A new United Nations scientific report says that human-caused climate change is greatly reducing land quality worldwide. It warns that the way humans use land is causing the earth's atmosphere to warm faster and could harm food production. The effects of climate change are already making food more costly and less nutritious (有营养的) and are worsening food shortages (缺乏).
The scientists write that if humans change the way they eat, grow food and manage forests, it could help slow world temperature rises.
About 30 percent of the earth's surface is land. But the report says that the land is warming two times faster than the planet as a whole. While heat-trapping (吸热的) gases are causing problems in the atmosphere, land has been less talked about as a part of climate change.
“The change could be worse,” the report says. Agriculture and forestry together account for about 23 percent of the heat-trapping gases that are warming the earth. That does not include energy costs, food transportation and packaging. With those activities added, the amount grows to 37 percent.
But land can absorb heat trapping gases out of the air. From 2009 to 2018, for example, agriculture and forestry each year put 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air. But the land pulled 11.2 billion metric tons out of it. Carbon dioxide is a main heat trapping gas.
Scientists have long believed that one of the few good things about higher levels of carbon dioxide is that plants grow well in such conditions. But many studies show that the high levels of carbon dioxide can reduce protein (蛋白质) and nutrients in many crops.
The report also suggests ways that carbon emissions could be reduced further. This could be done if humans reduce the amount of red meat they eat and instead eat more fruit, vegetables and seeds. That would also make people healthier.
1. What has not been paid much attention to in the study of climate change?| A．Greenhouse gases. | B．Land. | C．The earth's surface. | D．People's lifestyles. |
| A．It takes in a lot of carbon dioxide. | B．It produces grains less nutritious. |
| C．It causes the majority of heat-trapping gases. | D．It sends off more carbon dioxide than it removes. |
| A．Growing plants to absorb carbon dioxide. | B．Planting high quality crops. |
| C．Limiting red meat intake. | D．Producing enough food. |
| A．Humans should live a healthy life. |
| B．Global warming is more and more serious. |
| C．There will be a food shortage in the future. |
| D．Climate change affects land quality and food production. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Plenty of studies have investigated how climate change could be harmful to the production of coffee bean crops, with research released in 2019 suggesting that 60 percent of known coffee species could be in danger of going extinct. But a new scientific review has attempted to focus specifically on how global warming might affect the taste and smell of coffee. Bad news is that not only could the coffee of the future be harder to come by, it could taste bad, too.
“A low-quality cup of coffee has economic influences as well as sensory(感官的)ones,” Sean Cash, professor at Tults’ Friedman Nutrition Science explained. “If we can understand the science of these changes, we might help farmers better manage coffee production in the face of this and future challenges.”
Specifically, researchers identified two factors that had the most consistent association with quality: higher altitude produced coffee with better taste and smell; and too much sunlight led to decreased quality.
That first factor could be significantly affected by global warming. “Higher altitudes are connected with cooler temperatures. It results in slower ripening(成熟), long-time fruit-fill, and higher accumulation(积累)of taste and smell,” the paper states. “What may happen to coffee quality at higher altitudes with increased temperature linked to climate change? And we need to know climate adaptation is needed for coffee agricultural systems at all altitudes.
On the other hand, reducing sunlight exposure(暴露)is easier to deal with. “While light exposure is shifting with climate change, this can be controlled in coffee agricultural systems. Through shade management including developing shade-grown coffee systems with best levels of coverage, the paper continued. Shade management is a relatively easily reached climate adaptation strategy compared to relocating farms.”
Still, the study's biggest takeaway was the more work needs to be done to ensure our coffee tastes. “This systematic review highlights that coffee quality is sensitive to climate change and climate adaptation,” the conclusion stated. “Given the sensitivity of coffee quality to environmental change, evidence-based innovations are called for to enhance the sustainable development of the coffee industry in the context of global change.”
1. What is the purpose of the new study?| A．To find ways to stop the global warming. | B．To prevent the coffee from going extinct. |
| C．To help farmers increase the products of coffee. | D．To help farmers improve the quality of coffee crop. |
| A．It helps the coffee grow fast. | B．It offers coffee enough sunlight. |
| C．It offers coffee enough time to ripe. | D．It is easier for farmers to take care of coffee crop. |
| A．To relocate coffee farms. | B．To develop effective shade systems. |
| C．To grow coffee crops in higher altitude farms. | D．To make the coffee adapt to the climate change. |
| A．The future of coffee crops. | B．What affects coffee production |
| C．Climate change affects coffee quality | D．The challenges coffee crops are facing |
【推荐2】UK summers are likely to regularly see temperatures above 40℃ even if humanity manages to limit global warming to 1.5℃, meteorologists (气象学家) have warned.
The UK is already seeing increasingly extreme weather, with 2022 the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest year on record-the first to fall into the top 10 for all three variables. Data published in State of the UK Climate 2022 report revealed the average winter temperature for last year was 5.3℃, which is 1.6℃ higher than the 1981 to 2010 average.
That makes December 2021 to February 2022 the fifth warmest winter on record, while the average temperature last summer was 14.8℃, 0.4℃ above the 1981 to 2010 average.
Early August 2022 saw maximum temperatures hit 34℃ on six continuous days, with five “tropical nights” above 20℃, making it one of the most significant heatwaves to affect southern England in the past 60 years, the report’s authors said.
Comparing data from the Central England Temperature series, which goes back to 1772, the research found the early 21st century in this region has been 0.5℃ to 1℃ warmer than 1901 to 2000 and 0.5℃ to 1.5℃ warmer than 1801 to 1900.
Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, which publishes the report, said the world was already seeing extreme heat as a result of warming of 1.1℃ to 1.2℃ above pre-industrial levels.
“If you take that up by another 0.3℃, these (heatwaves) are just going to become much more intense—we’re likely to see 40℃ in the UK although we have never seen those kinds of temperatures (before),” she said.
“As we hit 1.5℃ of global warming, that’s going to not just become something that we see once or twice, it’ll start to become something that we see on a much more regular basis.” Mike Kendon, climate scientist at the Met Office and lead author of the report, said the figures indicated a new normal for the UK.
1. What does paragraph 2 intend to tell us?| A．The weather was not as wet as before. | B．The rise in temperature in winter is mild. |
| C．The weather has changed but not so serious. | D．Figures show signs of extreme weather. |
| A．Extremely hot weather appeared in southern England. |
| B．Early August 2022 had only a few days’ hot weather. |
| C．Six continuous days’ extreme weather brought little harm. |
| D．It became the wettest season in the past 60 years or so. |
| A．Periodic. | B．Normal. | C．Changeable. | D．Rare. |
| A．Extreme Weather Hit the UK | B．What Extreme Weather Looks Like |
| C．Where the Future Weather Will Go | D．What We Can Do with Extreme Weather |
【推荐3】Climate change has already begun to impact our planet in more ways than we can think.
Make your commute green. Millions of people drive to work every day.
Be more conservative with energy usage. Becoming more energy efficient is a great way to prevent pollution.
Recycle. Manufacturing plants emit a large number of greenhouse gasses per year. It is unavoidable in the production of goods that we use on a regular basis. However, a cleaner alternative would be to invest in recycling.
| A．Educate yourself and others. |
| B．Encourage the use of renewable energies. |
| C．It’s simply unavoidable in our modern-day society. |
| D．Be sure to collect your abandoned paper, plastic and electronics. |
| E．Fortunately, there are always things we can do to fight against it. |
| F．This requires you to cut down on energy usage in your household. |
| G．Recycling is a cost-effective and eco-friendly process that eliminates waste. |
【推荐1】It’s an attractive idea: by playing online problem-solving, matching and other games for a few minutes a day, people can improve such mental abilities as reasoning, language skills and memory. But whether these games deliver on those promises is up for debate.
Now, in perhaps the biggest real-world test of these programs, Stojanoski, a cognitive (认知的) neuroscientist at Western University in Ontario, and colleagues tested more than 1,000 people who regularly use brain trainers against around 7,500 people who don’t do the mini brain workouts.
The researchers involved 8,563 volunteers globally. Participants filled out an online questionnaire about their training habits, opinions about training benefits and which, if any, program they used. Some 1,009 participants reported using brain training programs for about eight months, on average, though the time length ranged from two weeks to more than five years. Next, the volunteers completed 12 cognitive tests assessing memory, reasoning and language skills. They faced memory exercises, spatial reasoning tasks such as mentally rotating objects and pattern-finding puzzles, and strategy challenges.
When researchers looked at the results, they saw that brain trainers on average had no mental ascendancy over the other group in memory, language skills and reasoning. Even among those who had used training programs for at least 18 months, brain training didn’t increase thinking abilities above the level of people who didn’t use the programs.
“No matter how we sliced the data, we were unable to find any evidence that brain training was associated with cognitive abilities,” says Stojanoski, “brain training may be beneficial in specific situations, but part of our goal was to look at brain training in the real world.”
That real world may be the best brain trainer, says Elizabeth Stine, a cognitive aging scientist at the University of Illinois. While it’s possible to improve mental abilities, she advocates practicing those skills in different real-life situations. “That’s a much better use of one’s time than sitting at a computer and doing little tasks.”
1. What’s the purpose of the research?| A．To test participants’ mental ability in the real world. |
| B．To discover new ways to improve people’s intelligence. |
| C．To find out whether brain trainers are beneficial to users. |
| D．To compare the effects of two types of brain training games. |
| A．Survey and comparison. | B．Experiment and analysis. |
| C．Interview and examination. | D．Observation and recording. |
| A．Problem. | B．Advantage. | C．Ability. | D．Benefit. |
| A．Smart Games: Not Useful in Reality | B．Brain Training: Better than Expected |
| C．A Research: the Biggest Real-world Test | D．An Attractive Idea: Getting Smart via Games |
【推荐2】Did you know roughly one third of food for human consumption goes to waste? Most of it is fresh fruit and vegetables that go bad. The produce dries out or goes bad, which has led scientists to develop ways of coating or sealing the food to keep it fresher for longer. Now research at Rice University reveals there might be a better way.
Scientists discovered that dipping produce like strawberries and bananas into an egg-based wash is remarkably good for preserving it. The coating is extremely thick, and made from a mixture of powdered egg whites and yolks(70%), and some wood-sourced cellulose to act as a barrier preventing water loss.
What the scientists found was that the egg wash made a significant difference in helping produce stay fresh over a two-week observation period. The appearance of the coated fruits and vegetables didn’t change much, while the uncoated produce ripened and. even rotted within the same time frame. The egg-based coating, as it turned out, reduced each fruit’s chance to get exposed to oxygen.
The non-poisonous coating was found to be flexible and tests showed that it was just as tough as other products, including synthetic films, used in produce packaging. For anyone with an egg allergy, the coating can be removed by thorough washing in water and is tasteless.
The scientists hope this could be a breakthrough in the fight against food waste. "Reducing food shortages in ways that are not related to genetic modification, uneatable coatings or chemical additives is important for better sustainable living ,”said materials scientist and study author Pulickel Ajayan.
What’s great about this discovery is that it fights food waste in more than one way: even the coating was made from eggs that would otherwise have been discarded because they weren’t fit for consumption. The researchers said roughly 200 million of US produced eggs go to waste annually. So if this were scaled up, it could be a win-win situation all around.
1. How does the egg-based wash help keep food fresh?| A．By limiting its oxygen exposure | B．By making its coating less thick. |
| C．By removing its cellulose slowly. | D．By improving its absorbent ability |
| A．To stress the seriousness of food shortage. | B．To offer the method of cutting food waste. |
| C．To show the significance of the discovery. | D．To give brief description of the research. |
| A．Eaten up. | B．Taken in. | C．Picked out. | D．Thrown away. |
| A．How to use eggs creatively. | B．A new way to preserve food. |
| C．How to recycle food waste. | D．A breakthrough in technology. |
【推荐3】We are surrounded every day by thousands of chemicals. These chemicals have been found to be safe－on their own. But are they still “safe” if mixed with other chemicals? That's the big question.
On its own, each chemical seems harmless. But in combination with other chemicals, they may become deadly. That is the finding of a two－year study by a high－profile task force of scientists. The task force was told to investigate the cancer－causing possibility of chemical mixtures.
Linda Gulliver was one of 174 scientists on the task force. Their job was to study the cancer－causing potential of 85 chemicals. All 85 are said to be common in the environment.
Ms Gulliver explains that chemicals have the potential to form dangerous mixtures. Even simple minerals can become dangerous when mixed with chemicals found in plastics or beauty products. While the chemicals are safe on their own. She says, the researchers found that many chemical compound cause cancer in human cells.
Working in groups, the scientists explored how different chemical mixtures could lead to cancer. Ms Gulliver's team looked at the ability of different combinations to support the increase of malignant (恶性的) human cells.
She says the big issue－what she calls “the $ 64 million dollar question”－is, “Which common, everyday chemicals do people need to avoid？”
“The $ 64 million dollar question that everybody wants to ask is, ‘Which chemicals should we be looking out for？’ And the answer to that is, ‘We don't know yet.’”
She says the current way to identify whether chemicals cause cancer is to test them one at a time. This method leads, she adds, to a long list of supposedly “safe” chemicals. She and her team say that approach needs to change.
“We definitely need certain research ... to find out what mixtures of chemicals would be more harmful than others; what groups of chemicals, when together, would produce more harmful effects. And at the moment, that is not known.”
1. The purpose of the researchers' work is ________.| A．to find ways to protect human cells |
| B．to study the character of the chemicals |
| C．to study how deadly the chemicals in our homes are |
| D．to study the cancer－causing possibility of mixtures |
| A．practical to other researchers | B．completely successful |
| C．still limited | D．not well received |
| A．Chemicals are everywhere |
| B．Chemicals can lead to cancer |
| C．What is in chemicals in our daily life? |
| D．Mixture of safe chemicals may cause cancer |
| A．Harmful chemicals are throughout our homes. |
| B．It is hard to tell what mixture of chemicals is harmful. |
| C．Researchers have quick approaches to studying the chemicals. |
| D．Scientists know which mixture does harm to our health. |
【推荐1】Photosynthesis (光合作用) is a unique skill of green plants — they turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and food via sunlight. A group of Chinese scientists, however, “copied” the process on animals.
To understand the new breakthrough, it is important to know how photosynthesis works. Plants take in carbon dioxide and water from the air and soil. Within the plant cell, the water is oxidized. This transforms the water into oxygen and the carbon dioxide into glucose (葡萄糖). The plant then releases the oxygen back into the air and stores energy within the glucose molecules.
In the study, the researchers from Zhejiang University developed an independent and controllable photosynthetic system, according to the study published in Nature in early December. They separated thylakoids, a part of the cell where light reactions take place in plants, from young spinach (菠菜) leaves. The scientists then wrapped the thylakoids with the cover of animal cells, which made the implanted thylakoids more acceptable to foreign bodies.
The mice used in the study were suffering from arthritis (关节炎) meaning cells in their cartilage had degenerated and could not be repaired by themselves. With the thylakoids implanted into the mice and exposed to light, the mice recovered. Their metabolism (新陈代谢) returned to normal.
In arthritis, the patients usually have energy loss since fewer energy-carrying molecules are generated. The implant, however, can correct the imbalance by storing more energy via photosynthesis.
The researchers also claimed that their tests would have medical usage. “It can be used as part of solution for degenerative diseases because the natural photosynthesis system may repair cells. It may also delay the aging process in cells. The study showed an exciting achievement that opens up possibilities of metabolism engineering,” commented one of the paper’s reviewers Francisco Cejudo from the University of Seville in Spain, reported Xinhua.
1. Why does the author mention the way photosynthesis works in Paragraph 2?| A．To help us understand how scientists apply the principle to animals. |
| B．To explain to us the definition of photosynthesis. |
| C．To prove plants’ ability to release the oxygen back into the air. |
| D．To show us how plants turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen. |
| A．To lead to light reactions. | B．To provide them with nutrition. |
| C．To prevent them from degeneration. | D．To help them work better in foreign bodies. |
| A．By repairing a broken metabolism. | B．By getting rid of degenerated cells. |
| C．By helping maintain energy balance. | D．By offering energy-carrying molecules. |
| A．Suggestions for future studies. | B．The significance of the study. |
| C．The limitations of the study. | D．Other findings of the study. |
【推荐2】On a normally peaceful residential road outside Hague, Dutch, the sound of machines and tools announces a not-so-quiet housing revolution. Four workers standing on a scissor lift guide a facade(立面)40 feet wide and one story tall into place against the existing wall. Its brickwork pattern and the windows, perfectly fit the building’s existing frame and openings.
This new building skin was one of a dozen such facades to be attached to local buildings. The project is part of a concerted effort to transform energy-inefficient public housing into a set of extremely low emission homes-without having to open a wall. The building was being wrapped in the equivalent of a winter jacket. A similarly premade, lightweight material, complete with solar panels, would be placed on the roof, too.
In Netherlands, a big number of greenhouse gas emissions result from energy loss in residential buildings. But retrofitting(翻新)homes to improve efficiency and reduce carbon footprint too often remains cumbersome and costly. The work requires a great many contractors(承包商)and up-front financing that is off-putting for homeowners, despite the long-term environmental and financial benefits.
The Dutch government began to face this climate challenge a decade ago by seed-funding, a nonprofit program known as Energiesprong. The initial investment helped bring together engineers, construction companies, financiers and house owners who figured out a way to mass-produce home retrofits.
House owners can now simply add an energy retrofit to that process, with attractive new facades and roofs. An automatic device takes precision measurements of a building’s entire outside in a matter of hours. The information is uploaded wirelessly to large factories where walls, windows, doors and solar roof’s are produced and fit together for the target building. Completed facades and roofs are trucked to the site and attached. Often, the building owner or residents see their annual energy costs fall to zero thanks to solar panels that sell extra power to the electricity supply in the country, at least during the summer.
1. Why does the author mention the scene of fixing a facade?| A．To provide examples. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To make comparisons. | D．To support the argument. |
| A．Unrealistic. | B．Unnecessary. | C．Unmanageable. | D．Uncontrollable. |
| A．They cost less than before. | B．They can meet various needs. |
| C．They are still time-consuming | D．They have brought in benefits. |
| A．Power Is Generated on House Roofs | B．New Stylish Buildings Are Available |
| C．Buildings Can Be Wrapped in Jackets | D．Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Controllable |
【推荐3】One argument for why robots will never fully measure up to people is that they lack human-like social skills. But researchers are experimenting with new methods to give robots social skills to better interact with humans. Two new studies provide evidence of progress in this kind of research.
One experiment was carried out by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. The team developed a machine learning system for self-driving vehicles. The researchers studied driving situations to learn how other drivers on the road were likely to behave. Since not all human drivers act in the same way, the data was meant to teach the driverless car to avoid dangerous situations. The researchers say the technology uses tools borrowed from the field of social psychology. In this experiment, scientists created a system that attempted to decide whether a person’s driving style is more selfish or selfless. In road tests, self-driving vehicles equipped with the system improved their ability to predict what other drivers would do by up to 25 percent.
Another social experiment involved a game competition between humans and a robot. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University tested whether a robot’s trash talk would affect humans playing in a game against the machine. A humanoid (人形的) robot, named Pepper, was programmed to say things to a human opponent like “I have to say you are a terrible player.” Another robot statement was, “Over the course of the game, your playing has become confused.”
The study involved each of the humans playing a game with the robot 35 different times. The game was called Guards and Treasures, which is used to study decision making. The study found that players criticized by the robot generally performed worse in the games than humans receiving praise.
One of the lead researchers was Fei Fang. She said, “This is one of the first studies of human-robot interaction in an environment where they are not working together. We can expect home assistants to be cooperative. But in situations such as online shopping, they may not have the same goals as we do.”
1. What was the machine learning system in the first experiment designed to do?| A．Make drivers drive more safely. |
| B．Help maintain the traffic order. |
| C．Work instead of traffic policemen. |
| D．Learn the social characteristics of other drivers. |
| A．Secrets of others. | B．Truth out in the open. |
| C．Words offensive in some way. | D．Inappropriate things to others. |
| A．It is hard for humans to beat robots. |
| B．Robots are smarter than humans in decision making. |
| C．Robots cannot take the place of humans because they lack emotions. |
| D．Robots can have the ability to affect people socially just as humans do. |
| A．The Development of Robots |
| B．New Kinds of Robots Are Being Tested |
| C．Robots Can Be Mankind’s Best Friends |
| D．Research Aims to Give Robots Human-Like Social Skills |
