Carbon dioxide makes up less than one percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. But the gas is very important to life on Earth. Scientists are finding that processes involving carbon dioxide affect our climate in ways that are difficult to understand. Last month, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington released a report. It confirmed that increased about six-tenths of a degree Celsius in the last one hundred years. The report also confirmed evidence that the level of carbon dioxide is increasing.
The best information about climate in the past comes from tests of ice many kilometers deep in Antarctica and Greenland. The tests show changes in temperature during the past four-hundred-thousand years. These tests show that levels of carbon dioxide today are the highest ever measured. These findings have led scientists to believe that carbon dioxide is a major cause of climate warming.
Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fuel is burned. Oil, coal and wood are all fuels that release the gas. When biological waste breaks down, it also releases carbon dioxide.
However, plants use carbon dioxide in the process called photosynthesis. This process provides food for almost all life on Earth. Some groups that support burning oil and coal want to increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They oppose international efforts to control carbon dioxide.
Some scientists believe that forests and trees are able to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. Some groups even suggest carbon dioxide could cause plants to grow faster.
A recent study in North Carolina found that more carbon dioxide in the air could cause trees to grow faster. But the researchers found the effect appears to last for only three years. Another study showed that much of the carbon dioxide that is taken in by trees is released within three years. The study noted that leaves release carbon dioxide when they fall from trees and break down in the soil. Plants also naturally release carbon dioxide through the process of respiration.
The natural balance of gases in the atmosphere is a complex scientific issue. The debate over carbon dioxide is only one part of efforts to understand world climate change.
1. The committee report of National Academy of Sciences in Washington reveal that________.| A．ice from Antarctica and Greenland is appropriate to show the change |
| B．carbon dioxide is released mainly from the fuel |
| C．level of carbon dioxide increases with global temperatures |
| D．carbon dioxide is helpful for tree growth |
| A．they think that carbon is beneficial for plant growth |
| B．they want to use more fuels that can emit carbon dioxide |
| C．they think carbon dioxide is not the main reason for global warming |
| D．they think it will destroy the natural balance of gases in the world |
| A．organ | B．topic |
| C．publication | D．result |
| A．trees’ function for absorbing carbon dioxide is limited |
| B．carbon dioxide is the main cause for global warming |
| C．leaves falling from trees can emit more oxygen |
| D．more carbon dioxide is beneficial for trees’ growth for many decades |
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【推荐1】It should be one of the main goals in today's society to reduce plastic consumption. Though many believe recycling will solve the problem, and continue using plastic, it's actually the opposite. In 2013, 254 million tonnes of trash was produced in the U.S. alone, and only around 30% was recycled. This means the rest ended up in a landfill and will stay there for up to 1000 years.
Now Asian countries, including Vietnam and Thailand, are looking for new ideas to avoid plastic. One of those ideas was a new, eco-friendly way to pack their goods by avoiding plastic packaging. One of Perfect Homes Chiangmai's team members noticed a creative way to reduce plastic that a supermarket called Rimping Supermarket was using. Little did he know that people all around the world would absolutely love this idea. “I just popped in to get a few items while we were waiting to sign some contracts with our lawyer, who was delayed. When I noticed the vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and simply liked the idea. So I took a few pictures and posted them online, he said.
With more than 3.5 million views and over 17 thousand shares, the idea became something people can encourage more supermarkets to implement (实施).
Some have noticed that not everything on the shelves is completely plastic-free to which the supermarket responded that they are taking one step at a time, but it's not that easy. Many products come to the supermarkets pre-packaged and many companies are interested in wrapping their produce in plastic since it is the cheapest and the easiest option.
It's now up to the shoppers to show the supermarket which they prefer. If everyone opts for the banana leaf packaging, they will probably stop stocking the items in plastic.
1. What can we infer about recycling from Para. 1?| A．The author thinks highly of recycling. |
| B．The US did a great job in recycling in 2013. |
| C．Recycling has failed to solve the plastic problem. |
| D．Recycling helps a lot in reducing plastic consumption. |
| A．To purchase some items. |
| B．To look for new ideas there. |
| C．To take photos of their shelves. |
| D．To sign a contract with a lawyer. |
| A．The Internet. | B．The companies’ interest. |
| C．The contract. | D．The plastic-free shelves. |
| A．people tend to prefer farm produce wrapped in plastic |
| B．promoting leaf packaging requires people’s joint effort |
| C．China used to export part of its waste to other Countries |
| D．it's easy for supermarkets to change the way of packaging |
【推荐2】Musa Haidar holds a coconut (椰子) to his ear and shakes it from side to side. Its sound pleases the market trader, who puts the large brown fruit back on the pile at his market stand in the suburb of Zanzibar, a city on the East African Island.
His customers are less happy, however. A coconut going for 500 shillings a few years ago today sells for 1,500 shillings. That makes it more expensive to cook curries or other dishes using coconut milk. “The prices are not normal,” says Mr. Haidar. “Coconuts have become expensive for local people.”
Why have prices gone nuts? “People are chopping (砍), chopping,” he explains. A count in 2014 found just 3.4 million coconut trees, down from 5.7 million in the late 1990s. Since hungry Zanzibaris still demand creamy fish curries and beans baked in coconut milk, falling supply has led to higher prices. Coconuts from the mainland are pricier because of high transport costs.
The logging of coconut trees reflects the urbanization wave in Zanzibar and the rest of Africa where urban sprawl is the most striking feature, cities extending outwards rather than growing upwards. Because of that, when people move to a new land, they chop down the coconut trees to make space for their new homes.
Moreover, some houses and island hotels have furniture made from coconut wood. Emmanuel Elias, a woodworker, explains that it is cheaper than the imported one. By law farmers cannot chop down fruit-bearing trees for furniture; in practice it is hard to stop them. Even if they obey the rules, many do not plant new trees, since these take at least six years to produce fruits, and fifteen years to reach maximum production levels. State subsidies (补贴) for seeds have proved no match for urban population growth.
In his workshop, Mr. Elias dusts off a solid dressing table he is selling for 400,000 shillings. He points out that it is made of coconut wood. “This is the land of coconut trees,” he says. But for how much longer?
1. What does the underlined word “sprawl” in paragraph 4 mean?| A．Structure. | B．Capacity. | C．Expansion. | D．Management. |
| A．They can’t get the state subsides. |
| B．They can’t afford to wait for fruits. |
| C．They are following the existing regulations. |
| D．They have switched to the furniture industry. |
| A．He worries about their future. |
| B．He expects their faster growth. |
| C．He takes pride in their number. |
| D．He doubts their value for furniture |
【推荐3】Despite the bad reputation of sharks, they are crucial to the health of the marine ecosystem and can even help fight climate change.
In the shallows of Shark Bay, Western Australia, seagrass is food for the sea cows, which can weigh as much as 500kg and eat roughly 40kg of seagrass a day. Sea cows are a rich source of food for tiger sharks. By keeping the sea cow population in check, tiger sharks here help the seagrass meadows (草地) grow. A flourishing seagrass meadow stores twice as much CO2 per square mile as forests typically do on land.
But tiger shark numbers are declining. Off Australia’s northeast coast of Queensland, tiger sharks are estimated to have fallen by at least 71 percent, largely due to overfishing. A reduction in tiger sharks means more seagrass consumed by herbivores (食草动物) and less carbon stored in sea vegetation. This begged the question: What if they were absent from the Shark Bay—would the seagrass dominated ecosystem survive?
To find out, researchers led by Rob Nowicki of Florida International University, spent time in Eastern Australia, where shark numbers were lower and sea cows ate seagrass largely undisturbed. “When unchecked, sea cows can rapidly destroy wide areas of seagrass,” said Nowicki. “When the seagrass recovers, the seagrass community looks different, with more tropical species dominating than before.”
Those findings underlined the role that tiger sharks were playing in Shark Bay. If their populations continue to decline, the resilience of carbon-rich ocean ecosystems will likely decrease.
When it comes to boosting shark numbers, there have been movements toward more sustainable fishing, but a large percentage of the industry have not changed their methods, which is a reason why the population of many marine top predators continues to decline.
Aside from supporting sustainable fishing, Nowicki said the only way to truly protect marine life is to reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions. “Ultimately, if we are going to conserve our ecosystems in the centuries to come, we are going to need to solve climate change while undertaking species conservation at the same time.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “in check” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．in sight | B．on the rise | C．under control | D．up to date |
| A．How sea cows destroy the seagrass community. |
| B．How shark population influences the ocean ecosystem. |
| C．What was contributing to the declining number of tiger sharks. |
| D．What to do to recover the seagrass-dominated ecosystem. |
| A．Unsustainable fishing practices. | B．Water pollution. |
| C．Loss of seagrass | D．Climate change |
| A．Regulating fishing activities. |
| B．Solving ocean pollution problems. |
| C．Establishing natural reserves. |
| D．Reducing our carbon footprint. |
【推荐1】As our boat moves quickly up and down in a windy ice-filled small bay, I try to judge the health condition of the polar bear (北极熊)in front of me. We are in Franz Josef Land, a remote part of Russia between the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
While offshore bears follow the sea ice, hunting seals (海豹)on ice all year round, bears that live by the sea spend their summers on land and are forced to search for whatever they can find. Relying on low-calorie meals such as the eggs of nesting seabirds, it is harder for these bears to pack on the pounds. Researchers recently found that offshore bears around the Barents Sea are some of the most polluted animals on Earth. This is a direct consequence of the seals they feed on.
Over a period of 14 years' study, Heli Routti from the Norwegian Polar Institute found that offshore female bears were in a better health, having greater body weight, than female bears by the sea, but on average their levels of pollutants called PFASs are 33 percent higher.
PFASs are used to make industrial products which are poisonous and degrade (降解)very slowly. These pollutants find their way to the Arctic through air, where they fall in snow and gradually add up in the ice. As the ice melts every summer, the PFASs go into the water, where they enter the food chain. They eventually make their way into the fat that keeps seals warm and from there into the bears that eat them.
During my 15 days in Franz Josef Land, I saw five bears, all living by the sea. Each looked relatively healthy. There are signs that these bears are dealing with the global-warming-caused ice loss relatively well. “The bears, so far, seem to be handling the sea ice loss,” says Andrew Derocher at the University of Alberta, who worked with Routti on the study, “But I'm sure that's going to change if the speed of ice loss increases sharply in the area.”
1. From the text we can learn polar bears living by the sea ________.| A．eat seals on ice all year round |
| B．look for food on land in summer |
| C．become the most polluted animals on Earth |
| D．stay on the ice in summer to avoid hot weather |
| A．Put on weight. | B．Move around. |
| C．Fight against pollution. | D．Live alone. |
| A．The rate of PFASs' degradation. | B．The effects of PFASs on the environment. |
| C．The process of PFASs' entering polar bears. | D．The application of PFASs in modern industry. |
| A．More pollutants may go into the air. | B．It will make no difference to bears. |
| C．The death rate of seals may increase. | D．Bears might fail to adapt to the change. |
【推荐2】If you want to learn anything at school, you need to listen to your teachers. Unfortunately, millions of kids can’t hear what their teachers are saying. And it’s not because these students are goofing off. Often, it’s the room’s fault. Building architecture and building design can create echo(回声)-filled classrooms that make hearing difficult.
Children with hearing impairments（损伤）suffer most from noisy classrooms. They sometimes can’t hear questions that other students ask in class. Compared with kids with healthy hearing, they have a harder time picking up new vocabulary words by hearing them in talking.
Even kids with normal hearing have a harder time in the classroom when there’s too much noise. Younger children in particular have trouble separating important sounds – like a teacher’s voice – from background noise. Kids with learning disabilities and speech impediments（障碍）and kids for whom English is a second language also have a harder time learning in noisy situations.
In recent years, scientists who study sound have been asking schools to reduce background noise, which may include loud air-conditioners and pipes. They’re also targeting outdoor noises, such as highway traffic. Noise reduction is a big deal. Why? Because quieter classrooms might make you smarter by letting you hear your lessons better.
“It’s so obvious that we should have quiet rooms that allow for access to the lesson,” says Dan Ostergren, a hearing scientist. “Sometimes it surprises me that we spend so much time discussing this topic. I just want to go. Why is this hard for anyone to grasp?”
1. The underlined part “goofing off” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “ ”.| A．Lazy | B．intelligent |
| C．quiet | D．careful |
| A．Children with learning disabilities. |
| B．Children with speech impairments. |
| C．Children with hearing impediments. |
| D．Children with normal hearing. |
| A．Quiet classrooms are suitable for kids to have discussions. |
| B．Quiet classrooms help kids recover from hearing impairments. |
| C．Kids can’t separate sounds of air-conditioners and pipes. |
| D．Kids can become smarter after hearing lessons better. |
【推荐3】The fight is on to get rid of air pollution in our cities. While the best solution in the long-term would be to ban fossil-fueled cars, that won’t help the millions who are dying in the meantime, and so some high-tech solutions are now on the cards.
In March 2016, 10 London pigeons became famous. These pigeons took to the sky from Primrose Hill in north London, wearing backpacks monitoring air pollution. Once in the air, the backpacks sent live air-quality updates to the smartphones of the Londoners below.
The pigeons and their backpacks were just the latest in a series of increasingly desperate attempts to monitor and control air pollution. London’s air pollution problem has been getting worse for years, and it often rises to more than three times the European Union’s legal limit.
Another promising approach can be found in Beijing, after China declared a “war against pollution” in 2014. A seven-metre-high “Smog Free Tower”, designed by a Dutch scientist, Daan Roosegaarde, opened in Beijing’s 751 D Park in September 2016.
It is a huge, outdoor air purifier. Airborne particles (颗粒) are sucked into the tower where they receive a positive charge. The particles are then caught by a negatively charged dust-removal plate and clean air is blown out of the other end. “Changing smog particles does not take much current.” Roosegaarde said.
As for what to do with the collected PM waste, he has currently set up a business making jewellery out of the waste. Prince Charles owns a set of “smog free” cuff links (袖扣). If collected on at a big scale, Roosegaarde believes it could even be used as a building material.
Mexico City has an alternative solution. Looking to Nature to maximize the surface area of a building, Allison Dring, a Berlin - based architect, managed to catch light and wind from all sides. She is now making a building material by burning agricultural crop by-products in the absence of oxygen. “It means that you are actually taking carbon (碳) out of the sky, transforming it into a material, and then using it to build,” says Dring.
The fight against outdoor air pollution is really just starting. Even if none of the ideas take off, at least Prince Charles’ cuff links, the special building surface and pigeons wearing back-packs will have brought the issue more to the public’s attention.
1. The underlined words “on the cards” in para. 1 probably mean ________.| A．hardly to achieve | B．widely questioned | C．very likely to happen | D．publicly welcomed |
| A．monitor air pollution | B．warn Londoners | C．update weather forecast | D．promote backpacks |
| A．It can catch light and wind. | B．Its power consumption is high. |
| C．PM waste from it can be reused. | D．It is the first air purifier in the world. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
【推荐1】The nine women of Bella Mondo win over yet another audience. The group is one of just a handful of all-women ensembles (乐队) in Ivory Coast.
It all started in 2007, Prisca Allou was a music student. A music producer came to see her. He said he wanted to make an all-female ensemble to keep a promise to his late mother.
Allou got on board and was responsible for recruiting (招募) other members. “It wasn’t easy at first. Some parents were against it. You know, in Africa, the place of women is often seen as being either in an office or at home. That was the fixed image.” Allou spread the word and took out advertisements in local papers. Most of the girls she found were not professional players. “I just played some tamtam. I learned to play drums when I joined Bella Mondo.” The girls spent the next four years learning to play their instruments. Many gave up along the way, but eight of them soldiered on with Allou, and Bella Mondo was founded.
The band plays original songs and covers (翻唱版本). Their music spans a wide range of styles: funk, reggae, pop music. They released their first album in 2013... and have performed in Paris, Dakar, Cotonou and, of course, here at home in Abidjan.
You can see them nearly every Thursday at this bar, the same place that gave the band its start years ago. “Oh yes, I was surprised at first. A woman singing, you see that every day, but an entire band, playing all the instruments and everything? It was extraordinary. I was dumb-struck. Bella Mondo is a great band.” The women are now working on their second album.
1. Why did the music producer want to found a female ensemble?| A．To sponsor music students. |
| B．To comfort his mother. |
| C．To carry out his promise. |
| D．To win over an audience. |
| A．The band has travelled a lot. |
| B．The band has gained its popularity. |
| C．The band has released albums. |
| D．The band seems to be united as one. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Determined. | C．Amused. | D．Astonished. |
【推荐2】Donald John Trump, born on June 14, 1946, is an American businessman. As the Republic Party’s nominee for president in the 2016 election, he defeated Hillary Clinton in the general election on November 8, 2016.
Trump is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization, which is the principal holding company for his real estate (Trump is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization, which is the principal holding company for his real estate (房地产) ventures and other business interests. During his career, Trump has built office towers, hotels, casinos, golf courses, and other branded facilities worldwide.
Trump was born and raised in New York City and received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. In 1971 he was given control of his father Fred Trump’s real estate and construction firm and later renamed it The Trump Organization. Trump has appeared at the Moss USA pageants, which he owned from 1996 to 2015, and has made cameo (配角) appearances in films and television series. He sought the Reform Party presidential nomination (提名) in 2000, but withdrew before voting began. He hosted and co-produced The Apprentice, a reality television series on NBC, from 2004 to 2015. As of 2016, he was listed by Forbes as the 324th wealthiest person in the world, and 156th in the United States.
In June 2015, Trump announced his candidacy (候选人资格) for president as a Republican and quickly emerged as the front runner for his party’s nomination. In May 2016, his remaining Republican rivals suspended (暂停) their campaigns, and in July he was formally nominated for president at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Trump’s campaign has received unprecedented media coverage and international attention. Many of his statements in interviews, on Twitter, and at campaign rallies (集会) have been controversial or false. Several rallies during the primaries were accompanied by protests or riots.
1. What do we know about Donald John Trump?| A．His career is limited in America. |
| B．It was a surprise that he defeated Hillary Clinton. |
| C．His business has expanded all over the world. |
| D．His father was against him being a politician. |
| A．Introduction to Trump’s life. | B．Introduction to Trump’s family. |
| C．The secret of Trump’s success. | D．Trump’s dream. |
| A．He once acted as a leading actor in films. |
| B．He once worked as a host. |
| C．He owns a lot of money. |
| D．He majored in economics in university. |
| A．Trump owed his success to his family |
| B．at a point all Americans protested against Trump |
| C．Trump had no Republican rivals |
| D．all people didn’t agree with the remarks Trump made |
【推荐3】It's been a rough year for priceless artifacts around the world. In September 2018, a fire wiped out about 90 percent of the collection at the National Museum of Brazil. In April 2019, Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral lost its famous spire in another fire. Most recently, in October, Japan’s 500-year-old Shuri Castle was destroyed — again, by fire.
It's heartbreaking to see even one piece of human history to up in smoke, but there is no need to be depressed. The truth is that we have lost historic sites and artifacts throughout history, to wars and natural disasters. Many are rebuilt or repaired.
Examples include the 18th-century Dresden Frauenkirche in Germany, which was destroyed during the World War II bombing and rebuilt in 2005. There is also the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, China, which dated back to AD 223. It’s been destroyed by fires and wars and rebuilt as many as 11 times.
So it will probably be no different for the National Museum of Brazil, Notre Dame Cathedral, or Shuri Castle. In fact, right after the fire at Notre Dame, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that it would be rebuilt in five years. During his visit to China in November, it was decided that Chinese experts will participate in the restoration work.
That said, however, there are less fortunate cultural relics—those endangered in Syria and Iraq where wars are ongoing. According to Artnet News, all six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Syria have been reported damaged. And yet, somehow, they didn't get nearly as much attention as Notre Dame, and probably won't have a chance to be restored to their former glory any time soon.
It might be true that many damaged artifacts make it back. But “many” is not “all”.
1. What are the similarities among the three places mentioned in the first paragraph?a. They are all of great value. b. They were all destroyed in 2018.
c. Nothing is left after the destruction. d. They are all destroyed by fire.
| A．a, b | B．a, d | C．a, c | D．c, d |
| A．To comfort the heartbreaking readers. |
| B．To give examples of the rebuilt historic sites. |
| C．To introduce two places of interest to the readers. |
| D．To show the importance of rebuilding the historic sites. |
| A．All the cultural relics are damaged in Syria due to the wars. |
| B．People haven’t recognized the importance of the heritage sites in Syria. |
| C．The cultural relics in Syria and Iraq are less fortunate because they are worse destroyed. |
| D．Wars destroyed the heritage sites in Syria and prevent people from restoring them right now. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Critical. | C．Indifferent. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐1】More than 30 students are taking part in a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center-supported program at the Norfolk County Agricultural High School this summer, learning more about green energy.
Instructor Peter Kane, of the school’s environmental science program, said Tuesday that the program is part of the center’s “Learn and Earn”plan.
“The idea was to provide a summer job for kids, as well as a chance for them to learn about clean energy, ”he said. “We re trying to encourage their study of science.”
The students were taking part in a number of clean-energy-centered projects. John Green was among those building solar-powered carts(车). The carts -which can power phones and similar things -will be given to schools as a way of showing the use of clean energy. Junior Cora Walsh showed how to use solar panels(板)to heat water going into a house, to either heat the building or create hot water for everyday use. She said she had attended a number of environmental science courses last year, and the interest excited by those led her to join the summer program.
Seniors Trinity Collette and Margot Mental were preparing to give a course to middle school teachers about climate change and green energy.“We’ll be teaching about different kinds of clean energy, like solar and wind power, “said Mental. “We’re also going to give them lesson plans.” Collette said it was a bit strange to be teaching teachers. “It is turning the tables a little bit,”she said.
Kane said the program had a number of other projects taking place as well, such as taking a field trip to Block Island to see the wind farm.Though some may think of the school as centered only on agriculture,he said,this kind of program shows the wide offerings of the school.
1. What' s special about the program?| A．It prepares kids for future jobs. |
| B．It is aimed at senior high students. |
| C．It is run by Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. |
| D．It connects green energy with firsthand experience. |
| A．Both were working on solar energy. |
| B．Both were farm electricity providers. |
| C．Both were teaching students clean energy. |
| D．Both were encouraged by science courses. |
| A．Preparing lessons. | B．Teaching teachers. |
| C．Learning about clean energy. | D．Working with Margot Mental. |
【推荐2】Children are more creative when they learn in natural surroundings, according to new research from Curtin University. Primary school students in Australia and England were put to the test to see whether writing poetry in a natural outdoor setting produced more creative outcomes than writing in a classroom, and the answer was yes.
Dr Paul Gardner and Sonja Kuzich from Curtin’s School of Education ran relative trials with 10-year-old students in both countries and the results, recently published in the Cambridge Journal of Education, gave a big thumbs-up to the positive influence of natural settings. “We found that students who had direct contact with nature by immersing (沉浸) themselves in a bush or forest setting were much more descriptive and vivid in the language they used than the classroom-based writers who ‘imagined’ being in nature through photos,” Dr Gardner said.
In total, 97 students took part in the study, divided into four classrooms, including two based at an English primary school and two from a primary school in Western Australia. In each country one class visited a natural bush or forest before writing a poem based on what they saw, smelt and felt. The other class viewed a pile of images of the same bush or forest setting.
Ms Kuzich said the difference in creative language used between the classes was obvious with twice as many UK forest students using figurative (比喻的) language compared with the class-based students. In Australia that figure rose to more than four times when comparing the poetry of the forest-based students with those who remained at school.
The researchers say further studies of larger groups are now recommended to a gain greater understanding of the influence of natural spaces and “green learning” in schools.
1. Why were the students placed outdoors in nature according to the first two paragraphs?| A．To get more outdoor exercise. |
| B．To experience nature in depth. |
| C．To understand poems about nature better. |
| D．To prove nature’s effect on creativity. |
| A．The specific steps of the experiment. | B．New findings about students’ writing. |
| C．The steps of training the children. | D．The purpose of performing the test. |
| A．Students indoors are not good at poetry. |
| B．Students in Australia prefer to study poetry. |
| C．Students are more creative in a natural environment. |
| D．Students in the UK and Australia have different writing skill preferences. |
| A．Green learning is becoming a trend. |
| B．Further studies are to be carried out. |
| C．Green learning has been applied in school. |
| D．Future research is of little significance. |
【推荐3】More than 500 of the world's smallest penguins have mysteriously washed up dead on beaches across New Zealand over the past couple of months. Experts aren't exactly sure what has been killing off such a large number of the cute seabirds, but they suspect that climate change may have played a role.
It was not immediately clear what killed the penguins, but experts have noted that most of the dead seabirds were significantly underweight. Little penguins should weigh between 1.8 and 2.2 pounds, but some of the bodies weighed less than half that much.
“There was just no body fat on them; there was hardly any muscle to show,” Graeme Taylor, a seabird scientist, told The Guardian. “When they get to that stage of emaciation (消瘦), they can’t dive, which eventually causes them to starve or die of hypothermia (体温过低) because they lack a protective layer of blubber (鲸脂).” he added.
The malnourishment of the dead penguins shows that they have not been eating enough fish, their favorite food, which could be a sign of overfishing by humans. But Taylor suspects that rising ocean surface temperatures caused by global warming have forced the fish into deeper and cooler waters, where the birds can no longer reach them. "These little penguins can dive down to 20 or 30 meters, but they are not good at diving a lot deeper than that.” Taylor said.
This idea could explain why little penguins from New Zealand's South Island haven't been affected, because the waters there have remained much cooler near the surface than waters farther north.
“This is not the first time little penguins have died in large numbers in New Zealand. Die-offs of hundreds of little penguins have occurred about once every decade. However, this is the third time that a die-off has happened in the past 10 years, which is not a good sign.” Taylor said. “As you start seeing it happen regularly like this, then there's really not much chance for the birds to recover between the events and rebuild the numbers again.” Taylor added.
1. What do most dead little penguins on New Zealand's beaches have in common?| A．They are great divers. | B．They are large in size. |
| C．They are light in weight. | D．They are from the same species. |
| A．The death of lots of fish. | B．The overfishing by humans. |
| C．The inability to access enough fish. | D．The low temperature of the sea surface. |
| A．Curious. | B．Uncertain. | C．Optimistic. | D．Concerned. |
| A．How global warming affects animals? | B．What killed New Zealand's little penguins? |
| C．How to save penguins living in New Zealand? | D．What are the consequences of little penguins' death? |
