1.The writer thinks it ________ to pull down Big Ben to make way for a car park.

A．unreasonable      B．necessary         C．difficult           D．reasonable

2.The underlined sentence “Nature is shrinking by the day.” means that ________.

A．nature is badly polluted by humans

B．species are becoming fewer and fewer day by day

C．rainforests are being cut down every day

D．nature is full of mysteries

3.Edward O. Wilson thinks that ________.

A．it doesn’t matter to reduce biodiversity

B．people have done enough to preserve biodiversity

C．the situation of biodiversity is very serious

D．biodiversity loss has become irreversible

4.When it comes to biodiversity, the present problem is that ________.

A．people might not clearly know what is biodiversity and what should be protected

B．people are not aware that giant pandas are endangered

C．people don’t realize that biodiversity is vital to everyday life

D．people hunt sea creatures for food

5.What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A．The UK government.                     B．The concept of biodiversity.

C．The action to deal with the problem.         D．The Guardian newspaper.

阅读下面短文，根据以下要求：1）汉语提示, 2）首字母提示, 3）语境提示, 在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上，所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确。

Hello, everyone. My name is water. I’m one of the most important     1.    (自然) resources in the world. I’m very       proud of     2.      because almost no everyday tasks can beperformed w   3.      me. My nickname is liquid gold because I’m precious. People in some areas are always _____4.___(埋怨) about not having enough of me. W   5.      still, only 5 per cent of the fresh water is _______6.____(可用的) in rivers and lakes. So protect me and save as    7.     of me as possible!. Remember: don’t leave the tap r   8.    when you brush your teeth. Don’t throw rubbish into rivers,      9.    . Nor pour me into them when I’m dirty.Never waste even a drop, o   10.    you’ll run out of me in the near future. 

完形填空（20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

       阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

         It' s six o' clock on a cold Saturday morning．Liu Zifan reluctantly gets out of the warm bed．

         "I wish I could sleep  36   more," says Liu．

         The 12-year-old seventh grader from Beijing Guangqumen   37   School must take an - hour - ride to get to the school for the   38  curriculums that occupy her whole Saturday morning．  39 Sunday afternoon, she has music lessons from 3 p．m．to 7 p．m．．

         During weekdays, Liu has to get up around five in the morning, and  40  home by six．

         " My teacher  41  us to eat an apple in the morning so that we won' t feel  42  " , she says．

         In primary school, Liu  43 taking the New Concept English class every Saturday morning, and Chinese, English and Olympic maths classes in the afternoon．On Sunday morning, she had to do  44 at home．In the afternoon, she took Cambridge English class．

         "I didn't have time to rest,   45  on Friday night," Liu recalls．

         The family has a monthly  46  of about 1,700 yuan．Liu Zifan' s  47  classes cost 2, 000 yuan each term．

         " I think it' s   48  the money," Liu' s father says．" We do everything we can to provide her with good education,   49   she will get a good job in the future．"

         Chinese children face   50  pressures on study．Some parents make their children study 51    First graders start to take classes for second graders, and so on, therefore they can get an   52 in exams．Most Chinese   53  believe high academic credentials （成绩） mean a better school, a brighter future．So they   54   their children to extracurricular classes like music, English and maths to develop a special   55  , which later might be a stepping stone to a good school．  

36．A．any                  B．some                C．even                 D．far

37．A．Secondary      B．Training            C．Language  D．Primary

38．A．super          B．extra            C．huge                 D．usual

39．A．In                    B．For                   C．At                   D．On

40．A．get            B．stay              C．leave D．drive

41   A．orders                B．recommends           C．persuades    D．suggests

42．A．sleepy           B．tired      C．cold          D．thirsty

43．A．stopped    B．finished  C．enjoyed     D．started

44．A．housework        B．washing          C．homework    D．writing

45．A．besides          B．including   C．since            D．except

46．A．pay           B．cost   C．income       D． money                                  

47．A．weekend          B．Sunday             C．everyday    D．Saturday

48．A．wasteful       B．worth         C．valuable     D．worthy

49．A．so that       B．since      C．now that    D．while

50．A．challenging     B．increasing C．developing            D．changing

51．A．ahead             B．hard             C．late        D．away

52   A．average  B．achievement    C．advance        D．advantage

53．A．teachers   B．students         C．friends         D．parents

54．A．send          B．hope  C．take   D．wish

55．A．strength              B．interest  C．talent             D．skill

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
It' s six o' clock on a cold Saturday morning．Liu Zifan reluctantly gets out of the warm bed．
"I wish I could sleep  36  more," says Liu．
The 12-year-old seventh grader from Beijing Guangqumen   37  School must take an - hour - ride to get to the school for the   38 curriculums that occupy her whole Saturday morning．  39 Sunday afternoon, she has music lessons from 3 p．m．to 7 p．m．．
During weekdays, Liu has to get up around five in the morning, and  40 home by six．
" My teacher  41 us to eat an apple in the morning so that we won' t feel  42 " , she says．
In primary school, Liu  43 taking the New Concept English class every Saturday morning, and Chinese, English and Olympic maths classes in the afternoon．On Sunday morning, she had to do  44 at home．In the afternoon, she took Cambridge English class．
"I didn't have time to rest,   45 on Friday night," Liu recalls．
The family has a monthly  46 of about 1,700 yuan．Liu Zifan' s  47 classes cost 2, 000 yuan each term．
" I think it' s   48 the money," Liu' s father says．" We do everything we can to provide her with good education,   49  she will get a good job in the future．"
Chinese children face   50 pressures on study．Some parents make their children study 51    First graders start to take classes for second graders, and so on, therefore they can get an   52 in exams．Most Chinese   53 believe high academic credentials （成绩） mean a better school, a brighter future．So they   54  their children to extracurricular classes like music, English and maths to develop a special   55 , which later might be a stepping stone to a good school．  
36．A．any           B．some          C．even           D．far
37．A．Secondary                                     B．Training        C．Language     D．Primary
38．A．super          B．extra          C．huge           D．usual
39．A．In             B．For            C．At            D．On
40．A．get                                           B．stay            C．leave            D．drive
41  A．orders          B．recommends     C．persuades        D．suggests
42．A．sleepy            B．tired               C．cold                 D．thirsty
43．A．stopped              B．finished            C．enjoyed              D．started
44．A．housework          B．washing           C．homework       D．writing
45．A．besides            B．including            C．since             D．except
46．A．pay                  B．cost                    C．income                D． money                                 
47．A．weekend           B．Sunday            C．everyday             D．Saturday
48．A．wasteful         B．worth                  C．valuable              D．worthy
49．A．so that                B．since               C．now that              D．while
50．A．challenging      B．increasing            C．developing      D．changing
51．A．ahead              B．hard              C．late                 D．away
52  A．average            B．achievement        C．advance          D．advantage
53．A．teachers              B．students           C．friends           D．parents
54．A．send            B．hope                   C．take                    D．wish
55．A．strength        B．interest             C．talent              D．skill

What would you think if someone suggested knocking down St Paul’s Cathedral to widen the road? Or pulling down Big Ben to make way for a car park? It would be ridiculous, right? But when it comes to devastation (毁灭) of the natural world, we aren’t so easily shocked. But we should be…or we’ll be in a lot of trouble.
Nature is shrinking by the day. Ancient forests are destroyed. Wetlands are becoming dry. Woodland is disappearing, and all in the name of progress. This is bad in itself, but it’s devastating for biodiversity.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals and other living things that are all interconnected. The ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis (光合作用) by green plants. Insects, worms and bacteria break down waste and make soils rich. And tiny organisms clean the water in rivers and sea. In fact, all life on the earth exists thanks to the benefits of biodiversity. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. And 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals. Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve all living things.
The loss of biodiversity could be devastating. “It is wrong to think that biodiversity can be reduced indefinitely without threatening humans,” said Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, known as the “father of biodiversity”. He warned, “We are about to reach a critical point beyond which biodiversity loss will become irreversible (不可挽回的).”
But what can we do? The present problem is that the concept of biodiversity is so vague (含糊的). People might care about giant pandas, but it is much harder to excite them about the fate of tiny sea creatures which are being boiled to death in the cooling systems of power stations along coastlines. The Guardian newspaper is trying to help. It has launched the Biodiversity 100 campaign to try to convince governments around the world to take action to deal with the widespread concerns about biodiversity. This includes persuading the UK government to create a series of marine reserves to reserve the decrease in the sea-life caused by industrial fishing, stopping fishing sharks by the Japanese fishermen and banning the killing of dingoes (wild dogs) in Australia, among many other things.
There is a lot to do. And we’d better act quickly if we don’t want to end up with a planet that can’t sustain life!
【小题1】The writer thinks it ________ to pull down Big Ben to make way for a car park.