In 2012, James Cameron, creator of Avatar and Titanic, became the first person to reach the Challenger Deep. When he arrived at the deepest spot on Earth at 7 miles below sea level, he spent hours mapping the region and taking photos and samples.
“As human beings, we’re drawn to absolutes—the deepest, the highest, the coldest, the farthest.” he says. “And as a storyteller and curious monkey, I just wanted to see what was there.” The answer is obvious—plastic and more. “Our so-called civilization is using the ocean as its toilet,” Cameron says. “Unless this changes, ocean ecosystems are going to continue their rapid collapse.”
Despite decades of environmental studies, the impact of plastic and other forms of pollution on oceans are not entirely understood. Initial studies appear to indicate that ingesting them-either directly or indirectly-could cause disease. Plastics can also release poisonous substances into the water, which could potentially impact animal populations.
But plastic is just one of the problems facing oceans that have yet to be fully understood. “Plastic waste in the ocean is horrifying but is only the most obvious of our many deadly waste streams, which include carbon that’s heating the atmosphere and making the ocean acidic, and the run-off nutrients from all the world’s agriculture, which is causing anoxic dead zones the size of countries,” Cameron says.
Oceans, like the rest of the world, are impacted by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide-about 30 percent of which is absorbed by the sea. This absorption causes ocean acidification, where the pH level is altered to become more acidic. As a result, it’s harder for some creatures to form shells and skeletons and countless species at the base of the food web can struggle to survive, which, scientists say, has the potential to cause huge disruptions to entire ecosystems. Indeed, ocean acidification is thought to have played an important role in Earth’s worst-ever mass extinction event 252 million years ago.
The effect of climate change on the world’s oceans will likely worsen in coming decades. Last June, scientists announced carbon dioxide levels had reached the highest levels since human records began. The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was during the Pliocene era, between 3 and 5 million years ago, when global temperatures were about 4 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today. Current climate models suggest that if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trend, we may be on course to see 4 degrees of warming by 2100.
As a result, understanding the role oceans have on global systems is becoming more and more important.
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?| A．The author’s feelings to the ocean. | B．Cameron’s movies and remarks. |
| C．The authors discoveries under the sea. | D．Cameron’s observation and concern. |
| A．Poisonous streams. | B．Run-off nutrients. | C．Plastic waste. | D．Carbon. |
| A．Several countries are suffering from anoxic dead zones. |
| B．More concern should have been given to the pollution on oceans. |
| C．Plastic is supposed to be the most serious environmental problem. |
| D．Ocean acidification removes the nutrients from agricultural products. |
| A．Decreases. | B．Destruction. | C．Diseases. | D．Discrimination. |
| A．To call on people to protect sea animals. |
| B．To compare current situations with the past. |
| C．To explain how serious the ocean problem is. |
| D．To prove pollution to be the cause of acidification. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】From talking robots and video phones to rovers （探测器）on Mars, technology has become so advanced that the previously impossible seems to occur on a daily basis. And yet—we still have no cure for the common cold.
Why can't we stop the common cold? According to Peter Barlow, a scientist at Edinburgh Napier University in the UK, the main challenge lies in the many different types of cold viruses that are produced by the rhinoviruses （鼻病毒），Scientific American reported. There are at least 160 types. They mutate so easily that they quickly become resistant to drugs, or learn to hide from our immune systems. In other words, a single cure isn't likely to work on every type of cold.
However, researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, have found a possible answer. They discovered a protein that the viruses need. Without it, they can't spread inside your body.
To identify the gene which produces the specific protein needed by the viruses, researchers used a gene-editing technique to test all genes in the human genome（基因组）one by one for thousands of cell.
These modified （改变的）cells were then exposed to a range of enteroviruses （肠道病毒）， including the rhinoviruses which cause the common cold.
All the viruses were unable to replicate（复制）inside cells without a gene that produces a specific protein, called methyltransferase（甲基转移酶）SETD3.
Then, they tested genetically（从基因方面）modified mice, which were completely unable to produce the protein. The mice were able to live healthy, normal lives without the protein.
"Lacking that gene protected the mice completely from viral （病毒的）infection,” associate professor Jan Carette, from Stanford, told the BBC.
"These mice would always die, but they survived and we saw a very strong reduction in viral replication and very strong protection."
Carette said the plan is to find a drug which can temporarily suppress（抑制） the protein, instead of producing genetically modified humans.
“We have identified a fantastic target that all enteroviruses and rhinoviruses require and depend on. Take that away and the virus really has no chance," said Carette.
"This is a really good first step—the second step is to have a chemical that mimics（模拟） this genetic deletion,” he added.
1. What does the underlined word "mutate” mean in English?| A．To change a new form. |
| B．To identify a new gene. |
| C．To check a modified cell. |
| D．To cure a viral infection. |
| A．Why it is so hard to cure the common cold. |
| B．The possible link between rhinoviruses and the common cold. |
| C．A possible way to stop viral infections that cause the common cold. |
| D．The functions of a protein needed by viruses. |
| A．The slow mutation of some genes. |
| B．The fast speed at which rhinoviruses spread. |
| C．The harm rhinoviruses do to the immune system. |
| D．The wide variety of cold viruses created by rhinoviruses. |
| A．It helps the viruses replicate inside our bodies. |
| B．It allows the viruses to change easily. |
| C．It helps the viruses become resistant to drugs. |
| D．It increases the spread of the viruses. |
| A．Genetically modified mice died because they lacked the protein. |
| B．The modified cells seemed to protect the mice against viral infections. |
| C．More methyltransferase SETD3 was produced after the cells were modified. |
| D．The gene-editing technique was more effective against enteroviruses than rhinoviruses. |
| A．Conduct experiments on genetically modified humans. |
| B．Identify a drug that can help reduce the protein. |
| C．Apply this gene-editing technique to control other viruses. |
| D．Find a chemical that can cure all enteroviruses and rhinoviruses. |
【推荐2】Psychological science is full of interesting topics, many of which tell a coherent picture of human nature, but some of which create seemingly contradictory stories. A case in point is the tricky and misunderstood intersection between strength-based science and the research on narcissism (自恋).
There is now convincing evidence to show that narcissism is on the rise, especially in our youth. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that it is occurring in epidemic proportions, with about 25% of young people showing symptoms of narcissism. The inflated ego of Generation Me is reflected in reality TV, celebrity worship, out-of-control consumerism, materialism...perhaps even a new type of president.
We are correct to be concerned about this phenomenon but our fear that all kids are potential narcissists has caused an unhelpful counter-reaction to approaches that seek to make our children and teens feel good about themselves.
In my own research on strength-based parenting it is common for people to wrongly label this approach as a recipe for self-entitlement. Their argument seems to be that a child who knows their strengths will automatically view themselves as better than everyone else. It is argued that the self-assurance that comes with identifying and using their positive qualities will make a child arrogant, selfish and uncaring. Genuine confidence about one’s strengths is categorized as over-confidence; desirable self-knowledge is branded as excessive self-admiration.
Why does this occur? It’s partly because more is known about narcissism than strengths. While strengths psychology has largely stayed within the limit of academic journals or has been applied only within certain contexts such as the workplace, research on narcissism has made its way into the mass media and into our collective conscious. The New York Times noted that narcissism is a favored “go-to” topic and that people everywhere are diagnosing others with it.
The fear that a strength-based approach will cause narcissism also occurs because we unwittingly fall prey to binary (非此即彼的) thinking. We mistakenly believe that one cannot be both confident and humble. We focus on Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian rather than Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. There’s no way that Gandhi and Mother Teresa could have achieved what they did without confidence in their strengths, and yet they are both pillars of humility and selflessness.
When we assume that strength-focus is the same as a self-focus, we fail to entertain the idea that people who know their strengths are, actually, more likely to be pro-social and focus on helping others.
It’s tempting to conclude that every young person is at risk of becoming a narcissist but I’d like to stand up for the thousands of young kids I have worked with who are caring, thoughtful and humble — even when they use their strengths.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Both strengths psychology and narcissism are difficult to understand. |
| B．Approximately a quarter of kids are potential narcissists. |
| C．Knowing the kids’ strengths has an opposite effect on making them feel good. |
| D．An increasing number of youth are showing an inflated sense of self. |
| A．Strengths psychology is less accessible to the general public. |
| B．Academic journals and mass media report more on narcissism. |
| C．There is a lack of strengths in our collective consciousness. |
| D．A number of people are diagnosed with narcissism by doctors. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Neutral. | C．Favorable. | D．Cautious. |
| A．A Recipe for Self-entitlement |
| B．Teens’ Narcissism Diagnosis |
| C．Binary Thinking of Psychological Science |
| D．Teens’ Confidence Misunderstood |
【推荐3】Science, as we think, was born when the Greek(希腊) philosopher ( 哲学家 ) Thales ( about 640-546 B.C.) asked a difficult question: What makes up our universe?
No one had a ready answer, so Thales went on studying the earth around him, the sky and the stars. He saw so much water on earth and so much water falling from the sky as rain that he decided water must be the basic substance ( 物质 ) of the universe.
Other Greek thinkers became interested in this question. They suggested other answers. One said that because air lies around the earth, it must be air that makes up all things. Another said that fire, appearing in different forms, was the building block of the universe.
The Greek philosophers were feeling their way towards the ideas on which chemistry is based. Centuries later, scientists proved that the universe is made up of certain basic substances. But the list is much more complicated than the Greeks realized. We now know of 103 basic substances which we call “ elements ( 元素 )”.
1. Thales, the famous Greek philosopher, died when he was about _______________.| A．94 years old | B．106years old |
| C．40 years old | D．46 years old |
| A．not difficult | B．not simple |
| C．not famous | D．not different |
| A．early tries to understand the universe | B．the famous Greek thinkers |
| C．water falling from the sky | D．air lying all around the earth |
| A．nothing ever changes in the universe |
| B．Thales decided that the basic substance of the universe was air |
| C．the universe is made up of four different substances |
| D．the early Greek thinkers did much valuable work for the progress of science |
【推荐1】You don’t need to travel long distances to find pleasure in nature
The Greek historian Herodotus is said to have made one of the earliest lists of seven wonders of the world. These were man-made structures, including the still mysterious feat of ancient horticulture known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. More recent times saw natural alternatives to these marvels of classical architecture proposed: waterfalls, mountains, canyons, reefs.
As environmental consciousness has risen in the west, attitudes to such sightseeing have changed. Yes, it is thrilling to visit remote forests or spot rare species. But travelling to far-flung destinations is carbon-intensive when flights or long road journeys are involved, and conservation can be made more difficult as well as assisted by sightseers. There is a balance to be struck, and ethical governments and businesses around the world try to maximize the benefits while minimizing the harms.
Most of us, in the rich countries where people take most holidays, understand better than ever that there are costs as well as benefits associated with exploring. One of the six pledges proposed by an environmental campaign launched last month, The Jump, is to “holiday local”, taking short-haul flights once every three years and long-haul flights very rarely. Fortunately, the UK’s 15 national parks, 86 areas of outstanding natural beauty （known in Scotland as national scenic areas）, and countless other landscapes that are without formal status, but beloved nonetheless, mean that there is no shortage of special places for domestic nature tourists to visit—while a host of European beauty spots are accessible by rail.
One recent survey found that Windsor Great Park and Kew have become Britain’s most popular attractions, while Covid has created difficulties for indoor spaces which do not apply to outdoor ones.
| A．Colombia, for example, recently introduced laws aimed at promoting sustainable tourism. |
| B．Visitor numbers at wildlife trusts are high, with waiting lists for beaver-spotting. |
| C．Travelling, especially air travel, is a luxury that is bad for the environment. |
| D．Dramatic landscapes, features and wildlife, and the pleasure and excitement they offer to visitors, are staples of tourism. |
| E．Today, the tourism sector has become one of the great economic engines in many countries, forming part of the international political agenda. |
| F．This is not to minimize the destruction of nature that is also taking place. |
【推荐2】In the United States，a company is working on a project that could change the way we think about public transportation.Its planned system would move people around in steel tubes.Those passengers would be traveling at speeds of up to 1,200 kilometers per hour.
The futuristic steel tube transportation system is called Hyper1oop.Workers plan to test the system next year in a specially built community called Quay Valley.The town will be powered entirely by energy from the sun.
The Hyperloop transport system is the idea of businessman Elon Musk.Dirk Ahlborn is head of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.He says his company has taken Mr.Musk’s idea and is developing a system that will be safe，environmentally friendly and fast.
“It’s 100 percent solar powered…we’re not going to get up to 760 miles per hour，but we believe we can actually break the records that are existing right now.”
This means that a four-hour drive from Los Angeles，California to Las Vegas，Nevada，could someday take only 30 minutes by Hyperloop.The system involves a series of capsules that float inside a long tube.These containers would not need to travel along a pathway or track.The system has been designed to operate above or below ground.
“Inside the tube you create a low pressure environment very similar to an airplane that’s at high altitudes.So now the capsule travelling inside the tube doesn’t come up against as much resistance，and therefore can travel really fast with very little energy.”
Dick Ahlborn and his company will use an eight—kilometer track in Quay Valley to find the best way to set up passenger traffic and repair capsules.A larger system will cost an estimated six to $10 billion to build.If Mr.Ahlborn and his company succeed，we may one day see these very fast Hyperloop capsules speeding through tubes around the world.
1. Which of the following is true of Hyperloop?| A．It will travel along a pathway or track. |
| B．It will use more energy than current trains. |
| C．There is a high pressure inside the tube of it. |
| D．A series of experiments on it will be carried on. |
| A．Dirk is worried about the speed of Hyperloop |
| B．Hyperloop has been built in the United States |
| C．Hyperloop will be powered by energy from the sun |
| D．Hyperloop has reached to 760 miles per hour |
| A．Systems. | B．Capsules. | C．Tubes. | D．Airplanes. |
| A．Hyperloop Is Closer To Reality | B．Hyperloop Will Test At Quay Valley |
| C．Elon Musk’s Idea Is Under Discussion | D．Hyperloop Travels Around The World |
【推荐3】Back in Brisbane, Australia, for the Christmas break, I found myself in a public transport dead zone. Bikeless, 7 kilometers from where I was meeting friends and unwilling to get a taxi, I decided to borrow an electric scooter. The trip took far longer than it would have by bike, mainly because of a major spill halfway there. A rock, hit at speed, is a terrible thing: weeks later, I still had the red knees of a primary schooler.
E-scooters have appeared in Brisbane like a rash. In the UK, they are legal only on private land, but the Department for Transport is discussing how to regulate them on public roads and pathways, with the potential for legalisation later this year.
Other cities that have e-scooter rental programs have had teething problems. In Paris, mayor Anne Hidalgo described the situation last year as messy. She has announced that the city is reducing its number of e-scooters to 15,000 and plans to create laws banning them from pavements (人行道). France has put into force laws limiting e-scooter speeds to 25 kilometres per hour.
Similar to dockless (无桩的) hire bicycles, e-scooters are parked on pavements and people leave them up trees or throw them into rivers. Rough handling shortens their lifetime, which is bad for both profitability and the environment. Analysis suggests that the average e-scooter’s lifetime is just three months.
I think e-scooters are an essential part of the effort to make city transport greener. They are seen as a solution to the “last mile” problem — a potential way to reduce transport jam by rapidly getting someone to their final destination. Cars can take up 28 times the space of a person riding a bicycle.
As far as the environmental effect goes, recent research suggests that e-scooters are not as green as walking or cycling, but they are still better than cars. And despite numerous reports of serious accidents, scooting is about as safe as cycling.
Stephen Gossling at Lund University in Sweden has suggested we build car-free “micromobility” streets, where cyclists, pedestrians (行人) and e-scooters could share the road. He thinks this will reduce accident risks and invite more vulnerable (易受伤害的) traffic participants, such as children, to become active transport users.
If more e-scooters mean fewer cars on roads, an improvement in local air quality is also a likely outcome. When 20 kilometers of roads in central London closed for World Car-Free Day last September, a temporary air quality monitor in Regent Street reportedly registered a 60% drop in nitrogen dioxide.
1. What does the underlined part “a major spill” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．A serious fall. | B．A sudden illness. |
| C．A legal defense. | D．A terrible breakdown. |
| A．They are illegal on pavements. | B．They are already out of fashion. |
| C．They are facing more restrictions. | D．They are more common on private land. |
| A．They are not as safe as cycling. |
| B．They stand up to rough handling. |
| C．They are as green as cycling or walking. |
| D．They play a big role in the “last mile” problem. |
| A．To set up more care-free days. |
| B．To invite more cyclists to use e-scooters. |
| C．To get vulnerable pedestrians off the road. |
| D．To separate cars from e-scooters on the road. |
【推荐1】Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it’s something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It’s more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, and even food from the comfort of your sofa. But that’s not the only reason: price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”.
Showrooming is something I’ve done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I’m not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof found 24% of the people showroomed at Christmas in 2013.
Amy Cashman, Head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smart phones to shop around.
But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.
We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen, but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds.
1. The two questions in Paragraph 1 are raised to ________.| A．introduce the topic |
| B．give two examples |
| C．compare different opinions |
| D．get answers from readers |
| A．Trying in shops and buying online. |
| B．Showing products in a room. |
| C．Buying something in a store. |
| D．Shopping on the Internet. |
| A．The lack of time. |
| B．The comfort of the sofa. |
| C．The lack of money. |
| D．The security of the product. |
| A．Online shops will disappear. |
| B．Free gifts will surely promote sales. |
| C．Shops need necessary changes. |
| D．Shops will be replaced by online shops. |
【推荐2】With the electronics industry developing, electronic products have become ubiquitous （无处不在的）in today’s life. Meanwhile, there are more and more abandoned electronic products, commonly called e-waste. It’s estimated that the number will grow to more than 60 million tons by 2021.
What contributes to the sharp rise in e-waste? Technology is developing rapidly, covering almost every aspect of our lives. Meanwhile, the lifespan of devices is getting shorter—many products will be thrown away once their batteries die. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence （淘汰）of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one.
What can we do about the growing e-waste problem? Recycling is very important and essential. As more people buy electronic equipment, producers are facing shortages of the raw materials, needed to make their products, so recycling and reusing e-waste makes economic and environmental sense.
Recycling e-waste is practiced both formally and informally. Formal e-waste recycling usually involves taking apart the electronics, sorting the materials and cleaning them. Companies must obey health and safety rules to reduce the health and environmental harm of handling e-waste by using: pollution-control technologies. All this makes formal recycling expensive. Informal recycling is typically, unlicensed and uncontrolled. At informal recycling workshops, people recover valuable materials burning devices to melt away non-valuable materials. Usually they do not wear protective equipment and lack any awareness that they are handling dangerous materials.
With the flood of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough to solve the problem. In order to reduce e-waste, producers need to design electronics that are safer, and more long-lasting, repairable and recyclable. The best thing we can do is to resist buying a new device until we really need it. Try to get our old product repaired if possible and, if it can't be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly and correctly.
1. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?| A．The causes of devices' price dropping. |
| B．The results of updating devices. |
| C．The methods of recycling e-waste. |
| D．The reasons for more and more e-waste. |
| A．To improve the poor quality of e-devices. |
| B．To lower the costs of technology innovation. |
| C．To relieve producers’ lack of materials. |
| D．To increase the variety of electronic products. |
| A．There are many rules and steps to follow. |
| B．They aim to get valuable materials by burning devices. |
| C．It is convenient for them to recycle e-waste. |
| D．They are unaware of the danger while handling e-waste. |
| A．E-waste is easy to deal with by ourselves. |
| B．Producers should be mainly responsible for reducing e-waste. |
| C．Everyone should shoulder responsibility to help reduce e-waste. |
| D．Fixing a device could cause more pollution than buying a new one. |
【推荐3】If there was any doubt about whether the world has entered a new space race, the competition of lunar-bound launch this month could be the smoking gun. After NASA canceled two launch attempts in late August and early September-followed by delays(延期) caused by Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole—the US space agency tried again to send up its first Artemis mission.
That period fits in with that of another mission less-known in the United States. A Japanese commercial company focusing on building moon landers launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 11, 2022 in the US.
“We recognize that a launch of NASA’s is scheduled during the same timeframe, and we believe this sends the message that a new age is opening for the cislunar economy(地月经济) with these two historic missions—one government and one commercial,” the company said in a statement.
NASA happens to be one of the company’s customers, hoping to receive moon dust samples from the private lander’s trip. However, the plan failed on Apr. 26, 2023. If the Tokyo-based company had succeeded, it would have been the first to land a Japanese spacecraft on the moon. What’s more, it could have been the first successful private delivery of cargo to the lunar surface ever.
Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, believes the next five years will be full of commercial missions to perform landings, deliver more goods to the moon, and promote science experiments. In Brad’s opinion, the new age of lunar exploration and travel won’t be done entirely by NASA. It will be done with international partners and with commercial partners.
1. What made NASA put off its launch plan a third time?| A．Natural disasters. | B．A lack of preparation. |
| C．The high cost of technology. | D．Other important experiments. |
| A．Its head office is in the US. |
| B．It has ever sent goods for customers in space. |
| C．Its launch time is roughly the same as a NASA’s launch. |
| D．It’s a company successfully delivering goods to the moon. |
| A．Satellite. | B．Spaceship. | C．Signal. | D．Goods. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Opposed. | C．Careless. | D．Doubtful. |
