A North Atlantic right whale calf(幼崽) was discovered dead on the beach of an island off North Carolina. The male newborn was found on North Core Banks, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The reports indicate that the animal died during birth or shortly after, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA). Scientists took DNA to determine the calf’s mother.
This is the beginning of the right whale’s reproduction(繁殖) season, which begins mid-November and runs through mid-April. NOAA called this death a disastrous start to the season. Each new right whale calf brings so much hope for this badly endangered animals, and losses like this have a great impact on their recovery, NOAA said.
The right whale is one of the rarest marine mammals(哺乳动物) in the world, according to NOAA. They will soon be extinct unless something is done to save it, researchers warn. This kind of whale has been experiencing an Unusual Death Event over the past three years, according to NOAA. Since 2017, at least 32 dead and 13 seriously wounded whales have been documented by the organization. “This means more than 10 percent of the remaining population,” according to NOAA.
NOAA posted a piece of news on Monday, the same day they announced the calf’s death, warning boaters to be watchful as the whales are migrating(迁徙) nearly 1,000 miles along the Atlantic Coast. The organization calls for boaters to be watchful, slow down and to give these endangered whales plenty of room. They also ask all fishermen to remove their unused nets from the ocean to help avoid possible damage.
1. Why did scientists take DNA of the calf?| A．To save its mother. | B．To confirm its identity. |
| C．To determine the time of its death. | D．To uncover the cause of its death. |
| A．About 40. | B．About 50. |
| C．About 400. | D．About 500. |
| A．Their reproduction season usually last about half a year. |
| B．They are the rarest marine mammals in the world. |
| C．They are experiencing a high death rate of newborns. |
| D．Their habitat runs nearly 1,000 miles along the coast. |
| A．To announce the calf’s unusual death. |
| B．To remind boaters to watch the whales. |
| C．To protect the boats against the whales. |
| D．To assist the whales’ seasonal migration. |
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【推荐1】In a new study published on the Journal of Auian Biology, researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico tracked the behavior of house finches(雀) on the main campus of the university, in Mexico City.
The team created an artificial nest lining(内衬), which includes feathers, cotton, hair and cigarette ends. Then, after the birds 'eggs had hatched, they replaced the original lining with the new one, to make sure the nests were pest free. The researchers then added live ticks to the mix, while dead ticks were added to other linings.
It seems that urban house finches use more cigarette ends to line their nests when they've been invaded by ticks. And, those whose nests were given live ticks increased their cigarette end weight by about 40 percent more than those where dead ticks had been used, according to New Scientist. The technique is likely a form of self-medication, the experts explain, as it's thought that the chemicals in cigarette ends can help to keep off the pests.
While this behavior may have its benefits, the researchers say it's also possible that the use of cigarette ends in the nests could have negative effects. "It is a matter of concern that cigarette ends, being poisonous, are part of house finch nests in Mexico City," the authors explain in the paper," but we have not come across evidence of long-term costs of using this material."
According to the researchers, a thorough evaluation will be necessary to determine the real effects of using cigarette ends, whether they are positive or not. But they explain, the findings do suggest that the cigarette ends are linked to the presence of ticks and likely play a role in keeping them away.
1. What does the underlined phrase" the mix" in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The former nests. | B．The artificial lining. |
| C．The cigarette ends. | D．The original lining. |
| A．The findings of the experiment. | B．The application of the research findings. |
| C．The theory related to the recent research. | D．The reasons for house finches using cigarette ends. |
| A．Eat them out. | B．Dust them off. |
| C．Build firmer nests. | D．Use more cigarette ends. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Conservative. | C．Objective. | D．Tolerant. |
【推荐2】Despite these efforts to prevent the spread of invasive (入侵的) species, they keep increasing across the planet. For example, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified a list of the 100 “world’s worst” invaders that have spread across the planet, with little hope of controlling them. The list includes eight species of fish. They are highly valued by people for food or entertainment, and thus not only are they difficult to control, but people may not wish to control them. An example would be rainbow trout (虹鳟鱼). Although rainbow trout has demonstrated impacts on native species and ecosystems, this species is unlikely to be controlled soon.
The example highlights the difficult task in controlling biological invasions.Although control can work sometimes, this often can’t completely remove the invader. Furthermore, control isn’t always an option when invaders are species people desire, or control efforts harm native species.
Given the difficulty of preventing or controlling biological invasions, what should we do? One way is to focus on the impacts of invasions rather than the invaders themselves. For example, it may be possible to manage the undesirable impacts without fully controlling them. This approach is like managing undesirable symptoms of a disease that cannot be cured. For invasive species, undesirable symptoms are the negative impacts on native species or ecosystems.
Managing the impacts of invaders needn’t be the only method. It can be combined with more conventional measures of prevention and control to design more effective strategies. Adding the option of managing impacts without the need for control opens up new opportunities for dealing with the challenges of managing biological invasions. We hope this will inspire people to work more closely to understand ways to minimize the threat posed by invaders as there seems no choice but to learn how to live with them.
1. Why don’t some people want to control rainbow trout?| A．They value it for entertainment or food. |
| B．The rainbow trout is very clever. |
| C．They are short of advanced tools. |
| D．The rainbow trout is too strong. |
| A．People may be short of food. |
| B．Serious pollution may be caused. |
| C．Harmful species will grow quickly. |
| D．Native species can be harmed. |
| A．To show biological invasions are harmful. |
| B．To show biological invasions can spread diseases. |
| C．To tell us to treat biological invasions in a similar way. |
| D．To show biological invasions are unable to control. |
| A．Reducing the threat to the lowest level. |
| B．Taking good care of them. |
| C．Keeping away from them. |
| D．Getting rid of them completely. |
【推荐3】About 230 whales beached themselves on the western part of the Australian island of Tasmania. It is the second such incident in recent days. At least half are alive and animal officials are working to rescue them. They are trying to understand why the whales got stuck.
The whales are stuck on Ocean Beach near Macquarie Harbor in the western part of Tasmania. About two years ago, 470 whales became stuck on sand in the same area. That time, about 100 whales were saved but the rest died.
The whales are pilot whales, which weigh between 1,000 and 2,000 kilograms and measure over 6 meters. Pilot whales are the species that most often get stuck in large numbers. Some scientists believe it is because they travel in large groups and follow a leader.
A team from the Marine Conservation Program was heading to the area to help the whales. The harbor does not have deep water and its entrance is known by locals as Hell’s Gate.
Linton Kringle is a salmon farmer who once helped with the rescue in 2020. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this year’s work would be more difficult. That time, he said that the whales were in the harbor, so people could reach them easily on boats. This time, they are outside of the safe area, on a beach, which means it will be harder to get boats near them. “It’s too shallow (浅的) and too rough. My thoughts would be to try to get them onto a vehicle if we can’t get them swim out,” Kringle added.
Vanessa Pirotta is a wildlife scientist who studies animals like whales and dolphins. She said the fact that the whales have gotten stuck around the same place during the same part of the year, suggesting there might be something environmental here.
1. What puzzles animal officials most?| A．The number of beached whales. | B．The cause of whales’ beaching. |
| C．The times of whales’ beaching. | D．The way to rescue beached whales. |
| A．Their group travel habits. | B．Their heavy weights. |
| C．Their poor eyesight. | D．Their long bodies. |
| A．There aren’t so many rescue workers. |
| B．The entrance is known as Hell’s Gate. |
| C．Making them swim back to the sea is almost impossible. |
| D．The whales in danger are too far away to reach by boat. |
| A．To introduce pilot whales. |
| B．To call on people to protect whales. |
| C．To recommend a suitable rescue method. |
| D．To tell an incident about whales’ beaching. |
【推荐1】Honking cars, blasting stereos, babbling neighbors: consider it all part of the symphony that plays daily on New York City streets. Everyone knows the city is loud, and politicians have waged a long, losing war against noise. Now they have a new weapon: noise cameras.
The cameras, which are paired with a sound meter to detect noise of at least 85 decibels (分贝) from a source 50 ft or more away, have recently been fixed on certain streets in Manhattan’s wealthy Upper West Side. It’s part of a program run by the city’s department of environmental protection.
It’s not just New York City. Knoxville, Tennessee; Miami; and sections of California are working with the UK-based company SoundVue to add noise detectors on streets. SoundVue is owned by Intelligent Instruments Ltd, and Reuben Peckham, a director, said the baseline infraction (违规) of 85 decibels that the cameras register is “similar to the noise level from a lawn mower at the operator’s position”.
Peckham said the basic structure uses a microphone and algorithm (算法) to detect noise, and then logs the offender’s license plate.
Erica Walker studies the relationship between community noise and health. She believes most noise comes from poor city planning rather than individual bad actions, and that noise cameras are merely Band-Aids for a more systemic issue. “I just think noise cameras are a very lazy and superficial (表面的) solution,” she said. “A better noise mitigation (缓解) strategy should be a pro-peace perspective, where everyone has to come to the table and agree to a solution, rather than the city just shutting down the acoustical (声音的) culture of a community.”
According to Audrey Amsellem, a lecturer at Columbia University, “the regulation of noise had more to do with the identity of the noisemaker than the sound itself.” She also expressed concern about the surveillance (监视) capabilities of noise cameras. “Once these devices are fixed, they rarely come down,” she said. “These are AI-driven, meaning capabilities can be added over time. We know that noise cameras are equipped with—at least—sensors and cameras. What other kind of data, apart from traffic noise, can they gather? Does this present a privacy risk for residents of the city?” 【The Guardian (October 5,2023)】
1. Which of the following statements is true concerning noise cameras?| A．All streets in Manhattan’s wealthy Upper West Side are equipped with cameras. |
| B．Noises that are beyond 85 decibels and are from a source less than 50ft can be detected by the camera. |
| C．SoundVue is owned by Reuben Peckham, a director. |
| D．The cameras are noise detectors on streets to fight against city noises. |
| A．Log the offender’s license plate. |
| B．Stop poor city planning. |
| C．All sides concerned come to negotiate and reach a sound solution. |
| D．Avoid individual bad behaviors. |
| A．The regulation of noise is illegal. | B．These devices are expensive to upgrade. |
| C．The cameras may invade residents’ privacy. | D．The AI-driven devices are harmful to human beings. |
| A．Can Noise Cameras Reduce Sound Pollution in Big Cities? |
| B．Bad Behaviors on New York City Streets |
| C．SoundVue: a Promising Enterprise To Combat Noise |
| D．Manhattan’s Residents Are in Danger |
【推荐2】Snow in the Wasatch Mountains above Salt Lake City had more dust deposited (沉积) on it in2022 than in any year since observations began in 2009. The dust deposits caused snow to disappear 17 days earlier than before.
“Earlier, faster snow melt may change the water supply for the 1.2 million people living there, as well as ecosystems downstream,” says McKenzie Skiles, a snow hydrologist at the University of Utah. “It also affects the region’s ski areas, which contribute more than $1.5 billion per year to the local economy.”
In dry parts of the western America, snow acts as a natural reservoir (蓄水池). More than half the water in Salt Lake City comes from four streams that drain snow out of the Wasatch Mountains. But current forecasting tools don’t account for the impact of dust, which absorbs sunlight, speeding up snow melt. That means people can’t accurately predict when snow runoffs (径流) will happen so they can use water efficiently.
As a skier, Skiles noticed the mountains near Salt Lake City looked especially dirty in 2022. So she and her colleagues investigated whether the increase in dust was related to constant years of record-low water.
They collected snow samples there and found that storms deposited substantial amounts of dust 16 times during the 2022 snow melt season. After calculating where the dust came from during each storm based on wind direction and atmospheric conditions, they found that Great Salt Lake contributed nearly a quarter of the total dust to the study site. It also released the most dust relative to the lake’s exposed surface area. “This was surprising,” Skiles says, “because the Great Salt Lake’s dry lakebed is tiny compared with the exposed surfaces of neighboring dust sources.”
“Utah will be drier because earlier snow melt causes the landscape to dry out faster,”Skiles explains. As Great Salt Lake gets smaller and deposits more dust on the mountains, there’s less water available to refill the lake during the summer, which in turn exposes a larger dust source.
1. What is the direct result of earlier and faster snow melt?| A．The water for living may be polluted. | B．Spring will come earlier than before. |
| C．Ski areas will turn to other sports events. | D．Domestic water supply will be influenced. |
| A．They are inapplicable to Salt Lake City. | B．They don’t take the dust into account. |
| C．They can’t predict the time of snowfall. | D．They are imprecise due to regional difference. |
| A．It’s too much for such a small area. | B．It’s only found in the dry lakebeds. |
| C．It has made Salt Lake City warmer. | D．It is often affected by wind direction. |
| A．Utah Is in Urgent Need of Fresh Water |
| B．Smaller Great Salt Lake Leads to Less Dust |
| C．More Dust Is Speeding Utah’s Snow Melt |
| D．Utah Becomes Drier with Summer Coming |
【推荐3】“IS THERE SOME game where I just lie really still on a comfy bed or something?” Bandit, the father in “Bluey”, asks with hope in his voice. “Hospitals!” yell Bluey and Bingo, his two cheerful dog daughters. “Oh, not hospital,” sighs Bandit, as he is led to a pile of sofa cushions on the floor to become a patient. This is just one of the games the Heeler family plays. There’s “Daddy Robot”, where Bandit is assigned chores, and “Hotel”, where the workers (the children) repeatedly wake up the guest (Bandit).
“Bluey”, a hit series about four Blue Heeler dogs, first aired on Australian television on October 1st five years ago. It is a celebration of the funny and humorous games adults and children play together. The creator, Joe Brumm, an Australian animator, draws on his own experience of bringing up little ones. Mr Brumm created “Bluey” as Australia’s answer to “Peppa Pig”, a beloved British animated series. And the TV series went viral. In America, more than 23 million hours of “Bluey” were streamed in a single week in July: an impressive feat given each instalment is around seven minutes long.
The global success originates from the wholesome premise: a family having fun, which parents like to show their children. There is an instructive element, too, as the dogs usually learn something about the real world as a result of their games. For children who expect a present from every party they go to, “Pass the Parcel” teaches them about the joy of generosity. “Bluey” is also beautifully designed, with calming hues and soft music. It makes a pleasant change from the gaudy colours and ear-splitting noise used in many kids’ programmes.
The show has its critics. It revolves around a bog-standard two-parent, two-child unit, even though families come in all shapes and sizes. Some gender stereotypes persist, too. Although Bandit is involved in parenting, he is often the fun parent while Chilli, the mother, does domestic chores and organises the family. Some claim the show puts pressure on parents to be constant play companions to their children.
But still “Bluey” entertains parents, who will have played many made-up games with their own children. Parents empathise with Bandit’s sighs and understand why Chilli “likes being by herself”. The characters provide a model for young and old alike.
1. What purpose does the first paragraph serve?| A．To describe scenes in a game. | B．To support an argument. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To attract people to watch the TV series. |
①gaudy colors ②educative elements ③appealing designs
④ear-splitting noise ⑤an image of happy family ⑥calming and soft music
| A．①③⑤⑥ | B．①②④⑤ | C．①③④⑥ | D．②③⑤⑥ |
| A．It bears gender discrimination against females. |
| B．It stereotypes the shape, size and roles of the family. |
| C．It pressures parents to act as role models for their children. |
| D．It stresses the bond between family members. |
| A．A TV series goes viral when it shares viewers’ emotions. |
| B．A TV series goes viral when it reflects conflicts between its creator and its viewers. |
| C．A TV series goes viral when it imitates a popular character. |
| D．A TV series goes viral when it advocates unconventional values. |
