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. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

You probably haven't taken the time to think of all the work that went into creating the shirt on your back. I mean, how hard it could be to create fabric and (26) ______ it into a shirt shape. Don't machines do all that? Well, creating fabric from cotton, which is the most (27) ______ clothing material, is actually a process that involves a lot of water, 2,700 liters per shirt to be (28) ______. Take a look at the video below from National Geographic for some more mind-blowing (29) ______ about cotton clothing production.

Clean water is (30) ______ becoming one of the most sought-after resources in the world. Given how large the (31) ______ and cotton industries are, they take up a lot of our fresh water demands across the world, according to The Huffington Post. The video from National Geographic was created to spread (32) ______ of how environmentally harmful cotton is. But the situation can be made better. Through better water management and farming practices, water usage in cotton production can be cut down by (33) ______ 40 percent.

Called “Better Cotton”, this environmentally conscious product will save millions of liters of water a year simply from (34) ______ the demands of cotton production. Cotton doesn't have to go, since it is, after all, one of the most useful cash crops across the globe. However, as water supplies (35) ______, farmers and consumers need to be more conscious of the effect that these products have on the environment as a whole.

Word Bank

A) abstracts

B) abundant

C) awareness

D) conscience

E) exact

F) increasingly

G) intense

H) mend

I) nearly

J) reckoning

K) reducing

L) sew

M) shrink

N) statistics

O) textile

Answers & Explanations

26. L (sew)。解析：位于 and 之后，与前面的动词 create 并列，需要填入动词原形。搭配 `it into a shirt shape` (把它变成衬衫的形状)，结合常识，布料需要“缝制 (sew)”成衣服。

27. B (abundant)。解析：位于最高级 the most 之后，名词 clothing material 之前，需要填入形容词。棉花是世界上最“丰富/常见 (abundant)”的服装材料。

28. E (exact)。解析：固定搭配 `to be exact`，意为“确切地说”，用于给出精确的数字（这里是 2,700 升）。

29. N (statistics)。解析：位于形容词 mind-blowing 之后，介词 about 之前，需要填入名词。National Geographic 的视频提供的是令人震惊的“统计数据 (statistics)”。

30. F (increasingly)。解析：位于系动词 is 和现在分词 becoming 之间，需要填入副词。干净的水正“日益/越来越多地 (increasingly)”成为最抢手的资源。

31. O (textile)。解析：位于定冠词 the 之后，与 and 后面的 cotton industries 并列，需要填入名词或形容词。指代的是“纺织 (textile)”业和棉花产业。

32. C (awareness)。解析：位于动词 spread 之后，搭配介词 of。固定搭配 `spread awareness of` 意为传播/提高对...的“认识/意识 (awareness)”。

33. I (nearly)。解析：位于介词 by 之后，数字 40 percent 之前，需要填入副词修饰数字。用水量可以减少“将近/几乎 (nearly)” 40%。

34. K (reducing)。解析：位于介词 from 之后，需要填入动名词。通过“减少 (reducing)”棉花生产的需求来节约水。

35. M (shrink)。解析：位于由 as 引导的时间状语从句中，主语是 water supplies (复数)，需要填入动词原形。随着水资源的“萎缩/减少 (shrink)”。

核心搭配与高分句型

【核心搭配与高频短语】

• go into：投入到...中（work that went into creating the shirt）
• to be exact：确切地说
• sought-after：受欢迎的，抢手的（most sought-after resources）
• take up：占据（take up a lot of our fresh water demands）
• spread awareness of：传播/提高对...的意识
• cut down by：减少了...（cut down by nearly 40 percent）
• cash crops：经济作物
• as a whole：作为一个整体，总体上（on the environment as a whole）

【亮点句型解析】

• Given + 名词/从句 (介词短语作状语)：
  "Given how large the textile and cotton industries are, they take up a lot of our fresh water demands..."
  （考虑到纺织和棉花产业的规模有多大，它们占据了我们全球大量的淡水需求...）`Given` 在这里作介词，意为“考虑到，鉴于”，后接 `how` 引导的宾语从句。这是四级阅读和写作中非常地道的高级表达，用于引出背景原因。
• As 引导的时间状语从句 (表示“随着”)：
  "However, as water supplies shrink, farmers and consumers need to be more conscious of the effect..."
  （然而，随着水资源供应的萎缩，农民和消费者需要更加意识到...）`as` 表示两个动作同时发生，翻译为“随着”，常用于描述趋势变化。