2024届高考英语外刊阅读天天练综合训练二十九（含答案）

高考英语外刊阅读天天练 综合训练二十九
I 阅读理解
Fighting climate change by cloning trees
【USA Today(April 15, 2024)】
It’s been struck by lightning at least three times and has survived multiple hurricanes. “Big Tree,” an imposing southern live oak, sits in an unassuming park just outside Orlando’s business district. Over 400 years old, the tree is so impressive that members of a Michigan-based nonprofit flew to Orlando in February to climb and sample it. The arborists are now in the midst of a monthslong process to grow new roots the from the clippings. The reason: To clone the historic tree, store its DNA and plant potentially thousands of replicas across the Southeast.
In order to clone an ancient tree, one must climb it. Helmeted researchers hoisting themselves up the trunk of a colossal redwood or sequoia in order to find a piece of live tissue. The freshly cut limbs and leaves are taken to the group’s lab in Michigan, where propagators work to spur growth from the samples. The most common method is by rooted cuttings, which has long been used by horticulturists. In this method, a tip of a tree’s branch is dipped into hormones, placed into a foam plug and set inside a mist chamber. Then, the waiting begins. A sign of life could take months to a year, if one comes at all. In another method called tissue culture, propagators take a quarter-inch of stem, drip it in a liquid made up of a dozen hormones and other chemicals, seal it in an airtight container and wait until it grows roots.
With each new tree, the group tries hundreds of combinations. The experts change the hormones, adjust the temperature of the test room and vary the amount of water being sprayed on the samples. About 90% will fail. However, those that form new roots are subsequently cloned. Because they’re young, their success rate is much higher than that of samples from the original tree.
Experts lauded the group for its innovative methods and large-scale propagation, but they cast doubt on the assumption underlying the nonprofit’s work: That the clones will prosper as the originals have. Scott Merkle, a professor of forest biology at the University of Georgia, said there are many factors that contribute to a tree’s age in addition to genetics: the site it’s sitting on, what’s interacting with it in the soil, the surrounding environment and luck.
“There’s so many variables that there’s certainly no guarantee that they will be able to survive and perform better than other trees that you might put out on the landscape,” Merkle said. He added that the sheer age of historic trees makes them difficult to study: “There’s no real way to test these hypotheses in our lifetimes. I think it’s a great thing that they’re doing. I just don’t know how realistic it is.”
1. which of the following words can best replace the underlined one “replica” in paragraph one
A. reproduction
B. version
C. portrayal
D. equal
2. What does horticulturists usually do to spur growth from the samples
A. they climb the trunk of a tree and find a piece of live tissue
B. they make use of a stem and a liquid full of various hormones
C. they apply hormones on the tip of a tree’s branch and wait
D. they plant the samples in an airtight container
3. What can we learn from comments from Scott Merkle
A. the clones will definitely thrive as the original old trees do
B. it is the tree’s genetics that decide the longevity of an old tree
C. propagators can guarantee the survival of the clone trees by adapting variables
D. it is hard for one generation to test the performance of the clone trees
4. what does the passage mainly talk about
A. experts to store old tree’s DNA by cloning
B. experts to invent new ways to protect historic trees
C. experts to arise intensive debates on environmental protection
D. experts to promote new species by cloning
II 完形填空
A moment that changed me: Paralysed by a fall, I crossed 100 miles of snow and ice
【The Guardian(April 17, 2024)】
The view from the top was breathtaking. It was 2023 and I had just climbed the Hvannadals Peak in Iceland, almost seven years after becoming ___1_____ from the chest down after a climbing fall. My two teammates and I were on our way to becoming the first all-disabled team to Cross Europe's largest icecap, unsupported and ____2____.
From our start point at the western edge of the Vatnajokull, we faced a __3____, hostile landscape. We would need to ___4____ through storm-force winds and work as a team to overcome the __5____ of our spinal cord injuries. This was going to be the ___6___ challenge of my life. The plan was to ___7___ from the Base of the ice cap to its highest point, the Hvannadals Peak. ___8____ together, we started toward the frozen horizon, dragging two sledges laden with gear behind us. Just 10 minutes into our journey, I was already beginning to feel the ___9___ on my shoulders and arms as I used my upper body to __10___ my sit-ski up the steady incline. The __11___ of our gear was a constant form of resistance as it dragged stubbornly through the snow behind us.
After 11 ___12___ days, and countless falls, slips and setbacks, our team of three ____13___ the eastern edge of the Vatnajokull glacier. We had defied the odds, transcended our physical limitations and emerged victorious.
I realised that this journey was about embracing the power of resilience, finding strength in tough moments and discovering that I was just as __14____ as I always had been. No longer did I consider myself disabled or injured, because, if I could reach the __15___ of a remote ice cap, I could overcome the frustrations and setbacks of day-to-day life with resilience and tenacity.
1. A. survived B. enabled C. paralysed D. repeated
2. A. unfolded B. unassisted C. undone D. unwrapped
3. A. fantastic B. frozen C. watery D. rolling
4. A. battle B. breathe C. flip D. leaf
5. A. resistance B. prospects C. limits D. obstacles
6. A. widest B. toughest C. ablest D. laziest
7. A. proceed B. exceed C. access D. ascend
8. A. Bagged B. Roped C. Licensed D. Housed
9. A. stress B. strain C. service D. weight
10. A. propel B. stretch C. crush D. press
11. A. weight B. credit C. authority D. strike
12. A. dynamic B. arduous C. aggressive D. vigorous
13. A. shouldered B. resounded C. approached D. reflected
14. A. qualified B. suitable C. capable D. competent
15. A. summit B. climax C. landmark D. crown
III. 语法填空
Fire engulfs Copenhagen's historic stock exchange in city's 'Notre Dame moment'
【The Guardian(April 17, 2024)】
Firefighters at Copenhagen's historic former stock exchange were yesterday batting a huge blaze that had engulfed the 17th-century building's roof, toppled its distinctive spire __1___ threatened one of Denmark's most valuable art collections.
Dramatic footage showed huge plumes of black smoke ____2___(rise) from the Dutch Renaissance-style building, ___3___ was undergoing renovation and clad in scaffolding. Police said they ___4____(block) off a main road and part of the city centre.
Copenhagen's fire service said the blaze was reported at 7.30am. The __5_____(extend) scaffolding around the building was making ___6__ significantly harder to tackle the flames, it said, while the Borsen's copper roof was trapping the heat.
Parts of the roof had collapsed and the fire had spread to several floors he said. About 120 people ___7____(fight) the fire and about 90 conscripts from the Royal Life Guards, an army unit, were also helping ___8____(close) the site and secure valuables inside, local media reported.
The Borsen, commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640, was topped by a 56-metre (184f) spire in ____9__ shape of the tails of four dragons entwined. The building housed Denmark's stock exchange until 1974.
King Frederik X said Denmark's royal family woke up to the sad sight of "part of our architectural heritage' ___10_____(destroy), while the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said irreplaceable cultural heritage and a piece of Danish history was on fire.
ACDA
CBBAC BDBBA ABCCA
and; rising; which; had blocked; extensive; it; were fighting; to close; the; being destroyed