广东省广州市第五中学2025-2026学年高三上学期12月段考英语试卷

She would carry me on her back into the ocean, moving steadily along the tide. I followed my grandmother's strong motions, thrilled by the wild sea and her fearlessness. I admired how she seemed born to the water, emerging like a queen — proud, radiant, and benevolent.

Summer made our Black bodies more visible and vulnerable against narrow cultural ideals, but my grandmother never noticed. She focused on teaching me to swim — a skill that seemed unnecessary to some, as the popular media never portrayed the "great outdoors" as a welcoming place for Black people. It was seen as a space where we might feel uncomfortable or even threatened. But to me, those perceptions didn't matter. When I finally learned to swim, it felt like I had unlocked a profound and personal secret of strength and freedom.

I once wondered why enslaved Africans didn't jump from ships near shore and swim to freedom. Later I learned that most coastal waters in West Africa were filled with poisonous fish, making swimming uncommon and dangerous. Now, whenever I enter the ocean, I remember my ancestors for whom the sea was a place of terror rather than freedom.

Only after my grandmother's death did I learn she wasn't a strong swimmer herself. She had been brushing the ocean floor with her feet all along, keeping us afloat while teaching me rhythm and trust. Her quiet deception was not a lie but a profound act of bravery and courage. Though she hadn't mastered it herself, my grandmother was determined to teach me to swim — not for the strokes, but for the strength and self-belief that would keep me afloat in life.

We were inspired by Claude Shannon's communication theory, which showed that repeated information can ensure reliability when sending messages through noisy communication channels. We wondered if the same principle could help move goods via robot. That is, if we want to transport goods over "noisy" environment, say fallen trees and large rocks, in a reasonable amount of time, could we do it by just adding legs to the robot and do so without expensive sensors and cameras?

Our idea was to forget about sensing altogether and replace it with the simple act of taking repeated steps. Our analysis suggested this could provide reliable and predictable movement. To test our hypothesis, we built robots inspired by centipedes (蜈蚣) and gradually increased their legs from six to sixteen. The more legs we added, the better the robots moved over uneven surfaces. We then tried outdoor tests on real ground. Even without sensors, the many-legged robots showed impressive flexibility. This gives them potential uses in agriculture, space exploration, and search-and-rescue work.

Transporting goods is essential to modern society. Other researchers are building increasingly intelligent humanoid robots. But such machines depend heavily on accurate sensors to know where they are and what lies ahead, limiting them in unpredictable environments. In search-and-rescue operations, for example, sensors can be damaged and surroundings can change suddenly.

We have already applied our findings to the field of crop farming by founding a company that uses these robots to efficiently weed farmland. As we continue to advance this technology, we are focused on refining the robot's design and functionality. The team's next step is to determine the ideal number of legs to balance the performance and cost. So far, we know that twelve legs are the minimum for effective movement without sensing, but we are still exploring the perfect number.

Our work shows that dealing with difficult environment can be as simple as taking it one step at a time — provided you have enough legs. By focusing on motion rather than high-tech sensing, we may open the door to robots that can go where others cannot.

This tendency can be explained through what is known as the fawn response, a behavioral pattern less recognized than the "fight or flight" reaction. The fawn response involves attempts to please others in order to feel safe, a strategy often developed in childhood when facing critical or emotionally neglectful parents, or an unstable home environment. While this strategy may ease conflict temporarily, it can also lead to a habitual cycle of approval-seeking. We might intellectually understand that a friend isn't upset with us — but those "old ways of being" bite hard. Something was learned early on: "I need to try harder and do more to be loved."

This pattern has several consequences. On the personal level, it fuels anxiety, as individuals repeatedly question whether they have offended their peers. On the interpersonal level, it can strain relationships, since constant demands for reassurance may frustrate friends and even create the very rejection that was worried about. In this way, assuming everyone is annoyed with you can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The key is understanding that it is not the end of the world — or a friendship. Conflict is not only unavoidable; it can even be healing, demonstrating that intimacy can survive difference. Learning to tolerate discomfort, rather than avoiding it at all costs, can foster both toughness and closeness.

Social media, unfortunately, worsens social anxiety. The absence of nonverbal cues makes it easy to misinterpret tone, while the constant visibility of online interactions can intensify feelings of exclusion or neglect. Managing these anxieties requires conscious effort. Instead of seeking immediate reassurance, individuals can pause to ask: Am I truly being rejected, or am I simply anxious? Developing tolerance for uncertainty can interrupt the cycle and reduce dependence on others' approval. Trust also plays a role. When friends say they are simply busy or distracted, accept their words at face value. After all, no question or magic phrase can control another person's perception. Even if it could, you might be robbing yourself of opportunities to grow, learn or deepen a bond.

Two wild apes have a professor and a pop star to act as high-tech matchmakers (红娘)! Our young would-be lovers are Skywalker Gibbons (天行者长臂猿), a new ape species announced in 2017. With only a handful left in the Gaoligong Mountains on the China-Myanmar border, every couple matters.

Singing is central to a gibbon's life, and their calls can travel for miles. Deep in the jungle, a lone female sings each morning, in the hope of winning a life-long partner. A single male lives twenty miles away — but they can't find each other over the long distance. Without help, they may never find each other.

That help comes from an unlikely duo: Beijing pop star Xingyu Lee and Professor Fan, leader of the research team on Skywalker Gibbons. They have designed and built a system of microphones and speakers that link two locations across the jungle. In human terms, they have an effective dating app — and it has the gibbon scientists of the world buzzing.

Professor Fan is determined to make an all-wild match. They duet (二重唱), and as one gibbon searches

for the other, drawn by the songs, Fan and Lee move the speakers, and guide the gibbons through the jungle maze until they are within natural earshot.

The landscape is steep, and the equipment must be moved again and again to guide the singers closer. Scientists like Fan works with local villagers, even poachers and city engineers to keep the system running in the wild. The project becomes a rare partnership between people who once lived off the forest and those who now seek to save it.

Thanks to a dating app and a wild love song down the telephone, the two Skywalker Gibbons are now about to meet — a match that could determine the future of a species.

A. Still, many challenges remain.

B. For the first time, wild gibbons can sing together.

C. Professor Fan has spent many years studying rare apes.

D. In a first attempt, he connects a wild pair by telephone.

E. It's a crisis for a rare species, and calls for an immediate solution.

F. Despite the challenges, villagers and engineers work hand in hand.

G. The story is as dramatic as any opera and may decide the future of a species.

Shocked by her actions, the police nearby ran to her rescue. Samiya, the mother of three young children, was pulled out of the way and3 faced no severe injuries. As the reality of the situation began to4 her, Samiya sat by the roadside in tears, struggling to respond to the question on everyone's mind: "Why?"

The answer to that question lay in the days before that morning. It was Christmas Day, and while others were celebrating the holiday with5, Samiya sat and watched as her three children ate the6 of the food they had in the house.

Samiya sat silently, anxious about how to provide their next meal. Dinner time came quickly, and the children silently filled their stomachs with7 and went to sleep. They never asked for food and never uttered a word of8.

"The fact that they didn't9 ask me for food broke my heart more than that there was nothing I could give them for dinner," said Samiya. "My last born even told me his stomach was still10 from the food he had in the morning."

Heartbroken but11 to change her family's situation, Samiya and her children went to bed hungry. The next day, Samiya was up early to return to her12 at the local market selling herbal leaves she had collected earlier. However, that day13 to be worse than ever; she sold nothing and earned nothing. Her children went to bed with only water in their stomachs yet again.

"What tortured me the most was my children's14. I wished they would complain, cry or even go to the neighbours to ask for food," said Samiya.

Fortunately, her story reached the public, and the donations in different forms provided a way out of her15 situation without it ending in tragedy.

Some 4, 000 years ago, the Liangzhu culture, known for its sophisticated city of canals (call) "China's Venice of the Stone Age," suddenly disappeared. Historians debated whether war, disease, or starvation caused its collapse, but recent research points to climate change a key factor.

Located near the East China Sea, Liangzhu (be) home to an advanced Stone Age civilization for about 1,000 years, supporting an active agricultural system through its canals. Liangzhu City was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Researchers from the University of Innsbruck had long sought to explain Liangzhu was abandoned, and the discovery of a thin layer of clay on the ruins suggested a possible connection between the ends of the advanced civilization floods of the Yangtze River or floods from the East China Sea. However, no clear conclusions on the cause were possible from the mud layer (it).

A breakthrough came when scientists studied stalagmites (石笋) from two nearby underwater caves. As Dr. Peter Dockrill reported for Science Alert, their team discovered chemical signatures from about 4,300 years ago that showed (extreme) high rainfall, probably caused by the (warm) of ocean waters in the Pacific - an event known as the El Nino (厄尔尼诺).

The study notes that wet conditions lasted for several hundred years following the collapse of Liangzhu, eventually paving the way for the rise of the Xia dynasty in 2070 B.C.E. It's celebrated (found), Yu the Great, introduced more extensive flood-control methods and is known as the "Tamer of the Flood."

1.活动的时间、地点；

2.活动内容；

3.活动意义。

注意：1.写作词数应为100个左右；

2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Exploring Nature in Autumn

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With every step, my legs trembled like loose springs. The cold bit through my layers of clothing, and the wind whistled strangely across the steep, rocky face of the mountain. Negative thoughts crowded my mind, echoing with every labored breath: You're too fat, too unfit — a fool for even trying this. The weight of the climb felt less physical than emotional, as though each doubt were another stone in my pack.

An hour into the climb, I was finished—physically broken, mentally defeated. I told Sarah, one of the organizers, that I needed to turn back. Her response stuck with me: "That doesn't sound like the man who finished the Marathon. Keep going. You can do it." Those words did something magic. And so I continued, placing one heavy foot slowly in front of the other, my world narrowed to the next step, and the next.

By 2 a.m., sitting on a cold rock with sweat freezing beneath my clothes, I felt I had bitten off more than I could chew — this mountain was too much for me. Anger began to build — an old companion, but this time I channeled it into determination. I stood up and told my guide, "Let's go." He nodded, then silently handed me a small bottle of hot water — the first real gesture of warmth he had offered beyond his necessary instructions since we started.

Then the tears came. I cried uncontrollably, hiding my freezing face under my hat. For hours, I climbed mechanically over snow-covered rocks, complaining about the pain, laughing at how ridiculous it all was, falling more than once, but always repeating to myself: Just one more step. You still have a chance. And then, through the wind, I caught a glimpse of distant glaciers (冰川), their edges glowing faintly even in the deep dark, a silent promise that the sunrise was on its way.

注意：

(1)续写词数应为150左右；

(2)请按照如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Two hours from the top, I met climbers heading down.

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At the top, as I struggled with my camera for a photo, my guide held out his hand.

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