Coastal cities around the globe are sinking by up to several centimeters per year, on average, satellite observations reveal. The one-two punch of sinking land and rising seas means that these coastal regions are at greater risk of flooding than previously thought, researchers report in the April 16 Geophysical Research Letters.
Matt Wei, an earth scientist at the University of Rhode Island in Narragansett, and colleagues studied 99 coastal cities on six continents. “We tried to balance population and geographic location,” he says. While subsidence (下沉) has been measured in cities previously, earlier research has tended to focus on just one city or region. This investigation is different. Wei says, “It’s one of the first to really use data with global coverage.” Wei and his team relied on observations made mostly from 2015 to 2020 by a pair of European satellites. Instruments onboard beam microwave signals toward Earth and then record the waves that bounce back. By measuring the timing and intensity of those reflected waves, the team determined the height of the ground with millimeter accuracy. And because each satellite flies over the same part of the planet every 12 days, the researchers were able to trace how the ground deformed over time.
The largest subsidence rates — up to five centimeters per year — are mostly in Asian cities like Tianjin, China; Karachi, Pakistan; and Manila, Philippines, the team found. What’s more, about one-third, or 34, of the analyzed cities are sinking in some places by more than a centimeter per year. That’s a worrying trend, says Dario Solano-Rojas, an earth scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City who was not involved in the research. These cities are being hit with a double whammy: At the same time that sea levels are rising due to climate change, the land is sinking. “Understanding that part of the problem is a big deal,” Solano-Rojas says.
Wei and his colleagues think that the subsidence is largely caused by people. When the researchers looked at Google Earth imagery of the regions within cities that were rapidly sinking, the team saw mostly residential or commercial areas. That’s a tip-off that the culprit (元凶) is groundwater extraction, the team concluded. Landscapes tend to settle as water is pumped out of aquifers (含水层). But there’s reason to be hopeful. In the past, Indonesia’s Jakarta, for example, was sinking by nearly 30 cm/yr, on average. But now subsidence there and in other places has slowed, possibly due to recent governmental regulations limiting groundwater extraction.
1. How does Matt Wei and his colleagues’ research differ from previous ones?A.It centers on observing European satellites. |
B.It adopts comprehensive data on a global scale. |
C.It demonstrates subsiding land and rising seas risk coastal regions. |
D.It makes the connection between waves and the height of the ground. |
A.Most Asian cities are sinking at the rate of five centimeters per year. |
B.Dario Solano-Rojas is in charge of statistical analysis in the research. |
C.Some cities are in a difficult situation with land sinking and sea rising. |
D.Cities subsiding at largest rates account for one third of the analyzed cities. |
A.Launching satellites flying over the same part of the earth. | B.Governments’ regulations on limiting water usage. |
C.Rising seas flooding some coastal regions regularly. | D.Pumping groundwater out for certain purposes. |
A.Optimistic. | B.Skeptical. | C.Tolerant. | D.Conservative. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】It’s no secret that your personal characteristics directly affect how you interact with the world, but you might be surprised at just how deep it goes. Experts think that your personality can even affect how you exercise and influence what sports are suitable for you.
Highly Sensitive
Highly sensitive people may be more uncomfortable with group exercise classes or team sports where they feel their every move is being observed. Additionally, they may feel more upset over an ineffective or poor workout, says researcher Elaine Aron.
For such people, individual or non-competitive activities like biking, running and hiking are ideal.
Type A Personality
Type A individuals often have an “all or nothing approach” to exercise. This personality type is known for sticking closely to their plan, not to mention being super competitive. However, this can cause them to stick too closely to a fitness routine, which means they might try to push past an injury.
To get better exercise results, Type A people need to be aware that following an exercise plan too strictly may limit their progress. They should be more flexible and listen to their body, especially when they are in pain.
Type B Personality
This laid-back group may get too lazy about their exercise plan, which prevents them from seeing results. They are often less willing to devote enough time and energy to their fitness goals, especially if exercise is something that makes them anxious.
Type B individuals succeed in creative and co-operative environments, so team sports and group gym classes may be perfect.
Remember, there are plenty of ways you can adapt a fitness plan to suit your needs, regardless of your characteristics. Just keep in mind what you like.
1. Why might highly sensitive people be unwilling to take part in group sports?A.They will feel like they are being evaluated. |
B.They don't like socializing with other people. |
C.They don't consider themselves to be athletic. |
D.They fear they'll be let down by their teammates. |
A.committed | B.flexible. |
C.independent. | D.sensitive. |
A.To help people understand what personality type they are. |
B.To explain how personal characteristics affect exercise habits. |
C.To identify the dangers of doing the wrong type of exercise. |
D.To describe different types of workouts that are available today. |
【推荐2】Cancer researchers urged people on Wednesday to take more vitamin D to lower risk of cancer, saying studies showed a clear link. “Our suggestion is for people to increase their intake, through diet or a vitamin supplement,” Dr. Cedric Garland said in a telephone interview.
Garland’s research team reviewed 63 studies, including several large long-term ones, on the relationship between vitamin D and certain types of cancer worldwide between 1966 and 2004. “There’s nothing that has this ability to prevent cancer,” he said, urging governments and public health officials to do more to fortify foods with vitamin D. Garland is part of a University of California at San Diego Moores Cancer Center team that published its findings this week online in the American Journal of Public Health. Vitamin D is found in milk, as well as in some fortified orange juice, yogurt and cheeses, usually at around 100 international units (IU) a serving. People might want to consider a vitamin supplement to raise their intake to 1000 IUs per day, Garland said, adding that it was well within the safety guidelines established by the National Academy of Sciences.
The authors said that taking more vitamin D could be especially important for people living in northern areas, which receive less vitamin D from sunshine.
African Americans, who don’t produce as much of the vitamin because of their skin colour, could also benefit significantly from a higher intake, the authors said.
1. According to the passage, people are advised to take more Vitamin D because ___________.A.it is nutritious | B.it can’t harm people’s health |
C.it can lower cancer risk | D.it is not taken enough every day |
A.Having some sunshine. | B.Having more meat. |
C.Having more fortified cheese. | D.Having a vitamin supplement. |
A.A health researcher. | B.A doctor. | C.A scientist. | D.A public health official. |
A.Milk. | B.Fortified orange juice. | C.Fortified yogurt. | D.All of the above. |
【推荐3】In the age of social distancing, using robots for some health care interactions is a promising way to reduce in-person contact between health care workers and sick patients. However, a key question is how patients will react to a robot entering the room. Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently set out to answer that question.
In a study, the team found that a large majority of patients reported that interacting with a health care provider through a video screen fixed on a robot was similar to an in-person interaction with a health care worker.
“We’re working on robots that can help provide care to ensure the safety of the patient and the health care workforce. The results of this study give us some confidence that people are ready and willing to join us. In a larger online survey carried out nationwide, we also found that a majority of respondents were open to having robots perform small tasks such as taking a nose swab (拭子).” says Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor and the senior author of the study.
After the COVID-19 pandemic began early last year, Traverso and his colleagues turned their attention toward new strategies to reduce interactions between potentially sick patients and health care workers. To that end, they created a mobile robot that could interact with patients as they waited in the emergency department. The robots were equipped with sensors that allow them to measure vital signs, including skin temperature, breathing rate, and pulse(脉搏) rate. The robots also carried an iPad for remote video communication with a health care provider.
The study suggests that it could be worthwhile to develop robots that can perform tasks that currently require a lot of human effort, such as turning a patient over in bed. These days, turning COVID-19 patients onto their stomachs requires several people. Doing Covid-19 tests is another task that takes a lot of time and effort from health care workers, who could be arranged for other tasks if robots could help.
1. Why did the researchers from MIT and BWH carry out the studies?A.To shorten the social distance between doctors and patients. |
B.To figure out the response of patients to robotic doctors. |
C.To reduce the risk of being infected with coronavirus. |
D.To ensure the safety of patients during the pandemic. |
A.Robots are not welcomed by patients. |
B.Robots will soon replace doctors. |
C.Robots may help to deal with Covid-19 patients. |
D.Robots can operate on different patients. |
A.Robots can perform tasks that currently require a lot of human effort. |
B.Robots can replace health care workers in hospital. |
C.Robots will fail doing Covid-19 tests. |
D.Health care workers in hospital will lose their jobs. |
A.Strengths And Weaknesses In Robot Care |
B.The Robotic Doctor Will See You Now |
C.The Robots Speed Up COVID-19 Testing |
D.The Development Of Robots In Hospitals |
【推荐1】Australia has released a new map which paints a shocking picture of the damage that the Great Barrier Reef—a 2,300-kilometer string of coral reefs(珊瑚礁) along Australia’s northeast coast has suffered in recent months.
The Great Barrier Reef is made up of 2, 900 smaller reefs. Of the 911 individual reefs that researchers surveyed, a shocking 93 percent experienced some form of bleaching(白化).
“Researchers have yet to finalize the amount of damage, but early data suggest that in the northern Great Barrier Reef, about half of the bleached corals are dying. In some areas, the final number probably will be greater than 90 percent,” says Mark Eakin of the National Coral Reef Watch program. “Having such a large area of the Great Barrier Reef affected so severely by bleaching, especially in the northern region, where the corals are least affected by human activities, is very troubling.”
The problem, he says, is that climate change has warmed baseline ocean temperatures, which increases the frequency of warming events severe enough to cause bleaching.
“If the climate change continues unabated, temperatures will continue to rise, threatening coral reefs worldwide with increasingly severe and frequent bleaching,” he warns. “By the middle of the 21st century, we’re going to be seeing bleaching on most reefs around the world. And if it takes decades for reefs to recover even under the best conditions, and bleaching events become more and more frequent, it doesn’t necessarily give reefs time to recover.”
Eakin notes, however, that the UN’s ambitious Paris Agreement could help if it were immediately and seriously carried out. The international agreement calls for keeping global warming to 1. 5℃ above pre-industrial average.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1,500 species of fish. What’s more, the UNESCO World Heritage site is a tourism powerhouse, supporting about 70,000 jobs and pumping more than five billion dollars into the Australian economy.
1. How many reefs have already been surveyed?A.93. | B.911. | C.2,697. | D.2,900. |
A.It is home to the largest coral reef. | B.It has suffered the most serious damage. |
C.It is obviously affected by human activities. | D.It shows the serious effect of global warming. |
A.Uncontrolled. | B.Unsupported. | C.Unrelated. | D.Unrecorded. |
A.Australia’s dependence on tourism. | B.The Paris Agreement’s significance. |
C.The importance of the Great Barrier Reef. | D.The huge number of animals in the reefs. |
【推荐2】Five years ago, we cut nearly every single tree across 19 acres here, piled and burned the branches and left the trunks where they lay. The goal was to restore one of the Ozarks’ rarest ecosystems, a type of dry and rocky grassland.
Logging down trees to bring back grass may seem puzzling in a time of climate change, as forest conservation and tree planting have become popular ways to keep carbon out of the atmosphere. But it is exactly what we should do in some parts of the Southeast. The climate and biodiversity crises are problems to be solved together. We can’t afford to rob biodiversity to pay for the climate. And grasslands are surprisingly good at pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. A single sunflower might not be the carbon grab that an oak tree is, but grass’s deep root systems store the element deep underground, where it can take hundreds or thousands of years to return to the atmosphere.
For the past century, the commonly held belief was that forests once covered most of the region from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. But we now know that’s not true. Much of the Southeast was a string of large and small grassland ecosystems with enormous biodiversity. All of these unique grasslands are under threat, but not all by tree invasion. The few remaining grasslands in Arkansas are being converted to grow rice, Virginia grasslands are being flattened by housing developers, and low-lying coastal grassy plain is facing sea-level rise. Because grasslands are so easily navigated (导航) and settled, they may be the most threatened ecosystems in the world.
And it’s obvious that everywhere, grasslands remain undervalued. Many conservation organizations working in the Southeast are still focused on tree planting and preserving existing forests. The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland Forest Project covers 253, 000 acres of land in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, part of an effort to store carbon and create continuous habitats for species migration during climate change. In fact, recent laws are beginning to lead us in the right direction.
1. Why were the trees cut down in Ozarks?A.To take in more carbon. | B.To regain its grassland. |
C.To create a new ecosystem. | D.To deal with climate change. |
A.The reasons for grasslands reduction. | B.The purpose of cutting down trees. |
C.The changes of ecosystems. | D.The result of tree invasion. |
A.Grasslands are greatly valued. | B.Carbon can be broken down by grasslands. |
C.Forests took up more region than grasslands. | D.All the grasslands are not threatened by trees. |
A.The importance of grasslands. | B.The influence of planting trees. |
C.The measures of restoring grasslands. | D.The present situation of the Southeast. |
【推荐3】There is nothing like a coast redwood. It is the planet’s tallest tree, soaring to heights of more than 320 feet into the sky. They have trunks that are more than 27 feet wide and can live for over 2,000 years. Some of the gentle giants living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire.
Before the mid-19th century, coast redwoods spread throughout a range of some 2 million acres along the California coast. People had been peacefully co-existing with the forests forever. But with the gold rush came the logging (伐木作业); and today only 5 percent of the original old-growth coast redwood forest remains along a 450-mile strip of coast. And as the planet warms up, the specific conditions required by the redwoods change; their future doesn’t look so great. Animals can migrate north to escape the south’s warming temperatures; trees, not so much.
But with David Milarch on the case, maybe they can. In 1991, Milarch literally died from a life-threatening illness, before being revived and springing back to life. There’s nothing like a near-death experience to inspire a new course in life, as was the case with Milarch. His new quest? To harvest the genes of the coast redwoods and give them an assist in migration.
“I feel sorrow that 95 percent of them were killed and we didn’t even know what they do to strengthen our ability as human beings to live on this planet,” says Milarch. “We killed them. That’s the bad news. To put back every single tree that was cut down and killed. And I’m going to do it. ” By cloning and replanting them in places where they once thrived (繁荣) but were lost, he is not only increasing their numbers but planting them in locations where they have a better chance of longevity. And the result is two-fold: Save the trees and save the planet for humankind. Redwood trees are among the most effective carbon sequestration (碳封存) tools in the world.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.A brief introduction of redwoods. | B.The information about our planet. |
C.The history of the Roman Empire. | D.The special height of the redwood. |
A.The warming climate. | B.The overcutting. |
C.The ocean disaster. | D.The worsening soil condition. |
A.His love for plants. | B.His concern on global warming. |
C.His surviving experience. | D.His study on the genetics of the redwood. |
A.The animals which live nearby. | B.The effective tool used to plant trees. |
C.The places where the trees grow. | D.The amounts of water trees need. |
【推荐1】The ability to use the left hand is referred to as left-handedness. Left-handedness is actually more common in the male population than in females. There are a number of myths about them.
It is difficult for left-handed children to learn writing of the alphabet, without personal tutoring. Not true at all. Observe the left-handed toddler. Everyone else is more bothered about his left-handedness than he himself is. The left-handed child adapts to writing, drawing and all other activities that require him to hold a writing tool as early as the right-handed. In fact, many left-handed people display neater handwriting than their right-handed partners.
Lefties have a lesser chance of surviving a hand-to-hand fight. This is anything but true. History bears witness to the advantage left-handedness had during hand-to-hand fights and even within the boxing ring. In fact, a common observation is that the left-handed fighter is able to strike a strong surprise attack on the open, unprotected right side.
Left-handed people are many a time at the disadvantage of using tools designed for the right-handed. Well, this is true, but today, there is a whole range of tools and equipment being designed for left-handed people. Many right-handed tools can be molded to suit the needs of the left-handed craftsman. Even the computer mouse has been challenged in use and the touch pad provides a left-handed professional equal opportunity.
Research shows that left-handed people are in fact high achievers. This is because their brains are structured to widen their abilities. A number of mathematical, artistic and sporting geniuses were and are left-handed. However, most left-handers over the world, might have, at some stage in their life, been on the receiving end of devalued comments regarding their choice of hand. I am sure this list and discussion about left-handed people would be reason enough to be proud of being left-handed.
1. Compared to right-handed children, what can we learn about left-handed ones?A.They find it hard to learn writing. |
B.They are tired of the left-handedness. |
C.They are used to writing tools too late. |
D.They may have more beautiful handwriting. |
A.They could start a surprise attack with their left hands. |
B.They could attack their partners’ left sides surprisingly. |
C.They have a better chance to beat their partners in history. |
D.They are good at fighting especially within the boxing ring. |
A.Left-handed people are in fact high achievers. |
B.Left-handed people have many disadvantages. |
C.Many tools are designed for the left-handed. |
D.Many left-handed receive bad remarks daily. |
A.Indifferent | B.Confused | C.Critical | D.Favorable |
【推荐2】Thomas Edison was one often said to be the greatest genius of his age. There are only a few men in all of the history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius.“ There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He said that what people called genius was mostly hard work.
But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work,” he answered. “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.
1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?A.Edison invented the electric light. | B.Many other people have changed Edison’s life. |
C.Edison has changed the life of many other people. | D.Few men in history can change other people’s life. |
A.very much interested in nature |
B.interested in discovering the secrets of nature |
C.interested in changing people’s ideas |
D.uninterested in making people happier by discovering the secrets of nature |
A.he could be happy if he was a genius | B.genius plays the most important part in one’s success |
C.hard work could do better than genius | D.genius could do better than hard work |
A.life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings |
B.Edison made 100 inventions in his life |
C.Edison was able to live and work for 100 years |
D.People of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 years’ work |
【推荐3】There are always unforeseen consequences when new technology is introduced. The truth is that the humans’ depending on machines is even increasing. I’ve spent much of my life analyzing through written and spoken words. Now I’m a technologist making use of natural language processing for human good. Given that I work in Artificial Intelligence, I’m realizing something dangerous happening. Machines are destroying the way we communicate.
AI voices allow you to communicate verbally with your phone, they are normalized and yet cold, no matter which accent you tune your Siri or Amazon Alexa into. It’s difficult to normalize language to be harmless and neutral because we all interpret meaning differently based on living experiences. Yet this is exactly what we’re asking artificial intelligence to do for us on a billion-person scale. Once these rules are regulated by machine, they’re inevitably create much bigger problems.
We noticed that there is an active desire to only neutral language in AI-powered tool. AI-powered recommendations let us autocomplete our thoughts in real-time. These functions are now key features in our emails, word processors and browsers. The machines are pushing us into a common tongue, and we accept it as a matter of convenience. You can press and hold the Power button for a second to wake up AI voice. But what’s the cost? We are trading uniqueness and precision for convenience. We’re also handing the power of acceptable speech to machine-controlled tools, not individuals.
In the physical world, we use words, phrases, tone, rhythm, humor and facial expressions to make us close and affective. We can tell where people were born based on their accents and phrasing. Humans are truly unique, and our communication is dynamic. So we should demand AI systems that promote individuality and uniqueness. The impact of AI voice will depend not just on what they can do, but also on how they make people feel.
1. What is the major problem of AI voice?A.AI voice is not precise enough. | B.AI voice is unique and dynamic. |
C.AI voice is not accepted by the public. | D.AI voice is normalized but not flexible. |
A.Incomparably. | B.Impossibly. | C.Unavoidably. | D.Dishonestly. |
A.Humorous. | B.Concerned. | C.Supportive. | D.Indifferent. |
A.AI: Destroy Our Communication | B.AI: Applied to Communication |
C.AI: Modern Communication Tools | D.AI: Deep Combination with Language |