2024-2025学年江苏省苏州市苏州中学上学期高二期中测试英语试题If you were wondering whether there were any quiet, peaceful, undeveloped beaches left in Mykonos, you have found it. Featuring a wild landscape on a rocky bay in the northern part of the island, Fokos Beach is one of Mykonos’ “hidden beaches”, free of crowds. It’s faced by a taverna (小餐馆), but is usually nearly deserted, with only a few sunbathers. This is the top destination for those looking for a peaceful beach and natural beauty.There are better beaches for swimming — here the sea can be quite rough and it’s often windy. It is, however, a popular spot for riding, so don’t be surprised if you see horses coming down the road towards the beach.How to Get to Fokos BeachThere are no buses to Fokos, so you’ll need to rent a car. It’s about 13km and a 20-minute drive from Mykonos Town, partly through a dirt road before you reach the beach.Where to stay in Fokos BeachThere are no hotels in Fokos, but it’s close enough to the many choices in the center of the island: Hotel Adonis: Just a short walk from the Fabrika bus terminal (终点站), with different types of classically-styled rooms.Leto Hotel: Facing the sea in the old port, with spacious rooms and an open-air restaurant.Mykonos Theoxenia Boutique Hotel: Next to the windmills, with a wonderful garden and pool area.Mykonos Town Suites: A combination of traditional Cycladic style and contemporary design, with apartments where you can prepare your meals.1. Why is Fokos Beach considered a “hidden beach” in Mykonos?A．It is available only to sunbathers. B．It is only accessible by bus.C．It is rarely crowded with visitors. D．It is ideal for swimming.2. What is a favored activity on Fokos Beach?A．Horse riding. B．Mountain climbing.C．Swimming. D．Surfing.3. Which hotel best suits a guest passionate about cooking?A．Mykonos Theoxenia Boutique Hotel. B．Mykonos Town Suites.C．Hotel Adonis. D．Leto Hotel.The familiar sound of rustling and clanking fills the house—it’s the sound of my mother preparing breakfast. My morning alarm.As I drag my body tow ard the kitchen, I’m greeted by my mother standing in front of the stove. Shed effortlessly cooks a dish that blends Western and Eastern styles, a beloved breakfast classic in our family. This is my grandmother’s recipe, which mirrored her upbringing.Sin ce my grandmother’s passing, I’ve become more aware of my mother’s aging and her dedication (奉献) to cooking for us. She has cooked for her family for more than 30 years, dividing her time between three countries—Korea, Canada and Germany. When my parents visit us from Korea, they stay with us for several months. My mother helps around the house, showing her cooking skills to provide delicious meals for me, my partner and our kids. In alternating years, she and my dad will travel to Berlin to spend a couple of weeks with my sister and her partner.According to Statista, most Canadians claim to spend between 31 and 60 minutes preparing an average weekday dinner for themselves and others in their household.10 percent of the respondents to the 2022 survey stated that they spend more than an hour preparing their evening meal. My mother belongs to that 10 percent. And her daily cooking begins much earlier at the grocery store where she examines produce and finds the best deals. She takes everyone’s preferences and needs into account. The meal she creates becomes a ritual (仪式), bringing the family together to connect and share.In an era where convenience is king, with microwave dinners and meal kits flourishing (繁荣) in kitchens, the tough process of creating a homemade meal from scratch might seem highly inefficient. However, my 68-year-old mother embraces it with such dignity.“Nope, that’s not how you cut your carrots.” “Lower the heat, or you'll bum the butter.”“No, you shouldn’t use that bowl for this meal.”Helping her out in the kitchen is not easy. Yet, I know it’s her way of expressing love—that extra ingredient that goes into our every meal.4. What do we know about the author’s mother from the text?A．She lives with the author in Korea.B．She has three daughters.C．She has great cooking skills.D．She invented the author’s favourite breakfast.5. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning statistics about meal preparation time?A．To remind people to spend more time on home cooking.B．To ask the reader s to follow her mother’s example.C．To prove her mother’s enthusiasm for cooking.D．To show her mother’s devotion to family.6. Why does the author say helping her mother in the kitchen is not easy?A．Her mother wants to teach herB．Her mother is demanding in cooking everything.C．Her mother dislikes being disturbed. D．Her mother is easily annoyed.7. What is the best title for the passage?A．The Art of Cooking Traditional Meals. B．My Mother’s Cooking: A Family Ritual.C．The Convenience of Modern Cooking. D．Cooking from Scratch: A DyingTradition.A starfish has five identical arms with a layer of “tube feet” beneath them that can help the marine creature move along the seafloor, causing naturalists to puzzle over whether sea stars have defined front and back ends — and whether they have heads at all. But new genetic research suggests the opposite — sea stars are largely heads that lack trunks or tails and likely lost those features evolutionarily over time?Sea stars belong to a group called echinoderms (棘皮动物). The unusual animals have unique body plans (平面图) arranged in five equal sections that greatly differ from the bodies of bilateral animals, which have left and right sides mirroring each other. Sea stars begin as fertilized eggs (受精卵) that hatch and become larvae (幼体) that float in the ocean for weeks to months before settling on the ocean floor. There, they go through a process that transforms from a bilateral body into a star shape, or pentaradial body.“This has been a zoological mystery for centuries,” said senior study co-author Christopher Lowe at Stanford University. “How can you go from a bilateral body plan to a pentaradial plan? And how can you compare any part of the starfish to our own body plan?”Researchers used new methods of genetic sequencing (测序) to create an unprecedented (前所未有的) 3D map to determine where genes were expressed as sea stars developed and grew. They found that genetic features associated with the development of a head were detected all over the sea stars, espe cially concentrated in the center of the star and the center of each “arm”. Meanwhile, gene expression for trunk and tail sections was largely absent. This suggested that sea stars “have the most dramatic example of decoupling (分离) of the head and the trunk regions that we are aware of today,” said lead study author Laurent Formery.Animal research largely targets those that share similarities with humans. But studying groups like echinoderms could solve some of the most complex mysteries about the evolution of life on Earth. “Most animals are modest ones that live in burrows (洞穴) in the ocean. People are generally not drawn to these animals, and yet they probably represent how much of life got started,” Lowe said. Understanding how animals like sea stars have developed could also allow insights into the varied ways that different species remain healthy. “It’s certainly harder to work with creatures that are less frequently studied,” said study co-author Daniel Rokhsar at the University of California. “But if we take the opportunity to explore unusual animals that are operating in unusual ways, that means we are broadening our perspective on biology. This is eventually going to help us solve both ecological and biomedical problems.”8. What is the focus of the new research?A．The reason sea stars have no heads. B．The way sea stars sense direction.C．The body structure of sea stars. D．The function of sea stars’ arms.9. What did the researchers find by using genetic sequencing techniques?A．Gene expression related to the trunk of sea stars was completely missing.B．Head-related gene expressions were widespread in sea stars.C．How sea stars achieved the remarkable separation of their head and trunk.D．Why sea stars changed their body shape while they were on the ocean floor.10. Why is studying sea stars and other “modest” marine organisms important?A．It predicts how life on Earth evolved.B．It will challenge our understanding of marine creatures.C．It could provide insights into solving ecological and biomedical problems.D．It shows their unique body plans.11. What is the purpose of the text?A．To present a new research. B．To introduce a sea animal.C．To popularize a new concept. D．To promote a new technology.In December 2016 Edgar M. Welch drove six hours from his home to Washington DC, where he opened fire in a pizzeria with a gun. He had previously read an online news story about the restaurant being the headquarters of a group of child abusers run by Hillary Clinton. He decided to investigate for himself; fortunately, no one was hurt.The story about Hillary Clinton is one of the most famous examples of the growing phenomenon called “fake news”. The conspiracy (阴谋) theory about the pizzeria began to appear on websites and social networks in late October, before the US election. This was quickly denounced (谴责) by publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, However, many people thought that these papers were themselves lying for political ends and instead of disappearing, the fake story snowballed. Tweets from “Representative Steven Smith of the 15th District of Georgia” claimed that the mainstream media were telling falsehoods. Even though both this name and district were invented, the message was re-tweeted many times. A YouTube refutation of the New York Times article got 250,000 hits.Fake news stories can be hard to control for several reasons. Many people mistrust established news sources and others just don’t read them, so the debunk ing (揭穿) of a fake story by a serious newspaper or TV channel has limited effect. In addition, the internet is very hard to police. When users are caught misusing one media platform, they simply go to another one or start up a website themselves.There are also various reasons why people create fake news. Some have political motives, to belittle or incriminate their opponents. Other websites, like The Onion, deliberately publish fake news as satire — humorous comment on society and current affairs. Another group is in it for the profit: many people clicking on entertaining fake news stories can bring in a lot of advertising revenue. One man running fake news sites from Los Angeles said he was making up to US $30,000 a month in this way. There are also those, like the small-town teenagers in Macedonia who wrote fake news stories about Donald Trump, who seem to be motivated partly by money and partly by boredom.So, what can we do to stop fake news spreading? First, make sure that the websites you read are legitimate, for example by looking carefully at the domain name and the About Us section. Check the sources of any quotes or figures given in the story. Remember that amazing stories about famous people will be covered by the mainstream media if they are true. Only share stories you know are true and let your friends know, tactfully, when they unknowingly share fake news. Together we can turn around the post-truth world!12. Why did Elgar Welch go to the pizzeria?A．He was trying to rob the restaurant.B．He hated all supporters of Hillary Clinton.C．He was working as a private investigator and investigating a crime.D．He had become concerned after reading an untrue news story.13. Why did many people not believe The Washington Post and The New York Times when they denounced the pizzeria story?A．They checked the facts and found that the articles were incorrect.B．They didn’t trust anybody.C．They thought the newspapers had a political agenda.D．They thought the newspapers had not researched the story carefully enough.14. Which reason for the difficulty of controlling fake news stories is not given in the article?A．Many people don t read the mainstream mediaB．Online media platforms don’t check stories before publishing them.C．People are doubtful about the mainstream media.D．Fake news stories can easily switch to other websites and platforms if caught.15. How does the author feel about stopping fake news spreading?A．indifferent B．doubtful C．positive D．pessimisticIf you were to say that you have faith in others, a cynic (愤世嫉俗者) might accuse you of being naive. In an era of growing social division, cynicism—the belief that people-are fundamentally selfish and dishonest—has become more widespread. 16One popular misconception about cynics is that they are wiser than non-cynics. 17 . By never trusting, cynics believe they can protect themselves from betrayal and disappointment, but they also “shut down opportunities for collaboration, love and community, all of which require trust”, as Zaki told Time magazine.18 By focusing only on what’s wrong, cynics lose sight of what could improve. They see a broken system aa mirror of the broken nature of people, believing there’s no way to change the status quo. This belief rationalizes their decision to stop volunteering, protecting or speaking out for themselves.Cynical thinking affects how we treat others and how they respond to us, creating a vicious (恶性的) cycle that erodes trust. To break this cycle, Zaki promotes skep ticism, which he describes as “a scientific mindset where we focus on evidence to decide who we can trust.” Unlike cynics who presume bad or selfish intentions behind everything, skeptics stay open to evidence, even if it challenges their existing beliefs. 19Replacing cynicism with skepticism can lead us to a clearer view of society. 20 . As Zaki put it, “What we think and feel isn’t just for us; it’s for our communities. Our ability to believe in each other now goes hand in hand with creating the futu re we want.”Snow is a normal occurrence in Buffalo, New York. So when a snowstorm was ______, many people went to work as usual. ______ , this time the awful weather sook many by surprise and they were unable to get home. Despite many ______ stories about the storm, there were also many stories about snow angles who opened their homes and businesses ______ for people who were stuck.A group of ten tourists had an unexpected experience daring the snowstorm when their van was______ in the snow. The tourists were on their way to Washington DC and were ______ of the weather reports about the storm. But a nice couple came to their ______. Alexander Campagna______ a knock on his door from two of the tourists asking to borrow shovels (铲子) to ______ the van that was stuck. Campagna and his wife asked the ______ travelers in and provided their unexpected guests with a place to sleep.As the snowstorm struck Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, on Friday afternoon, McDonald’s employees ______ people that were stuck on the street to come to the fast-food restaurant. “We accepted the______ that we weren’t going home, so we might as well open up.” an employee said. “We ______ that someone might need help.” More than 50 people ______ the storm at the restaurant.There’re countless other s who are willing to go the extra mile. These snow angles performed acts of ______ that’ll be remembered forever.21.A．revealed B．predicted C．claimed D．assumed22.A．However B．Besides C．Therefore D．Otherwise23.A．familiar B．impressive C．sad D．true24.A．shades B．shelters C．gifts D．habitats25.A．frozen B．crashed C．struck D．caught26.A．uncertain B．unafraid C．unaware D．unworthy27.A．rescue B．defence C．mind D．knowledge28.A．suffered B．considered C．caused D．received29.A．break into B．dig out C．look for D．keep off30.A．trapped B．disabled C．satisfied D．skilled31.A．invited B．convinced C．required D．inspired32.A．message B．advice C．fact D．challenge33.A．figured B．doubted C．concluded D．confirmed34.A．weathered B．watched C．faced D．fought35.A．bravery B．sacrifice C．kindness D．creation阅读下面短文，在空白处填入适当的词，如有括号提示，请以提示词的正确形式填空。
