Catching nearly 4,000 wild butterflies with handheld nets and taking the temperature of each tiny insect must rank among the harder of scientific efforts.
However, researchers have discovered significant differences in the ability of British butterflies to maintain a suitable temperature, raising fears that global heating will threaten the populations of some species.
Butterflies are ectotherms-unable to generate their own body heat-and require warm temperatures to fly. However, extreme temperatures can pose problems, particularly for those butterflies that must find shady habitats to regulate (调节) their body temperature.
The study shows that larger, paler butterflies are best able to protect themselves from extreme temperatures, changing the angles of their reflective wings in relation to the sun to direct heat away from or on to their bodies. Darker, large species have greater difficulty controlling their body temperature, but even they are better than “thermal specialists”, which rely on finding a spot at a specific temperature in a landscape-a “microclimate”-to control their body temperature.
“After being caught in butterfly nets on British nature reserves, the 29 different species of butterflies’ temperatures were taken with a fine probe. As we plan conservation measures to address the effects of climate change, it will be important to understand not only the habitat requirements of different butterfly species, but also their temperature requirements,” said Dr Ed Turner, of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, who led the work. “With this new understanding of butterflies, we should be able to better manage habitats and landscapes to protect them, and in doing so we’re probably also protecting other insects too.”
1. Why did scientists take the temperatures of butterflies?| A．To seek solutions to global heating. |
| B．To uncover climate threats to them. |
| C．To classify them into different species. |
| D．To stress the toughness of scientific research. |
| A．By angling their wings. |
| B．By generating the body heat. |
| C．By choosing a microclimate. |
| D．By making use of their colour. |
| A．Finding a nature reserve. |
| B．Attracting other butterflies. |
| C．Adapting to climate change. |
| D．Perceiving the surroundings. |
| A．Understanding butterflies should be strengthened. |
| B．Better management of butterfly habitats is popular. |
| C．Protecting butterflies can lead to additional benefits. |
| D．Goals of protecting butterflies have been achieved. |
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【推荐1】Mars exploration is a significant scientific expedition and it’s like the Apollo missions on the Moon 50 years ago. While human-led missions to Mars seem likely in the coming decades, what are our prospects of long-term habitation on Mars? Scientists have found a way to grow cyanbacteria, also known as blue-green algae (水藻), on Mars. It’s a discovery that could lead to human habitation of the Red Planet.
Cyanobacteria are tiny living things found in water. They release oxygen during photosynthesis (the process by which organisms use sunlight to make their own food). The algae can also transform other gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen, into nutrients, substances that help living things grow. Scientists think that a huge rise in the numbers of cyanobacteria 2.4 billion years ago is what made Earth’s atmosphere breathable.
Mars’ atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide and nitrogen and there is little oxygen in Mars’s atmosphere. So researchers are hoping the blue-green algae could be used to allow plants to grow there too, for food and medicines. However, it is impossible to grow blue-green algae on Mars naturally. To solve this problem, a team of scientists from the University of Bremen, in Germany, have developed a special bioreactor (生物反应器) called Atmos. A bioreactor is a machine for growing microbes. Using this, the team, led by Dr Cyprien Verseux, showed how cyanobacteria could be grown using resources found on Mars.
Not only did the algae grow as hoped, but they also helped other organisms, such as bacteria, to grow. The bioreactor is still just a test version. It just starts and there is still a long way to go. However, Verseux hopes that the results can inspire a system that could one day support life on Mars.
1. Cyanbacteria could play a significant role in human habitation on Mars because ________.| A．they make their own food |
| B．they improve photosynthesis |
| C．they release oxygen and nutrients |
| D．they absorb carbon dioxide and nitrogen |
| A．Improving the bioreactor. |
| B．Inventing a special machine. |
| C．Using resources found on Mars. |
| D．Experimenting growing microbes. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Conservative. |
| A．Mars Exploration Is Becoming a Hot Issue |
| B．Scientists Are Testing Bioreactor to Grow Algae |
| C．Human Habitation on Mars May Not Be a Dream |
| D．Cyanobacteria Could Be Key to Living on Mars |
【推荐2】Nehal is a student with a physical disability. In his free time, Nehal loves playing outdoors with his neighbourhood friends. He also attends Chol, one of the few mainstream schools in Suva, Fiji, which offers suitable learning for children with disabilities. The school has adapted some of its facilities since Nehal joined to create an accessible and more inclusive learning environment for students with disabilities.
This began with placing his classroom closer to the bathroom so that Nehal could more readily access the facility. As he and his classmates progress in their academic studies each year, their classroom doesn’t move like other classrooms to ensure Nehal consistently has a comfortable access to the facility every year.
Within the classroom, students typically sit on desks with benches. To adapt to Nehal’s physical impairment (障碍), he has a special and lower desk positioned against a wall that he can lean (倚靠) on for additional back support.
His teachers work closely with him on his literacy and numeracy (算术) skills while he has continued to stand out in languages—Hindi, English and Fijian.
Being in an inclusive learning environment is important to Nehal’s development. The support of his classmates both in and outside of the classroom has also been key to Nehal’s learning experience. From being a shoulder to lean on as he walks around the school to making sure he joins in class projects, his classmates are always on hand to ensure Nehal is included in the day-to-day activities at school.
At the end of the school day, Nehal is picked up by his mother and his sister. Once home, they are joined by Nitin, Nehal’s father. “He is like a gift God gives us,” his father speaks of Nehal.
1. What’s Nehal’s classroom in Chol like?| A．It has a bathroom. | B．It moves every year. |
| C．It is on the top floor. | D．It remains in one place. |
| A．To take care of his physical condition. | B．To let him listen to the teachers carefully. |
| C．To prevent him talking with other students. | D．To help him go out of the classroom more easily. |
| A．They ignore him. | B．They talk behind his back. |
| C．They offer him much help. | D．They challenge him constantly. |
| A．Ambitious. | B．Lucky. | C．Selfish. | D．Lazy. |
【推荐3】Do Animals Communicate?
When we think of communication, we usually think of using spoken language. But in fact we communicate far more in other ways. Our eyes and facial expressions usually tell the truth even when our words do not.
Then there are gestures: raising the eyebrows, tapping the fingers, nodding and shaking the head. There is also body language of posture: Are you sitting or standing with arms or legs crossed? Is that person standing with hands held in front of the body or hidden behind?
So, do animals communicate? As we have learnt, there is more to communicate than words.
Take dogs for example. They show their teeth to warn, shake their tails to welcome, and stand firm with hair upright to fight. These signals are surely the equals of the human body language of facial expressions, gestures and posture.
Color can be an important means of communication for animals. Many birds and fishes change color, for example, to attract partners during the mating(交配) season. And mating itself is commonly done after a special dance which both partners take part in.
Here, again, there are striking similarities to young men and women who dress up to meet partners at parties, where the music is often too loud for word communication. Communication there takes place through appearance and movement.
The most carefully planned dances in the animal kingdom are those that bees use to communicate. With body movements alone they can tell other bees the direction and distance of a newly discovered food.
All these examples may suggest instinctive(本能的) rather than intelligent communication. And, in many ways, body language says far more than intelligent word communication ever can.
1. Nodding and shaking the head is a ________.| A．posture | B．facial expression | C．gesture | D．spoken language |
| A．warning | B．laughing | C．fighting | D．welcoming |
| A．Color is not a way of communication for animals. |
| B．A special dance often takes place before mating. |
| C．Many birds and fishes change color to hide themselves. |
| D．Word communication is better at parties where music is so loud. |
| A．tell other bees where to go and how far it is |
| B．communicate where they have been |
| C．attract partners to communicate |
| D．show their victory |
【推荐1】Rapid deforestation (毁林) of the Amazon rainforest could influence the temperature and precipitation (降水，降水量) over the Tibetan plateau 15, 000 kilometers away.
Saini Yang at Beijing Normal University in China and her colleagues analyzed global climatological data from 1979 to 2019 to identify relations in temperature and precipitation between the Amazon rainforest and other areas. Such links are called “teleconnection1s”. They focused on the Amazon rainforest in particular because of its significance as a major carbon sink and as a climatic “tipping point” (爆发点) that could see forest turn to savannah (稀树草原) beyond a certain threshold (阈，界) of warming and human-driven deforestation.
The researchers found that since 1979, warm temperatures in the Amazon rainforest were related to warm temperatures over the Tibetan plateau and the West Antarctic ice sheet; more precipitation in the Amazon rainforest was associated with less precipitation in those regions. By analyzing changing temperatures in the regions between the Amazon rainforest and those distant areas, they were also able to trace the path through which energy or materials such as black carbon released in forest fires might spread through the atmosphere. Their analysis showed the route remained consistent under different future warming scenarios.
The collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is a known tipping point. Melting snow on the Tibetan plateau is not, but the region is warming more rapidly than much of the rest of the globe, and changes to snow and ice there could have consequences for ecosystems and the billions of people that rely on its snowmelt for water, says Yang.
Victor Brovkin at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany says the teleconnections are an interesting find, but is skeptical that variability in the Amazon rainforest causes the changes elsewhere. He says the Amazon rainforest is too small an area to overcome the influence of the tropical oceans and the researchers don’t present a physical mechanism to explain any influence.
If the Amazon rainforest does have an influence on these regions, however, it could mean there is à higher risk that the Amazon rainforest tipping point might set others off, says Jonathan Donges-at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “It adds an additional potential domino (多米诺骨牌) that can fall. ”
1. Why was the Amazon rainforest the focus for Saini Yang’s research?| A．Because it played a role as a main carbon sink. |
| B．Because it was the most important carbon sink. |
| C．Because it was very likely to turn to savannah. |
| D．Because it was at a high risk of becoming a climatic “tipping point”. |
| A．The benefits of the research. |
| B．The findings of the research. |
| C．The means of analyzing the data. |
| D．The results of the Amazon rainforest being deforested. |
| A．The temperature of the Tibetan plateau changes the fastest. |
| B．The variability in the Amazon rainforest may not lead to changes elsewhere. |
| C．The more the Amazon rainforest rains, the less rainfall the Tibetan plateau may have. |
| D．The consequences of the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet are little-known. |
| A．Teleconnections have kept the researchers interested for a long time. |
| B．The Amazon rainforest tipping point is likely to set off those of other areas. |
| C．The findings of the research on the Amazon rainforest are controversial. |
| D．The Amazon rainforest is large enough to remove the influence of the tropical oceans. |
【推荐2】The Arctic，Atlantic, Indian and Pacific are the four oceans we learned about in the geography class. But now we have a new one. On World Oceans Day, which was on June 8, 2021， the US National Geographic Society announced it would recognize the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, bringing the global total to five.
Unlike the Arctic，Atlantic ，Indian and Pacific Oceans, which are defined by the continents that bound them, the Southern Ocean is instead characterized by the currents circling Antarctica. According to National Geographic，the Southern Ocean includes most of the waters surrounding Antarctica out to 60 degrees south latitude.
“Surrounded by the swift currents， it is the only ocean to touch three other oceans and to completely embrace a continent rather than being embraced by them," Sylvia Earle, US marine biologist and oceanographer (海洋学家)，told The Daily Mail.
“Anyone who has been there will struggle to explain what's so amazing about it, but they'll all agree that the glaciers are bluer, the air colder, the mountains more spectacular (壮观的) and the landscapes more appealing than anywhere else they can go," Seth Sykora-Bodie, a marine scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration，told National Geographic.
Due to the ecologically unique environment of the Southern Ocean, it's home to thousands of rare species. The ocean also has wider ecological effects. National Geographic hopes their revised maps will bring public awareness to the region, thereby encouraging the Southern Ocean conservation.
“We think it's really important from an educational standpoint, as well as from a map-labeling standpoint, to bring attention to the Southern Ocean as a fifth ocean." Alex Tait，National Geographic Society geographer, told The Post. “ So when students learn about it, they learn it's an interconnected ocean，and there are these regions called oceans that are really important."
1. How is the Southern Ocean defined?| A．By the location and latitude. | B．By the size and depth of water. |
| C．By the continents that divide it. | D．By the currents around the pole. |
| A．The scenery is more attractive than other parts of the world. |
| B．There's a special ocean in the icy waters around Antarctica. |
| C．It is an ocean to connect three oceans and one continent. |
| D．It is unlike any other oceans with many unique species. |
| A．To promote the sales of maps. |
| B．To arouse the public's curiosity. |
| C．To protect the Southern Ocean. |
| D．To update people's geographic knowledge. |
| A．Antarctica Is Full of Attraction |
| B．The US Announced a New Ocean |
| C．Ocean Conservation Is On the Road |
| D．The Public Are Crazy about a New Ocean |
【推荐3】Today we know Antarctica as an extreme environment containing ice and snow. But new research provides evidence that the area had a rainforest in the past.
The researchers collected a piece of Earth sediment (沉积物) from under the seafloor off the coast of Antarctica. In the sediment, they discovered forest material that was estimated to be about 90 million years old. This would have been in the Cretaceous Period, when dinosaurs were the main land animals. The sediment was removed by scientists on the research icebreaker RV Polarstern in the Amundsen Sea near Pine Island Glacier.
Johann Klages is a geologist with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. He was the lead writer of a study on the findings, published in the journal Nature. He said the sediment was collected from a depth of about 30 meters below the ocean floor. Klages said an examination showed that the material didn’t form in the ocean.
The researchers estimate that the area — about 900 kilometers from the South Pole — had average yearly temperatures of about 12 to 13 degrees Celsius. During the warmest summer months, average temperatures likely reached between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. The soil included fine dirt particles (颗粒) and hard clay (粘土), as well as substances linked to at least 65 different kinds of plants, the study found. Klages added that the plants included trees, ferns (蕨类) and flowering plants. While no animal remains were found, Klages said there were likely dinosaurs, flying reptiles and many insects in the environment.
The research represents new evidence of the major climate changes that Earth has experienced in the past—and is currently undergoing today. The soil in the sediment dates back to the planet’s warmest period of the past 140 million years, with sea level about 170 meters higher than today. The researchers said that the rainforest environment in Antarctica was especially surprising because each year, the area experiences a four-month polar night when there is no sunlight to fuel plant life. Klages said no ice sheets were present during the time, but seasonal snowfall was likely.
1. How did the researchers reach their findings?| A．By exploring ice in Antarctica. |
| B．By analyzing the Earth sediment. |
| C．By collecting data on climate. |
| D．By researching special plants. |
| A．Its material developed in the ocean. |
| B．It dates back to cold times in Antarctica. |
| C．Its material formed on the land. |
| D．It contained different animal remains. |
| A．The sea level today is lower than that in the past. |
| B．Polar nights in Antarctica are getting shorter than before. |
| C．There were ice sheets 140 million years ago. |
| D．Seasonal snowfall made the forest disappear. |
| A．Researchers proved the previous studies wrong. |
| B．Antarctica has an extreme environment. |
| C．There was various wildlife in Antarctica. |
| D．Antarctica had a different history of climate. |
