When Joseph Cook first landed on the Greenland ice sheet in 2010, he was expecting to see a primitive white environment. What he found was "colorful mix"-from blacks and grays to greens, purples and browns, with blue streams cutting through the ice. the rainbow colors Cook encountered are created by a collection of tiny life forms that reproduce on the surface of the ice sheet. Biodiversity is usually considered a good thing, but in this case the abundance of tiny life is speeding up ice melt, and likely causing global sea levels to rise faster than scientists have predicted
Cook says the tiny life forms he studies are contributing to the problem. One of these organisms is an algae(海藻) that grows in the thin layer of water on the surface of the ice. it produces purple-brown- pigment(色素) which acts “like a natural sunscreen, "says Cook, protecting the algae from the full force of the Arctic sunlight. The pigment also causes the ice to heat up and melt.
“If you go out on a hot day wearing a black T-shirt, you get warmer than if you go out on a hot day wearing a white T-shirt. The same thing happens on the ice," says Cook. "These algae, like the black T-shirt for the glacier, are causing it to warm up in the sun and melt faster.”
Cook’s research on a part of the Greenland ice sheet covering 3, 900 square miles revealed that algae is responsible for up to 13% of the ice melt. In some localized areas, the algae boosted melting by up to 26%.
Glacier algae are not a new phenomenon-there are records of them in the diaries of polar explorers from the 1870s, says Cook. What's becoming clear is that ice sheets are surprisingly dynamic and complex environments. "There are so many questions to answer, "says Cook. "It's kind of like a theme park for a scientist because there's just so much to do.
1. What is quickening the ice melt?| A．The algae. | B．Human activities. |
| C．Global warming. | D．Blue melt streams. |
| A．To clarify a rule. | B．To explain the phenomenon. |
| C．To add humour. | D．To make a conclusion. |
| A．Scientists will avoid exploring polar regions. |
| B．Cook feels proud of the current results. |
| C．A theme park will be built on ice sheets. |
| D．There's a long way for research into ice sheets. |
| A．A news review. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A geography textbook. | D．A science magazine |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Daily News—Cecilia Chiang, who first changed the stereotypes (刻板印象) about Chinese cuisine (饭菜) in the United States, died Wednesday. She was 100.
Chiang was the owner, chef and mastermind behind the game-changing San Francisco restaurant, the Mandarin. She is widely credited with bringing real Chinese food to America and was a celebrity(名人) chef before celebrity chefs were popularized.
Chiang, who was born in Wuxi, came from an upper-class Chinese family. Although she wasn’t shy about admitting her good fortune, she faced other obstacles (障碍). To convince the dining public that Chinese food didn’t have to be the Thursday’s cheap takeout option, Chiang had her work cut out for her, when she moved to the Bay Area in 1959. She insisted on showing diners the refined side of Chinese food and wanted to upgrade the Chinese dining experience. To do this, she also needed to be aware of aesthetics (美学).
The Mandarin did not serve fried rice (炒饭) or chow mien (炒面), two standard dishes in every Chinese restaurant in the US at the time. But this was exactly what Chiang wanted to avoid. In fact, her early encounter (邂逅) with Chinese food in America had left her determined to show San Francisco what Chinese food was really like.
Her granddaughter, Siena Chiang said, “I hope she is a signal and an inspiration to people with marginalized (边缘化的) identities to always believe in your own worth and knowledge, and not to give in to other cultures.”
1. Where does the passage probably come from?| A．An autobiography. | B．A travel book. |
| C．An essay collection. | D．News coverage. |
| A．Cut her work into small parts. |
| B．Had lots of work to do. |
| C．Reached out for help. |
| D．Was out of her job. |
| A．To be an aesthetician. |
| B．To stop offering takeout food on Thursday. |
| C．To serve fried rice or chow mien. |
| D．To improve the Chinese dining experience. |
【推荐2】Sara Dykman is on a 10,000-mile bike trip, following the monarch butterfly from Mexico through the United States and Canada and back again. The purpose of her journey is not just to mark the butterfly’s migrating (迁徙) road, but to warn about the threat it faces — and what we can do to help it.
When I reached Dykman by phone, she was biking through Iowa cornfields. She said she feels more upset than usual, because of what she is seeing — or not seeing — on her travels: Fewer butterflies and milkweed. “In the last two decades, the butterfly population has declined by about 90 percent as a result of the loss of milkweed, a native plant that the butterflies need as part of their life cycle,” she said.
Butterflies go through a four-stage life cycle. In February and March, the adult monarch butterflies come out of winter sleep to look for a mate. Then they migrate north and east to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. It takes about four days for the eggs to hatch. Then the baby caterpillars (毛毛虫) spend much of their time eating milkweed in order to grow. About two weeks later, the fully grown caterpillars will attach themselves to plant branches or leaves to change into butterflies.
But Dykman is not in total despair. A solution, she says, exists within the reach of everyone who owns a home; simply planting some milkweed in the yards to help the butterflies on their journey.
Dykman lives a life as simple and rootless as the butterflies she loves. She doesn’t own a house or car or eat out at restaurants. She carries only what she needs; a sleeping bag and clothing. People help along the way by providing a place to stay and a meal.
“I have failed at everything normal, but I’m pretty good at doing the less normal things,” she admits in her new book Cycling With Butterflies.
“But this trip is about solutions, and it’s about helping people see the consequences of their actions,” she said on the phone.
1. What is the main purpose of Sara Dykman’s bike trip?| A．To live-stream the migrating butterflies. | B．To ask people to grow more native plants. |
| C．To warn about the environmental problems. | D．To encourage people to protect the butterflies. |
| A．Baby caterpillars are very harmful to various crops. |
| B．Milkweed plays a vital role in a butterfly’s life cycle. |
| C．Non-native plants are growing too fast in Iowa cornfields. |
| D．Adult butterflies come out of winter sleep later than they did. |
| A．She is a determined conservationist. | B．She is a good bread-earner. |
| C．She is a competent employee. | D．She is a comfort seeker. |
| A．A diary entry. | B．A book review. | C．An interview. | D．A news report. |
【推荐3】The baguette, a long, thin French bread, is being added to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. UNESCO experts gathering in Morocco this week decided that the simple French bread—made only of flour, water, salt, and yeast—was worth U.N. recognition, after France’s culture ministry warned of a “continuous drop” in the number of traditional bakeries(烘焙坊), with some 400 closing every year over the past half century.
The UN cultural agency’s chief, Audrey Azoulay said, “the decision honors more than just bread; it recognizes the ‘graceful skills of bakers’ and ‘a daily ritual (仪式)’.” Azoulay added, “It is important that such baking knowledge and social practices can continue to exist in the future.”
With the bread’s new status (地位), the French government said it planned to create a baguette day, called the “Open Bakehouse Day”, to connect the French better with their heritage. Bakers in France seemed proud, if unsurprised. “Of course, it should be on the list because the baguette symbolizes the world. It’s universal,” said Asma Farhat, a baker at Julien’s Bakery. “If there’s no baguette, you can’t have a proper meal. In the morning you can toast it, for lunch it’s a sandwich, and then it accompanies dinner.”
Despite the decline in traditional bakery numbers, France’s 67 million people still buy baguettes at a variety of sales points, including in supermarkets. According to France’s “Bread Observatory”, the French eat 320 baguettes of one form or another every second. The problem is, observers say, that they can often be poor in quality. “It’s very easy to get bad baguette in France. It’s the traditional baguette from the traditional bakery that is in danger. It’s about quality not quantity,” said one local resident, Marine Fourchier.
1. What was UNESCO’s decision about the French bread?| A．Including it on the ICH list. |
| B．Creating a baguette day. |
| C．Closing traditional baguette bakeries. |
| D．Improving the traditional baking skills. |
| A．Creative. | B．Unclear. | C．Shocking. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．Baguettes are common in the French diet. |
| B．Baguettes are easy to get in supermarkets. |
| C．Baguettes and sandwiches are equally important. |
| D．Baguettes are the most popular around the world. |
| A．Freshly baked baguettes go bad easily. |
| B．Traditional baking are to be promoted. |
| C．Eating baguettes becomes a new tradition. |
| D．Traditional baguettes gain official attention. |
【推荐1】Pre-school children who spend time together take on one another's personalities, a new research has found. The study shows that environment plays a key role in shaping people's personalities. While genetics still forms the central part of the human psyche (心理), the research finds that personality traits (特征) are "contagious" (传染的) among children. "Our finding flies in the face of common assumptions that personality can't be changed," said Dr. Jennifer Neal, co-author of the study.
The researchers studied the personalities and social networks of two pre-school classes for a full school year. One of the classes was a set of three-year-olds, and the other a set of four-year-olds. Children whose friends were hard-working or outgoing gradually took on these personality traits over time. Psychology expert Dr. Emily Dublin said kids are having a far bigger effect on each other than people may realize.
The new study is not the first to explore the contagious effects of personality traits. A 2015 psychology study found that rudeness at work can be contagious as it travels from person to person "like a disease". The study found that seeing a boss being rude to an employee was enough to cause people to be rude to those around them.
The researchers questioned 6,000 people on the social "climate" in their workplaces, which included offices, hotels and restaurants. They found 75 percent of those who took part said they had been treated rudely at least once in the past year. And the study also suggests that merely seeing other people being subjected to rudeness made it more likely that a person would treat their colleagues in the same way. Rudeness could include leaving someone off an invite to a company event, sending unkind emails, finding fault with others or failing to give praise.
Dr. Torkelson believes companies need to be more aware of the harm that rudeness in the workplace can do as it can damage the working environment. She said better training could help to fight against the problem.
1. What does the underlined part "flies in the face of" in Paragraph1mean?| A．Leads to. | B．Results from. |
| C．Goes against. | D．Agrees with. |
| A．Their parents. | B．Their friends. |
| C．The researchers. | D．The psychologists. |
| A．Ignoring the faults of co-workers. |
| B．Not sending emails to workmates. |
| C．Seeking praise from colleagues and bosses. |
| D．Not inviting a colleague to a company party. |
| A．One's personality is hard to change. |
| B．One's personality is shaped by genes. |
| C．One's personality traits can spread to others. |
| D．One's personality traits can change overnight. |
| A．a science report | B．a study guide |
| C．a school textbook | D．a technical journal |
【推荐2】Ask people to name the world's tallest peak and anybody with sound general knowledge will name Mount Qomolangma. But quiz them on its exact height and many will hesitate. Recently, a team of over 30 Chinese surveyors left the base camp at Mount Qomolangma for a higher spot on its journey to the peak on Wednesday as part of the country's mission to remeasure the height of the world's highest mountain.
The remeasurement of the peak's height is a part of China's latest large-scale scientific survey of Qomolangma. Preparation of the project was started in early March, with 53 surveyors from the First Geodetic Surveying Brigade (大地测量旅) getting stationed near Qomolangma to carry out adaptive climbing and training in other technical skills, and they are going to the survey on the top of the mountain.
To ensure the accuracy of the measurement, and to work it in a more scientific way, experts from the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, the Shaanxi Bureau of Surveying, and the China Geological Survey were invited to assist in the technical design and planning of the project from the beginning.
The technical innovation and breakthrough applied in the latest survey include the application of the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System and advanced domestic surveying and mapping instruments.
The Chinese government has conducted six large-scale surveys and measurements on Qomolangma in the past few decades; it had successfully measured and announced the height of the mountain in 1975 and 2005. Chinese mountaineers and researchers climbed Mount Qomolangma in 1975 to determine its height and concluded that the rock height of the peak was about 8,848.13 meters; in 2005, the summit measured 8,844.43 meters. It is believed that this remeasurement will surely bring about surprise to the world, thus showing how powerful our country is!
1. Where does the text come from?| A．A story book. | B．A news report. |
| C．A science fiction. | D．A travel guidebook. |
| A．Applying adaptive climbing skills. | B．Planning the project in early March. |
| C．Inviting many experts to support. | D．Using the most advanced mapping instruments. |
| A．This is the 7th large-scale survey of Qomolangma |
| B．The height of Qomolangma must be shorter than before. |
| C．30 Surveyors were stationed near Qomolangma. |
| D．83 surveyors worked for the remeasurement. |
| A．The ways of remeasuring Qomolangma. |
| B．The results of measuring Qomolangma. |
| C．The technologies applied in remeasuring |
| D．China's remeasurement of Qomolangma. |
【推荐3】How wonderful would it be if new technology could help the physically challenged? A smart wearable device that enables people with speaking disabilities to communicate normally is giving hope to those without a voice.
Tao Luqi, a research fellow at Chongqing University, used a material called graphene (石墨烯) to produce an artificial throat with a tiny sensor (感应器) that allows people with speech impairments (障碍) to speak normally, according to a paper published in Nature Communications in 2017. Tao has continued his work on the device for the last four years.
“Although the speaking impaired people can’t speak, their throats can vibrate (振动) ,” Tao told The Paper. “If I put a device made of graphene into the throat of a person, it can detect the vibrations and make sounds using electrical signals.”
Even whispers, screams and coughs at different frequencies (频率) can be recorded and encoded (编码) by the device, and it can arrange them into groups. When the device detects the sounds in a particular group, it will reproduce the words, phrases or sentences, according to Tao.
“But the speaking impaired people need to classify their own language sounds in groups and memorize them, just like typing keys on a keyboard,” Tao said. Tao’s artificial throat has brought the possibilities of graphene to reality. It’s been 17 years since the discovery of graphene, and the world has been waiting for the “wonder material” to provide innovations (创新) . At only the width of an atom (原子), graphene is the thinnest material known to humans and also the strongest. The material is also an efficient conductor (导体) of heat and electricity, and is ultra-lightweight, China Daily reported.
“Graphene really does have fantastic properties and its potential is huge,” said Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, a director at UK-based research consultancy IDTechEx.
China has emerged as a key country for production. Around 3,000 Chinese companies are exploring uses for graphene, according to government statistics in 2018, while half of the world’s graphene-related patents (专利) have been filed in China, according to China Daily.
“It’s a brand-new science, and China is trying to take the lead,” said Neill Ricketts, chief executive at Versarien, a UK-based advanced material company.
1. How does the artificial throat give those who are speaking impaired the ability to speak?| A．It makes their throat vibrate. |
| B．It transforms vibrations into readable words. |
| C．It detects sounds normal people cannot hear. |
| D． |
| A．Identify frequencies of different sounds. | B．Arrange the words into sentences. |
| C．Memorize their sound groups. | D．Type the words with the device. |
| A．It is widely used in innovations. |
| B．It is the thinnest and strongest material ever found. |
| C．It can improve the efficiency of heat and electricity. |
| D．It weighs less than any other material. |
| A．Graphene’ s potential widespread use in China. |
| B．Development of technology using graphene. |
| C．Graphene-related patents in China. |
| D．China’s leading role in graphene production. |
