2021届上海市晋元高级中学高三9月月考英语试题

上海市晋元中学2021届高三9月月考

英语试题

II. Grammar and Vocabulary

Section A

Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Exploring Beyond

Following the call of our restless genes has not ended well for all explorers. The British explorer Captain James Cook died in a fight with Hawaiians ten years after he received the precious map from Tupaia. His death, some say, brought to a close (21) ________ Western historians call the Age of Exploration. Yet it hardly (22) ________ (end) our exploring. We have remained enthusiastic about filling in the Earth's maps; reaching its farthest poles, highest peaks, and deepest trenches（海沟）; sailing to its every corner and then flying off the planet entirely. With the NASA Rover Curiosity now (23) ________ (stir) us all as it explores Mars, some countries and private companies are preparing to send humans to the red planet as well. Some visionaries even talk of having a spacecraft (24) ________ (send) to the nearest star.

NASA's Michael Barratt - a doctor, diver, and jet pilot; a sailor for 40 years; an astronaut for 12 - is among those (25) ________ ache to go to Mars. Barratt consciously sees himself as an explorer Cook and Tupaia. "We're doing what (26) ________ did," he says. "It works this way at every point in human history. A society develops an enabling technology, (27) ________ it's the ability to preserve and carry food or build a ship or launch a rocket."

Not all of us (28) ________ ride a rocket or sail the infinite sea, Yet, (29) ________ a species, we're curious enough and interested enough by the prospect to help pay for the trip and cheer at the voyagers' return. Yes, we hope to find a better place to live or acquire a larger territory or make a fortune. But we also explore simply (30) ________ (discover) what's there.

Section B

Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Undercover Wings

The nocturnal（夜间活动的）dot-under wind moth（蛾）may use shape-shifting patterns on its winds as a way to attract mates in the dark. In a study published last September in Current Biology, scientists report the __31__ on males' fore-wings of three patches（色斑）that change darkness and size when viewed from particular angles. In females, the entire fore-wing darkens.

Although butterfly and moth species that are active during the day are known to employ visual effects to communicate, researchers had thought their nocturnal cousins relied almost __32__ on chemical signals because of the lack of light. But these __33__ wing patterns, now found for the first time in a nocturnal moth, suggest the insects may also use visual signals. Because only the males have this pattern, researchers say it is likely a(n) __34__ selected mechanism.

Jennifer Kelley, an ecologist based at the University of Western Australia, and her colleagues first noticed the visual phenomenon while looking at museum moth specimens（标本）for another project. "As soon as we figured the effect was angel - __35__, we knew that no understand how it works, we had to understand the __36__ physics," Kelley says. The group contacted Gerd Schroder-Turk and Bodo Wilts, who are physicists at Murdoch University in Perth and the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Switzerland respectively.

Together the researchers found that when the wings are viewed from above, they __37__ available light directly, like a dull mirror. When viewed from an angle, however, they let some of the light through to reveal a deeper layer of darkness, which __38__ as patches on the male's wings. If the insects were to beat their wings __39__ - a common behavior among males approaching potential mates - the patches would flash on and off, creating a striking signal even in very __40__ light.

III. Reading Comprehensions

Section A

Directions: For each blank in the following passage, there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.