California's August Complex Fire tore through more than 1,600 square miles of forest last summer, burning nearly every tree in its path. It was the largest wildfire in the state's recorded history, breaking the record previously set in 2018. After the fire, land managers must determine where to most efficiently plant new trees.
A predictive mapping model called the Postfire Spatial Conifer Restoration Planning Tool recently described in Ecological Applications could inform these decisions, saving time and expense. The tool can “show where young trees are needed most, where the forest isn't going to come back on its own, where we need to intervene （干预）if we want to maintain forests," says lead author Joseph Stewart, an ecologist at the University of California, Davis.
To develop the model, Stewart and his colleagues classified data collected from more than 1,200 study plots in 19 areas that burned between 2004 and 2012. They combined these data with information on rainfall, geography, climate, forest composition and bum severity. They also included how many seeds sample conifer trees （针叶树）produced in 216 locations over 18 years, assessing whether the trees release different numbers of seeds after a fire.
The tool's potential benefits are significant, says Kimberley Davis, a conservation scientist at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the study. Those managers will still have to make hard decisions, such as which species to plant in areas that may experience warmer and drier conditions resulting from climate change, but the model provides some research-based guidance to help the forests recover.
1. What challenge do land managers face after the wildfire?| A．Lack of wood supplies. | B．Where to plant new trees best. |
| C．How to save the burned trees. | D．Loss of trees and wild animals. |
| A．The function of the tool. |
| B．The disadvantages of the tool. |
| C．The improvement of the tool. |
| D．The development of the tool. |
| A．The study plots. | B．The data. |
| C．Stewart and his colleagues. | D．The seeds. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Ambiguous. |
| C．Tolerant. | D．Optimistic. |
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【推荐1】Clothes were once used until they fell apart. Not today. In high-income countries in particular, clothing and footwear are increasingly frequently bought, thrown away and replaced with new fashions, which are themselves soon thrown away and replaced.
The so-called “fast fashion” is having a surprising environmental impact. Take water. The fashion industry, one of the world’s largest users of water, consumes anywhere from 20 trillion to 200 trillion litres every year. Then there are microplastics. Plastic fibres are released when we wash polyester (聚酯纤维) and other polymer-based textiles (纺织品), and make up between 20% and 35% of the microplastics choking the oceans. Added to this are specific chemicals, such as those used to make fabrics stain resistant and the pesticides required to protect crops such as cotton.
Change is badly needed, but will require the fashion industry to work harder to embrace more of what is known as the circular economy. That will involve at least two things: refocusing on making things that last, and so encouraging reuse; and more rapidly expanding the technologies for sustainable manufacturing processes, especially recycling. There’s a big role for research—both academic and industrial—in achieving these and other ambitions.
Researchers could begin by helping to provide more accurate estimates of water use. There is also work to be done on improving and expanding textiles recycling. Undoubtedly, used textiles go to landfill in part because there are relatively few systems that collect, recycle and reuse materials. Such recycling requires the manual separation of fibres, as well as buttons and zips. Different fibres are not easy to identify by eye, and overall such manual processes are time-consuming. Machinery is being developed that can help. Technologies also exist to recycle used fibres chemically and to create high-quality fibres that can be reused in clothing. But these are nowhere near the scale needed.
1. Why does the author mention “water”, “microplastics” and “chemicals” in Paragraph 2?| A．To list examples. | B．To prove a point. |
| C．To provide an idea. | D．To give a definition. |
| A．Efforts are made to lengthen the lifespan of textiles. |
| B．Worn-out clothes are used as dishcloths and oil rags. |
| C．High-quality fibres are created to be reused in clothing. |
| D．Fashion industry is encouraged to release new lines more often. |
| A．To make sure that all of the used textiles go to landfill. |
| B．To separate fibres, as well as buttons and zips manually. |
| C．To improve and expand textile recycling to a larger extent. |
| D．To encourage consumers to satisfy their desires for fashion. |
| A．Say No to the So-Called Fast Fashion |
| B．Address the Challenges for Researchers |
| C．Embrace More of the Circular Economy |
| D．Cut Fast Fashion’s Environmental Impact |
【推荐2】On December 16, 2023, the first section of Maya Train officially opened, which runs between Campeche and Cancún, carrying up to 231 passengers across 290 miles and stopping at 14 train stations.
Built as an ambitious effort to promote tourism and boost Mexico’s economy, the rail system connects the major cities and tourist regions of the Yucatán Peninsula —from Cancún’s beaches to Tulum’s archaeological wonders. Once the project is completed, the entire rail system will link tourist destinations across five states. However, environmentalists and archaeologists argue that the train route will cause great damage to the environment-and ancient Mayan sites.
The Maya Train passes through six UNESCO World Heritage sites and thousands of archaeological sites. One particular area of concern is the Calakmul biosphere reserve, which is home to many endangered species, such as jaguars and over 500 other animal species. The train lines, more than 60 meters wide, could act as artificial barriers that may limit the movement of these animals within the reserve making it difficult for them to move around and access food and water sources.
Opponents also express safety concerns. Certain sections of the rail system will be built right on top of the aquifer’s(含水层的) most fragile points of contact with the surface. “It’s like wanting to build over eggshells,” says Guillermo Christy, a water treatment consultant. “Putting trains weighing thousands of tons on top could cause the underground caves to crash down.” To construct the train infrastructure also requires driving long piles deep into the ground, which poses a big threat to this fragile ecosystem and leads to water shortages.
In the ongoing debate of Maya Train, it is crucial to consider the delicate balance between economic development and environmental preservation. While Maya Train may provide economic benefits, we must not overlook the potential environmental and cultural losses, as well as the safety risks it may bring. Achieving harmony between progress and conservation may be a significant challenge for the project, but we must take into account the long-term consequences of our actions.
1. What do we know about the Maya Train project?| A．It consumes lots of labor in Mexico. |
| B．It has concerned some professionals. |
| C．It was completed on December 16,2023. |
| D．It blocks the development of local tourism. |
| A．Restricting their activities. |
| B．Polluting their water sources. |
| C．Disturbing their sleeping patterns. |
| D．Attracting their enemies to the area. |
| A．To show the difficulty of constructing the rail lines. |
| B．To prove the urgency of protectıng the fragile ecosystem. |
| C．To explain the reasons for water shortages along the railway. |
| D．To stress Maya Train’s potential harm to the aquifer system. |
| A．Preserving cultural sites requires strong financial support. |
| B．It is time to speed up the con truction process of Maya Train. |
| C．We should value the economic benefits of the project in the long run. |
| D．Economic development should not come at the cost of the environment. |
【推荐3】Imagine driving down a 10-lane highway and knowing that, high above your head, a mountain lion is quietly going along its way. This remarkable image could soon be the reality for drivers on one of California’s busiest roads, as the world’s largest wildlife overpass(天桥) begins construction in April.
The history-making project will comprise a green bridge built across the 101 highway near Los Angeles, creating a passage between two parts of the Santa Monica Mountains. The overpass will allow safe passage for lizards, snakes, mountain lions, etc. with an acre of local plants on either side and vegetated sound walls to dampen light and noise for night-time animals as they go across.
The project, nearly a decade in the making, comes at a crucial time. Beth Pratt, a conservation leader with the National Wildlife Federation, feels as if she is running the last mile of a marathon. Pratt has spent most of the last decade planning the project, persuading transportation officials of its importance, and bringing donors to fund it.
The project is breaking records in many ways: not only is it the largest crossing in the world, but it’s also an engineering wonder. Robert Rock, a landscape architect who led the design, says this nature-centered type of construction makes it unusual among other wildlife bridges and underpasses around the world, which are typically made of cement(水泥)and steel. This one is designed to integrate into the environment on both sides — and send a message to the people driving below.
About 300,000 cars pass through this area each day, and Pratt calls it an opportunity for millions of Angelenos to see how humans can live more harmoniously with nature.“Someone could be in rush-hour traffic, and there could be a mountain lion right above them,”she says. “I think that’s such a helpful image, and one that inspires me that we can right some of these great wrongs.”
1. Why is the overpass built?| A．To attract visitors to watch the wildlife. |
| B．To help animals cross over a highway. |
| C．To bridge two mountains near Los Angeles. |
| D．To allow more traffic during rush hours. |
| A．It is a long journey. |
| B．It comes a little late. |
| C．It has little official support. |
| D．It has brought economic benefits. |
| A．It stands out among similar structures. |
| B．It does harm to the local environment. |
| C．It has got little attention from engineers. |
| D．It has inspired constructions worldwide. |
| A．It’ll transform the image of the state. |
| B．It’ll provide pleasant habitats for animals. |
| C．It’ll be a reminder for us to care about nature. |
| D．It’ll create job opportunities for the local people. |
【推荐1】Michael's real musical genius lay in the fact that he could create entire songs in his head and use his vocal abilities to convey each part or instrument to people who would be playing the song, He spoke many times about the fact that he had tunes cropin his mind at all hours of the day and night and either sang them immediately into his trademark tape recorder or beatboxed the song out loud to his collaborators. He never learned how to read music so it was really an instinct (本能) for him. And until we know more about how the brain works, I don’t think it's possible to fully understand his musical gifts.
I would say that Michael Jackson felt music throughout his entire being. One cannot talk about his skills a musician a separate from his sills a dancer. From early on in his solo career, he would judge a song based on whether the music made him want to dance. He was famous for dancing in the studio while he was singing and his brilliant music engineer, Bruce Swedien, built Michael a special platform so that he could dance while recording. Swedien also kept a lot of Jackson's dancing sounds in the recordings. Whether he tapped, finger popped or clapped, the sounds became an active part of the music.
As to Michael Jackson's songwriting. I don't think he's ever received enough credit. If you listen to the progression of his sill in this area you cannot help but be impressed. Technically, he knew everything about how to make a great song and between his lyrical abilities, his musical instincts and his actual performance as a singer, he cannot be touched.
1. Michael judged a song based on ______.| A．whether its beats were steady | B．whether he wanted to dance to it |
| C．whether it writer was famous | D．whether he could feel it |
| A．It was at a basic level and nothing special. |
| B．He actually didn't know how to write a song. |
| C．His lyrical abilities were lower than his actual performance. |
| D．He should have been praised more for it |
| A．Michael Jackson's music talents lie in his overall development. |
| B．The world has known Michel Jackson's dancing sills. |
| C．For Michael Jackson, songwriting is the best among all skill. |
| D．Michael Jackson's judgment of music has never received enough credit. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Negative. | D．Positive. |
【推荐2】Barcelona’s opera house has celebrated its reopening to the public since the coronavirus pandemic put the world into a huge horror, but the opening night had an unusual audience. For its first concert, the theater refused the usual crowd of people and instead packed the house with plants. Yes, that’s correct. All 2,292 seats at the Gran Teatre del Liceu were occupied by green plants.
These lucky ficus trees, palms, and Swiss cheese plants — which were brought in by local nurseries(苗圃) — got the pleasure of hearing Puccini’s Crisantemi performed by the UceLi Quartet string musical group. Though the guest list was strictly limited to plants, humans still enjoyed the event as the concert was broadcast live on the theater’s website.
The idea was put forward by the artist Eugenio Ampudia. He hoped that his idea and the work would inspire people to think more deeply about their relationship with nature and the idea of sustainability. “We are at the end of an era and that means that we have to change certain patterns,” he shared. “The world we live in now is not the same as that of 90 days ago, and this means we have to reflect on everything that we do.”
As plants can respond to different vibrations(震动) caused by music, they certainly weren’t a passive audience — even if they weren’t able to give applause. When the concert was over, each plant was given to a different front-line health care worker who helped guide the country through its battle with the coronavirus.
The moving concert is a continuation of the Liceu’s task to create a dialogue between music and the visual arts. Pictures and a video of the performance taken by Ampudia will become part of “la Caixa” Collection of Contemporary Art.
1. What was the special part of the concert?| A．It had only 2,292 seats. |
| B．It made the world fall into horror. |
| C．It welcomed the audience with plants to come. |
| D．It gave plants an opportunity to enjoy music. |
| A．Eugenio Ampudia. |
| B．The UceLi Quartet. |
| C．The director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. |
| D．The audience of Barcelona’s opera house. |
| A．We don’t do very well in dealing with nature. |
| B．The plants should have the equal rights. |
| C．The health care workers are more important. |
| D．We should think deeply about our interpersonal relationships. |
| A．Daily Hero. |
| B．Teen’s Life. |
| C．Art Around the World. |
| D．Animals and Plants. |
【推荐3】Chatting in her bright two bedroom flat, Shirley Meredeen, aged 91, doesn’t hesitate in describing the benefits of living here. “It keeps my brain going. We are all very active because there is so much to do...We’re really lucky to have such a supportive community.”
In 1998, Meredeen first heard of the concept of cohousing as developed in the Netherlands and decided to copy its model in the UK and create the Older Women Cohousing (OWCH) with her friends. But they didn’t imagine that it would be an 18-year struggle. The novelty of the idea coupled with the lack of data to prove the social and economic benefits made it difficult for them to access public money. Councils always compared their idea to sheltered accommodation and saw it as a burden for their already overstretched budgets.
In fact, the community-led housing is a departure from the conventional understanding of later life. Now, the community comprises 25 flats as well as a shared kitchen, meeting room, laundry, garden, car park and a guest room. People live together based on interdependence. They can take control of their future instead of relying on their families or care homes. All the neighbours look out for each other, not after each other, which means accompanying to medical appointments, doing the local shopping, having family contacts in preparation for an emergency... But the limits of such informal care among residents still need to be worked out.
OWCH has paved the way to alternative living arrangements in later life and the support for community-led housing is starting to emerge in the form of guidance and funding, according to UK Cohousing Network.
1. What do we know about Meredeen?| A．She first tried cohousing in the Netherlands. |
| B．She is a regular visitor to OWCH. |
| C．She is a pioneer in elderly care service. |
| D．She founded OWCH single-handed. |
| A．It didn’t benefit social economy. | B．It didn’t keep up with the time. |
| C．It called for careful budgeting. | D．It was hard to get public funding. |
| A．They are more independent. | B．They are responsible for each other. |
| C．They receive more care services. | D．They can rely on their relatives. |
| A．To describe an ambitious figure. | B．To introduce a new lifestyle of seniors. |
| C．To ensure elderly people’s welfare. | D．To inspire the aged to achieve their dreams. |
