Section A: Banked Cloze
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
No beast on Earth is tougher than the tiny tardigrade (缓步类动物). It can “(26) ______ being frozen at -272° Celsius being exposed to the vacuum of outer space and even being (27) ______ with 500 times the dose of X-rays that would kill a human. In other words, the creature can endure conditions that don’t even exist on Earth. And researchers are looking to the microscopic animals to learn how to prepare humans and crops to handle the (28) ______ of space travel.
The tardigrade’s indestructibility stems from its (29) ______ to its environment — which may seem surprising, since it lives in (30) ______ comfortable places like the cool, wet patches of moss (青苔) that dot a garden wall.
But it turns out that a tardigrade’s damp, mossy home can dry out many times each year. Drying is pretty (31) ______ for most living things. It does damage to cells in some of the same ways that freezing, vacuum and radiation do. Tardigrades, however, have (32) ______ special strategies for dealing with these kinds of damage.
As a tardigrade dries out, its cells produce several strange proteins that are unlike anything found in other animals. In water, the proteins are shapeless. But as water disappears, the proteins self-assemble into long fibers that fill the cell’s (33) ______. The fibers support the cell’s membranes (细胞膜) and proteins, preventing them from breaking or (34) ______.
Emulating tardigrades could one day help humans colonize outer space. Food crops could be engineered to produce tardigrade proteins, allowing these organisms to grow more efficiently on spacecraft where levels of radiation are elevated compared with on Earth.
So if humans ever succeed in reaching the stars, they may accomplish this (35) ______, in part, by standing on the shoulders of the tiny eight-legged endurance specialists in your backyard.
Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)
Section A: Banked Cloze
26. K (survive)。解析：空格前为情态动词 `can`，后接动名词结构 `being frozen...`，需要填入及物动词原形。句意为水熊虫能够“______被冷冻至零下272摄氏度”。选项 `survive`（挺过，幸存）最符合，`survive doing sth.` 意为“从...中挺过来/幸存下来”。
27. B (blasted)。解析：空格在 `being` 之后，且后接介词 `with`，需要填入过去分词构成被动语态。句意为“甚至被足以杀死人类500倍剂量的X射线______”。选项 `blasted`（轰击，猛烈攻击）最贴切，`be blasted with` 意为“被...轰击”。
28. I (rigors)。解析：空格在 `the` 和 `of` 之间，需要填入名词。句意为研究人员希望学习如何让人类和农作物应对太空旅行的“______”。选项 `rigors`（严酷，艰苦条件）完美契合语境。
29. A (adaptations)。解析：空格在物主代词 `its` 和介词 `to` 之间，需要填入名词。前文提到水熊虫的不可破坏性，这种特性源自于它对环境的“______”。选项 `adaptations`（适应）最为恰当，`adaptations to its environment` 指“对环境的适应机制”。
30. J (seemingly)。解析：空格在介词 `in` 之后，修饰形容词 `comfortable`，需要填入副词。句意为“因为它生活在______舒适的地方，比如凉爽潮湿的青苔上”。这里存在转折意味，选项 `seemingly`（看似，表面上地）符合逻辑，即表面上舒适，实则会干涸。
31. C (catastrophic)。解析：空格在副词 `pretty` 之后，作系动词 `is` 的表语，需要填入形容词。句意为“干燥对于大多数生物来说是相当______的”。选项 `catastrophic`（灾难性的）符合语境，后文也解释了干燥会像冷冻和辐射一样破坏细胞。
32. D (evolved)。解析：空格在助动词 `have` 之后，后接名词宾语 `special strategies`，需填入过去分词构成现在完成时。句意为“然而，水熊虫已经______出应对这些损害的特殊策略”。选项 `evolved`（进化，发展出）最合适。
33. F (interior)。解析：空格在名词所有格 `cell's` 之后，需填入名词。句意为“当水消失时，蛋白质会自动组装成长纤维，充满细胞的______”。选项 `interior`（内部）符合生物学常识。
34. O (unfolding)。解析：空格在连词 `or` 之后，与前面的动名词 `breaking`（破裂）并列，需要填入 `v.-ing` 形式，且动作对象是蛋白质。句意为“纤维支撑细胞膜和蛋白质，防止它们破裂或______”。蛋白质结构的破坏通常被称为解叠或解体，选项 `unfolding`（展开，解开）极其精准。
35. E (feat)。解析：空格在指示代词 `this` 之后，作动词 `accomplish` 的宾语，需要填入单数名词。句意为“如果人类有朝一日成功到达星际，他们也许能在一定程度上通过站在这些八条腿的耐力专家的肩膀上，来完成这一______”。选项 `feat`（壮举，功绩）与语境完美匹配。
【核心搭配与高分句型】
stem from：源自于，由...造成（stems from its adaptations to its environment）
deal with：处理，应付（special strategies for dealing with these kinds of damage）
prevent ... from ...：防止...发生...（preventing them from breaking or unfolding）
compared with：与...相比（are elevated compared with on Earth）
in part：在某种程度上，部分地（accomplish this feat, in part, by standing on the shoulders...）
stand on the shoulders of...：站在...的肩膀上（比喻借鉴或利用前人的成果/生物的特性）
【长难句解析】
"Food crops could be engineered to produce tardigrade proteins, allowing these organisms to grow more efficiently on spacecraft where levels of radiation are elevated compared with on Earth."
（粮食作物可以通过基因工程来产生水熊虫蛋白质，从而使得这些生物在辐射水平高于地球的宇宙飞船上更高效地生长。）
此句使用了 `allowing` 引导的现在分词短语作结果状语，且在状语内部嵌套了 `where` 引导的定语从句修饰 `spacecraft`，结构紧凑且逻辑严密，是说明文的经典句式。
（粮食作物可以通过基因工程来产生水熊虫蛋白质，从而使得这些生物在辐射水平高于地球的宇宙飞船上更高效地生长。）
此句使用了 `allowing` 引导的现在分词短语作结果状语，且在状语内部嵌套了 `where` 引导的定语从句修饰 `spacecraft`，结构紧凑且逻辑严密，是说明文的经典句式。