California Preps for Fire Season
WINDSOR, Calif—Grass and other vegetation have begun to cover the ash left behind when the largest blaze of the 2019 wildfire season burned the edge of this Northern California town about four months ago.
“It's not an accident that Windsor got saved,” Mayor Dominic Foppoli said. “We went through 2017. We watched it happen again in Paradise.”
Forecasters expect warmer and drier weather in California heading into spring, which could cause grasses to dry out and lead to an earlier than normal start to this year's fire season.
"We have indicators that we're drying out already," said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
| A．The season used to take off around June but has been starting earlier and earlier for the past few years. |
| B．With deadly and destructive wildfires burning every season, California communities are preparing for the worst. |
| C．Firefighters in the area were challenged by constantly shifting winds and narrow, winding roadways. |
| D．Windsor still stands because most of its residents grabbed pre-packed emergency go-bags and evacuated immediately when ordered |
| E．A few days later. Windsor officials stood roadside with signs to welcome residents back. |
| F．Many also are reconsidering building codes and emphasizing the need to create defensible spaces by limiting flammables around homes and businesses |
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【推荐1】The cotton harvest is about to get underway in the Texas High Plains, the windswept region that grows most of the crop in the nation’s top cotton-producing state. But Barry Evans, a third-generation cotton grower, has already walked away from more than 2,000 acres (英亩) of his bone-dry fields. “It just didn’t come up. We hardly had anything,” said Evans.
Extreme heat and a lack of rainfall have severely damaged much of this year’s cotton harvest in the U.S., which produces about 35% of the world’s crop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast that more than 40% of what U.S. farmers planted in the spring would be abandoned because of drought. Nowhere is this more apparent than the flat, dry stretch of Texas. The USDA says Texas cotton farmers are likely to abandon nearly 70% of their spring planting. That has been the worst harvest since 2009.
The region normally receives around 18 to 20 inches of rain per year, but saw less than three inches of rain from August through the summer, as nearly all of Texas baked under drought. Much of the cotton grown in the region needs rain. Even those with irrigated (灌溉的) fields are expecting low yields (产量) this year.
The losses in cotton could cost the Texas High Plains $1.2 billion after farmers receive federal (联邦的) crop insurance payments, estimates Darren Hudson, director of the International Center for Agricultural Competitiveness at Texas Tech University. That leaves out others who depend on the crop, such as cotton gins (轧棉机) and storehouses. “Any time you have a bad year in cotton, it has a role to play in the overall economy,” Hudson said.
Fortunately, most cotton farmers in this part of Texas plan to use cotton seed varieties that can resist drought. Varieties are continuously developed and will be adjusted to generate high yields if dry conditions continue. “Even though it’s drought resistant,” Hudson added, “we still have to have a little bit of help from Mother Nature.”
1. What are the statistics in paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The impact of extreme weather on U.S. farmers. |
| B．The world’s cotton distribution. |
| C．USDA’s measures to address drought. |
| D．The amount of U.S. cotton harvest in 2009. |
| A．Texas is unfriendly to cotton farmers. | B．Cotton is vital to the American economy. |
| C．Farmers depend much on Mother Nature. | D．Cotton gins are unaffected by cotton losses. |
| A．Build effective irrigation systems. | B．Apply for federal crop insurance. |
| C．Switch to growing a different crop. | D．Use further improved cotton seeds. |
| A．Drought pushes cotton prices to a new high. | B．The world’s cotton supply keeps falling. |
| C．Texas cotton takes a hit during drought. | D．Drought impacts the quality of cotton. |
【推荐2】Snow in the Wasatch Mountains above Salt Lake City had more dust deposited (沉积) on it in2022 than in any year since observations began in 2009. The dust deposits caused snow to disappear 17 days earlier than before.
“Earlier, faster snow melt may change the water supply for the 1.2 million people living there, as well as ecosystems downstream,” says McKenzie Skiles, a snow hydrologist at the University of Utah. “It also affects the region’s ski areas, which contribute more than $1.5 billion per year to the local economy.”
In dry parts of the western America, snow acts as a natural reservoir (蓄水池). More than half the water in Salt Lake City comes from four streams that drain snow out of the Wasatch Mountains. But current forecasting tools don’t account for the impact of dust, which absorbs sunlight, speeding up snow melt. That means people can’t accurately predict when snow runoffs (径流) will happen so they can use water efficiently.
As a skier, Skiles noticed the mountains near Salt Lake City looked especially dirty in 2022. So she and her colleagues investigated whether the increase in dust was related to constant years of record-low water.
They collected snow samples there and found that storms deposited substantial amounts of dust 16 times during the 2022 snow melt season. After calculating where the dust came from during each storm based on wind direction and atmospheric conditions, they found that Great Salt Lake contributed nearly a quarter of the total dust to the study site. It also released the most dust relative to the lake’s exposed surface area. “This was surprising,” Skiles says, “because the Great Salt Lake’s dry lakebed is tiny compared with the exposed surfaces of neighboring dust sources.”
“Utah will be drier because earlier snow melt causes the landscape to dry out faster,”Skiles explains. As Great Salt Lake gets smaller and deposits more dust on the mountains, there’s less water available to refill the lake during the summer, which in turn exposes a larger dust source.
1. What is the direct result of earlier and faster snow melt?| A．The water for living may be polluted. | B．Spring will come earlier than before. |
| C．Ski areas will turn to other sports events. | D．Domestic water supply will be influenced. |
| A．They are inapplicable to Salt Lake City. | B．They don’t take the dust into account. |
| C．They can’t predict the time of snowfall. | D．They are imprecise due to regional difference. |
| A．It’s too much for such a small area. | B．It’s only found in the dry lakebeds. |
| C．It has made Salt Lake City warmer. | D．It is often affected by wind direction. |
| A．Utah Is in Urgent Need of Fresh Water |
| B．Smaller Great Salt Lake Leads to Less Dust |
| C．More Dust Is Speeding Utah’s Snow Melt |
| D．Utah Becomes Drier with Summer Coming |
【推荐3】The nation watched with horror as wildfire in California damaged the town of Paradise and surrounding communities. It was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, killing 85 civilians and destroying nearly 14,000 residences. More than 50,000 people were left homeless.
Watching the news coverage from his home in Denver, Colorado, Woody Faircloth was saddened by the destruction. Many people found themselves homeless with nowhere to live. He just couldn’t imagine being in that position. He knew he wanted to do something to help. He set up a GoFundMe page and invited people to donate so they could purchase and restore a used RV (休闲车) for a family.
Through social media, Faircloth eventually got connected with a family of six that was greatly in need. Faircloth filled the RV with supplies and started the nearly 1,200-mile drive to California to deliver the vehicle. That first donated RV led to another and Faircloth had more than 100 requests for RVs from homeless families. Witnessing how great the need was, Faircloth turned his idea into a nonprofit organization, “we have a platform to help, we have to keep helping,” said Faircloth, whose group has so far given more than 65 RVs to wildfire survivors.
Today, only a minimal amount of rebuilding has begun in Paradise and a majority of the area’s displaced population is still homeless. Faircloth connects with RV owners interested in donating or selling their used RVs at a low cost. He refits the RVs himself and negotiates costs when he needs to hire professional mechanics for heavy-duty repairs. Once the RV is ready to go, Faircloth organizes a way to transport it to the survivors. The work is constant for Faircloth, who also has to do his fulltime job as an account manager. But seeing the impact of his efforts inspires him to keep going. “We have made connections with people at their most vulnerable (脆弱的) moment. It’s such a powerful thing for them,” Faircloth said.
1. How did the writer show the terrible damage of the wildfire?| A．By repeating facts. | B．By describing the process. |
| C．By listing figures. | D．By quoting sayings. |
| A．He wanted people to donate food supplies to survivors. |
| B．He tried to raise money to buy used RVs for survivors. |
| C．He wanted to connect with the families in need. |
| D．He hoped to raise funds to rebuild homes for victims. |
| A．It has delivered over 65 RVs to homeless survivors. |
| B．It rebuilt Paradise within a minimal amount of time. |
| C．It sold used RVs to wildfire victims at a low cost |
| D．It invited mechanics to repair RVs free of charge. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Honest. | C．Independent. | D．Caring. |
