The Mangrove Rivulus, a type of small killifish, lives in small pools of water in a certain type of empty nut or even old beer cans in the mangrove swamps of Belize, the United States and Brazil. When their living place dries up, they live on the land in logs (圆木), said Scott Taylor, a researcher at the Brevard Endangered Lands Program in Florida.
The fish, whose scientific name is Rivulus marmoratus, can grow as large as three inches. They group together in logs and breathe air through their skin until they can find water again.
The new scientific discovery came after a trip to Belize.
“We kicked over a log and the fish just came crowding out.” Taylor told Reuters in neighboring Guatemala by telephone. He said he will make his study on the fish known to the public in an American magazine early next year.
In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can live up to 66 days out of water without eating.
Some other fish can live out of water for a short period of time. The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can stay on land for hours at a time, while lungfish found in Australia, Africa and South America can live out of water, but only in an inactive state. But no other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and remain active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at Canada’s University of Guelph.
Further studies of the fish may tell how animals changed over time.
“These animals live in conditions similar to those that existed millions of years ago, when animals began making the transition (过渡) from water onto land,” Wright said.
1. The Mangrove Rivulus is a type of fish that__________.A.like eating nuts |
B.prefers living in dry places |
C.is the longest living fish on earth |
D.can stay alive for two months out of water |
A.Patricia Wright | B.Researchers in Guatemala |
C.Scientists from Belize | D.Scott Taylor |
A.breathe through its skin |
B.move freely on dry land |
C.remain alive out of water |
D.be as active on land as in water |
A.It was made quite by accident |
B.It was based on a lab test of sea life |
C.It was supported by an American magazine |
D.It was helped by Patricia Wright |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Researchers have found, for the first time plants letting out sounds when they are stressed. According to a study a team of scientists recorded tomato and tobacco (烟草) plants producing sound frequencies which humans cannot hear in stressful situations—such as when they experienced a lack of water or their stems (茎) were cut.
Previous research has shown that plants respond to stress by producing several visual and chemical signals. For example, stressed plants may differ in color and shape compared to unstressed plants. Meanwhile, some are also known to let out things in response to drought (干旱) or being eaten.
The latest study, meanwhile, is the first to identify plants making sounds which can be detected over a distance. The team detected the tomato plants made 35 sounds an hour on average when they were exposed to drought conditions, while the tobacco plants produced 11. When the stems of the plants were cut, the tomato plants made 25 sounds an hour on average and the tobacco plants produced 15. As a comparison, unstressed plants made less than one sound per hour on average, according to the study.
The team say that while they only tested tomato and tobacco, it’s possible that other plants could also produce sounds, adding that the latest findings could have an influence on agriculture. “Plant sound production could offer a new way for monitoring crops water state—a question of key importance in agriculture”, the authors wrote in the study more precise irrigation can save up to 50 percent of the water cost and increase the production.
“In times when more and more areas are exposed to drought due to climate change, while human population and consumption keep increasing, effective water use becomes even more important for food security”, they said “Our results, showing the ability to distinguish between drought-stressed and control plants on the basis of plant sounds, open a new direction in the field of precision agriculture.”
1. Which of the following best describes plants’ response to stress in the study?A.Sing. | B.Laugh. |
C.Cry. | D.Sigh. |
A.Humans can hear the sound produced by plants. |
B.Stressed and unstressed plants look the same. |
C.Plants in stressful situations make the fewest sounds. |
D.Stressed tomato plants make more sounds than tobacco. |
A.Lower the cost. | B.Better the quality. |
C.Monitor climate change. | D.Control the pests. |
A.Science. | B.Health. |
C.Education. | D.Culture. |
【推荐2】Scientists exploring a marine trench(海沟) near Japan were surprised to find a type of snailfish in one of the deepest parts of the ocean, at 8, 336 meters below the surface. The creature is probably the deepest fish anyone will ever find.
“They can’t really go any deeper,” says deep-sea scientist Alan Jamieson of the University of West Australia, who led the team that made the discovery, considering the theoretical limit of fish physiology(生理机能) is around 8, 400 meters to ensure that fish cells don’t become too small at such enormous pressures. “If anyone does find fish deeper than this, it will not be by much,” Jamieson says. The previous record holder, a junior snail fish seen in the Mariana Trench, was filmed at a depth of 8, 178 meters in 2017.
Prosanta Chakrabarty, director of fishes at Louisiana State University’s Museum of Natural Science, is impressed that the fish could survive so far down, where the water pressure is 800tes that of the surface. “At that depth, everything from gas exchange for breathing to nearly every physiological function seems impossible,” he says. “I can barely swim to the bottom of a swimming pool without my ears exploding.”
Jamieson’s team discovered the snail fish in August 2022 at the bottom of the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, near the main islands of Japan. To explore deep ocean trenches, the team was using manned and unmanned underwater vehicles equipped with cameras, lights and batteries, along with a weight to carry the equipment to the seafloor, unexpectedly photographing the fish.
The warmer water seems to be why the snail fish survive. These snail fish are living near the edge of what’s possible. “The difference is less than a degree, so we wouldn’t care,” Jamieson says. “But it makes a difference to sea animals.”
In an e-mail to Scientific American, Dahiana Arcila, a scientist who studies fishes noted the part played by technology in the discovery. “Detectors and landers will gain a deeper understanding of the unexplored regions of our planet’s oceans,” she wrote.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?A.The snail fish is native to the marine trench. |
B.The finding is within the expectations of the scientist. |
C.It was the Japanese scientists that conducted the exploration. |
D.The fish maybe the deepest one in the ocean now and forever. |
A.They both made record-breaking discoveries. |
B.They both used manned and unmanned vehicles. |
C.They both expanded the limit of fish physiology. |
D.They both found snail fish at a depth of 8, 400 metres. |
A.Concerned. | B.Confused. | C.Surprised. | D.Disappointed. |
A.To emphasize the necessity of marine exploration. |
B.To encourage a deeper exploration of unknown oceans. |
C.To stress the role of advanced technology in the research. |
D.To confirm the importance of the discovery to our planet. |
【推荐3】Plants, and the insects which rely on them, are the living foundations of our planet. But these foundations are under stress because we have a tendency to replace fields and forests with decorative trees and shrubs imported from around the world. Adding to the problem, our obsession (痴迷) with perfection leads us to use a lot of pesticides (杀虫剂).
These actions are part of the reason global biodiversity is crashing. There are over three billion fewer wild birds in North America than there were in 1970. Recent research shows that insect numbers, even in nature reserves, have fallen, and 40 percent of all insect species may be extinct within a few decades. This is discouraging news; however, there are actions we can take to help bring at least some species back.
The first step is to redefine our concept of “garden” to include more than just plants. We need to intentionally share our space, and not just with the birds, bees and butterflies that visit our flowers, but also with the little insects that may eat a part (very rarely all) of our plants. Therefore, we must limit pesticide use. It’s crucial to support nature’s recovery, and it’s much better for everyone: no doctor has ever recommended long-term exposure to pesticides.
Many drought-tolerant plants brought in from across the planet are being passed off as ecofriendly. However, mostly they’re not. Yes, you’re saving water, but these foreign plants can become disasters when they escape our yards. Helping the environment can be about more than saving water. Even in drier areas, like the American West, the selection of attractive native plants to choose from is vast. If dry is your style, there are native wildflowers, flowering bushes and trees that allow you to save water and nature.
Xeriscapes (节水型园艺) leave many gardeners thirsting for green, and there’s an important alternative that has been largely ignored. For those disenchanted with dry landscaping, using underappreciated and water-loving native plants to make your garden a real-life oasis (绿洲) could be lifesaving to wildlife. In nature, this unsung group of native plants is limited to riparian zones, the narrow belts of green along water bodies, but if consumers demand them, nurseries will increasingly carry these riparian species, and the presence of such plants in the garden will provide for many animals including not just butterflies and their relatives but also colorful birds.
The ideal garden would offer a combination of drought-tolerant native plants and a few species that need a little more water, providing options for little guests and the bigger ones that will come to eat them. As more creatures stop by to share our yards, we will be making nature, and us all, a little healthier.
1. What do we know about insect species?A.They have an impact on the diversity of plants. |
B.They disappear because of lack of nature reserves. |
C.They decrease partly due to our pursuit for perfection. |
D.They are the reason why we replace fields and forests. |
A.sick of | B.addicted to |
C.concerned about | D.impatient with |
A.why we need grow native plants in gardens |
B.how gardening helps with biodiversity |
C.whether we should redefine “garden” |
D.what benefits gardening brings |
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub-point C: Conclusion
A.![]() | B.![]() |
C.![]() | D.![]() |
【推荐1】Are you sick of going to bed late and waking up tired? Then grab your hiking boots and a tent. A new study suggests that camping in the great outdoors for a couple of days can reset your body clock and help you get more sleep.
The body clock is an internal system that tells our bodies when it’s time to go to sleep and when it's time to wake up. Scientists track this clock by measuring the amount of melatonin (褪黑激素) circulating in a person’s blood at any given time.
In a healthy sleeper, melatonin levels rise a few hours before bedtime, stay high through the night, and then settle back down when it’s time to wake up.
In our modern society, however, most of us stay up many hours past sunset and would probably sleep in many hours after sunrise if we could. And the trouble is, your melatonin levels may still be high when your alarm clock goes off in the morning, which leads to fatigue. It may also have other health consequences as well, such as diabetes (糖尿病), overweight and heart disease.
Professor Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado in the US wanted to see if our body clocks can be reset by a short stay in nature. His team recruited (招募) fourteen physically active volunteers in their 20s and 30s. Nine went on a weekend camping trip, while the other five stayed home. At the end of the weekend, the researchers reported that in just two days, the campers’ body clocks had shifted so that their melatonin levels began to rise more than an hour earlier than they did before they left on the trip. By contrast, the body clocks of the group that stayed home shifted even later over the course of the weekend.
“This tells us we can reset our clocks fast,” Wright said.
Therefore, if you want to change your sleep patterns you could try to increase your exposure to natural light during the day and decrease the amount of artificial light you see at night. And if that doesn’t work,there’s always camping.
1. The underlined word “fatigue” in Paragraph 4 probably means ________.A.excitement |
B.tiredness |
C.relief |
D.disappointment |
A.Those staying outdoors reset the clock inside their bodies over a short period. |
B.The body clocks of the two groups didn’t show much difference. |
C.The body clocks of those who stayed at home remained the same. |
D.Changes to the body clock don't necessarily affect melatonin levels in our bodies. |
A.stay home to reset our body clock and get more sleep |
B.stay up late long past sunset and sleep long after sunrise |
C.get exposed to more natural light but less artificial light |
D.try to reduce melatonin levels as much as possible at night |
A.To inform us of a possible way to adjust the body clock. |
B.To explain how a lack of sleep is bad for our health. |
C.To analyze how the body clock influences our sleeping habits. |
D.To explore how the body clock is connected with melatonin levels. |
【推荐2】New research brings some good news for lovers of spicy(辛辣的) foods, after finding that eating hot red chili peppers might help to extend lifespan(寿命).
Consuming hot red chili peppers might reduce death risk, say Chopan and Littenberg from the research team. In hot peppers, such as Mexico peppers, the strong flavor comes from a compound(复合物), which does not exist in sweet peppers or onions. Studies have suggested that this compound can offer a welth of health benefits.
A study of more than 16,000 people in the United States revealed that individuals who consumed red chili peppers had a lower risk of death from all causes over an average of 18 years than those who did not eat the spicy food. Compared with participants who did not consume hot red chili peppers, those who did were found to be at 13 percent reduced risk of all-cause death.
For example, a recent study reported by Medical News Today, found that the compound might have the potential to stop breast cancer, while an earlier study linked the compound to a reduced risk of digest system cancers. Still, the available data suggested that hot red chili pepper consumption was most strongly associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease.
While the researchers are unable to identify the concrete compound by which red chili peppers might extend lifepan, the team says that it is likely due to the compound that is effectively against obesity(肥胖症).
Overall, the team says that these latest findings support those of the 2015 study, linking spicy food intake to reduced risk of death by showing “a significant decrease in death associated with hot red chili pepper consumption.” However, Chopan and Littenberg note that the earlier study was only conducted in Chinese adults, so the now research makes these findings more credible.
1. What can be inferred from the passage?A.The study only goes for American people. |
B.Red chili pepper can all-cause disease. |
C.The compound protects people against obesity. |
D.Onion consuming can reduce death risk. |
A.Hot red chili pepper lovers develop no cancers. |
B.Hot red chili peppers help control breast illness. |
C.Hot red chili peppers decrease heart disease. |
D.Hot red chili pepper intake may increase lifespan. |
A.Convincing. | B.Practical. | C.Encouraging. | D.Attractive. |
【推荐3】Some of the best research on daily experience is rooted in rates of positive and negative interactions, which has proved that being blindly positive or negative can cause others to be frustrated or annoyed or to simply tune out.
Over the last two decades, scientists have made remarkable predictions simply by watching people interact with one another and then scoring the conversations based on the rate of positive and negative interactions. Researchers have used the findings to predict everything from the likelihood that a couple will divorce to the chances of a work team having high customer satisfaction and productivity levels.
More recent research helps explain why these brief exchanges matter So much. When you experience negative emotions as a result of criticism or rejection, for example, your body produces higher levels of the stress hormone, which shuts down much of your thinking and activates(激活) conflict and defense mechanisms (机制). You assume situations as being worse than they actually are.
When you experience a positive interaction, it activates a very different response. Positive exchanges increase your body’s production of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that increases your ability to communicate with, cooperate with and trust others. But the effects of a positive occurrence are less dramatic and lasting than they are for a negative one. We need at least three to five positive interactions to outweigh( 比……更重要) every one negative exchange. Bad moments simply outweigh good ones. Whether you’re having a conversation, keep this simple short cut in mind: At least 80 percent of your conversation should be focused on what’s going right.
Workplaces, for example, often see this. During performance reviews, managers routinely spend 80 percent of their time on weaknesses and “areas for improvement”. They spend roughly 20 percent of the time on strengths and positive aspects. Any time you have discussions with a person or group, spend the vast majority of the time talking about what is working, and use the remaining time to address weaknesses.
1. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined part “tune out”in Paragraph 1?A.stop listening |
B.change one’s mind |
C.lose temper |
D.be at a loss |
A.Much of your thinking will be prevented. |
B.You’ll begin to look for the bright side of life. |
C.You will feel an urge to improve and become better. |
D.You’ll be motivated to resolve conflicts with people. |
A.We need a positive feeling to beat one negative feeling. |
B.Negative feelings can sometimes promote our productivity. |
C.Our conversation should center on what needs improvement. |
D.The effect of negative feelings lasts longer than that of positive ones. |
A.Ways to prevent negative thoughts. |
B.Positive interactions make the difference. |
C.Why negative thinking is unnecessary. |
D.How to promote workplace productivity. |
【推荐1】China on Monday issued strict new measures aimed at addressing what authorities describe as youth videogame addiction, which they blame for a variety of societal ills, including distracting young people from school and family responsibilities.
The new regulation, announced by the National Press and Publication Administration, will ban minors from playing videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday. On the other three days of the week, and on public holidays, they will be only permitted to play" between 8 p. m. and 9 p. m.
The announcement didn't offer a specific age for minors, but previous regulations targeting younger videogamers have drawn the line at 18 years old. Enforcement measures weren't detailed, but in response to previous moves by the government to limit videogame playing by young people, Tencent Holdings Ltd. , the world's largest videogame company, has used a combination of technologies, automatically kicking off players after a certain period of time and using real-name registration and facial-recognition technology to limit game play for minors.
In restricting videogame play for younger people, the government is seeking to "effectively protect the physical and mental health of minors," China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said Monday.
Monday's new rule is likely to be felt through China's online gaming industry, one of the world's largest. The measure comes as the Chinese government seeks to restrict China's technology industry, a campaign that has caused a trillion-dollar selloff in Chinese stock market and hit a range of businesses, including for-profit education providers, ride-hailing (打车) services and e-commerce platforms.
Videogames have become a particular object of anger as Beijing seeks to reshape an industry it has described as motivated by profit at the expense of public morals. A state-media remarks this month triggered a selloff in shares of Tencent after it published an article that described online games as "opium (鸦片) for the mind. "
After the regulations were published on Monday, following the close of stock-market trading, Tencent said it had introduced a variety of new functions to better protect minors. It promised to continue to do so as it "strictly follows and actively implements the latest requirements from Chinese authorities. "
1. According to the new regulation, how long can a minor play videogames during a weekend?A.One hour | B.Two hours | C.Three hours | D.Unlimited hours |
A.Parental guidance | B.Automatic registration |
C.Compulsory offline | D.Fingerprint identification |
A.They harm teenagers' mental health | B.They make people easy to get angry |
C.They make people entirely irresponsible | D.They bring in lots of profits for the government |
A.No More Games | B.Protection of the Youth |
C.The End of Technology Industry | D.Further Restriction on Youth Gaming |
【推荐2】Rising numbers of older adults are unable to care for themselves, often leading to serious health problems and even death, according to state and local government agencies. So-called self-neglect cases generally involve the inability to perform basic self-care, such as providing oneself with food, personal health, medication and safety.
Seniors who no longer drive, for instance, are often unable to get to medical appointments, worsening health problems that can make them unable to care for themselves. A fall can result in body injuries leaving one bedridden and unable to care for oneself. Failure to pay bills for public services could lead to service cutoffs. Forgetting to pay rent could lead to the loss of a home.
Mr. McCormack, 75 years old, and his wife, 71, both had mental illness and stayed in hospitals from time to time, unable to care for their possessions. Despite repeated visits to their home by local officials, the Mc-Cormacks declined assistance. But after they were found living in their car parked outside their house in December 2017, officials removed them from their home and helped them settle in a nursing home.
Self-neglect cases, like above, involved 144,296 people across the country in 2018, according to a report. The federal government doesn’t have comparable data for previous years, but several state and local service providers say they are seeing the self-neglect problem swell.
The reasons seniors stop caring for themselves vary, including illness, depression and poverty. The loss of the spouse or a neighbor who previously kept an eye on an individual often starts a decline into self-neglect, experts say. And the key to reducing self-neglect cases is providing services to enable seniors to remain in their homes safely, such as reliable transportation for medical appointments and shopping, as well as affordable home help.
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 2?A.Give examples of self-neglect cases. | B.Provide some advice for seniors. |
C.Summarize the previous paragraph. | D.Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
A.They longed for help from others. |
B.They took good care of themselves. |
C.They couldn’t afford to go to hospital. |
D.They ended up living in the nursing house. |
A.Self-care Benefits Greatly the Seniors. |
B.Self-Neglect Rises Among the Elderly. |
C.Government’s Encouragement on Self-care. |
D.Many Years’ Investigation on Self-Neglect. |
A.A science fiction. | B.A newspaper. |
C.A guidebook. | D.A fairy tale. |
【推荐3】Users of Google Gemini, the tech giant’s artificial-intelligence model, recently noticed that asking it to create images of Vikings, or German soldiers from 1943 produced surprising results: hardly any of the people depicted were white. Other image-generation tools have been criticized because they tend to show white men when asked for images of entrepreneurs or doctors. Google wanted Gemini to avoid this trap; instead, it fell into another one, depicting George Washington as black. Now attention has moved on to the chatbot’s text responses, which turned out to be just as surprising.
Gemini happily provided arguments in favor of positive action in higher education, but refused to provide arguments against. It declined to write a job ad for a fossil-fuel lobby group (游说团体), because fossil fuels are bad and lobby groups prioritize “the interests of corporations over public well-being”. Asked if Hamas is a terrorist organization, it replied that the conflict in Gaza is “complex”; asked if Elon Musk’s tweeting of memes had done more harm than Hitler, it said it was “difficult to say”. You do not have to be a critic to perceive its progressive bias.
Inadequate testing may be partly to blame. Google lags behind OpenAI, maker of the better-known ChatGPT. As it races to catch up, Google may have cut corners. Other chatbots have also had controversial launches. Releasing chatbots and letting users uncover odd behaviors, which can be swiftly addressed, lets firms move faster, provided they are prepared to weather (经受住) the potential risks and bad publicity, observes Eth an Mollick, a professor at Wharton Business School.
But Gemini has clearly been deliberately adjusted, or “fine-tuned”, to produce these responses. This raises questions about Google’s culture. Is the firm so financially secure, with vast profits from internet advertising, that it feels free to try its hand at social engineering? Do some employees think it has not just an opportunity, but a responsibility, to use its reach and power to promote a particular agenda? All eyes are now on Google’s boss, Sundar Pichai. He says Gemini is being fixed. But does Google need fixing too?
1. What do the words “this trap” underlined in the first paragraph refer to?A.Having a racial bias. | B.Responding to wrong texts. |
C.Criticizing political figures. | D.Going against historical facts. |
A.Gemini’s refusal to make progress. | B.Gemini’s failure to give definite answers. |
C.Gemini’s prejudice in text responses. | D.Gemini’s avoidance of political conflicts. |
A.Creative. | B.Promising. | C.Illegal. | D.Controversial. |
A.Its security is doubted. | B.It lacks financial support. |
C.It needs further improvement. | D.Its employees are irresponsible. |