Small-scale fisheries supply many people with food. Almost all of those in this trade rely on gillnets (刺网) to trap fish. But gillnets trap other things, for example, endangered animals such as turtles; dangerous ones, such as Humboldt squid; and ones that are both endangered and dangerous, such as several types of sharks. Everyone involved would be better off if this did not happen.
Building on studies done both by himself and by others, to try to avoid the accidental netting of turtles, Jesse Senko, a marine-conservation biologist at Arizona State University, has been investigating the idea of fitting LEDs (发光二极管) to nets to avoid netting other unwanted by-catch without discouraging target animals. And, as he reports in Current Biology, it seems to work.
Dr.Senko and his colleagues set up an experiment in the Gulf of Ulloa, in Mexico, in which they cooperated with local fisher folks to employ over 10,000 meters of nets that had had nets battery-powered waterproof green LEDs fitted onto them every ten meters. In half of the these lights were lit. The other half were left unlit, as controls. Each lit net was paired with an unlit one, and the two were employed alongside one another at prime fishing locations. The fishers’ target fish were large groupers. Dr. Senko was interested both in what else got caught and whether the lights decreased catches of the target species.
On the latter point, to his relief, they did not. On the former, the lit nets caught 95% fewer kilograms of shark-related species. In particular, several threatened species turned up less often in the lit than the unlit nets.
The advantage from the point of view of fisher folks was that they needed to spend a lot less time clearing these dangerous by-catches from their nets. And, crucially, the LEDs concerned are cheap, hard-wearing, and easy to fit. There are also plans to make them solar powered, for easy recharging. Here, then, is a conservation idea from which everyone wins.
1. What is the problem with gillnets?| A．They are costly to maintain. | B．They discourage target catches. |
| C．They need more time to be cleaned. | D．They trap unwanted by-catches. |
| A．The principle of the experiment. | B．The effect of the experiment. |
| C．The purpose of the experiment. | D．The process of the experiment. |
| A．The LEDs are easy to recharge. | B．Gillnets will soon be out of date. |
| C．Fitting LEDs to gillnets is a win-win idea. | D．Fisher folks benefit the most from the idea. |
| A．Reserved. | B．Hopeful. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Doubtful. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】This was a major week in AI (Artificial Intelligence), with some of the largest companies announced their most updated and leading models: GPT-4 from OpenAI’s made its first show to the public, while Google put out its Med-PaLM 2, a new-and-improved medical model etc. Meanwhile, Company Anthropic introduced its lighter and cheaper Claude API, which is a ChatGPT competitor. And in China, Tsinghua launched ChatGLM, a chat-based Chinese-English model, in somewhat as a reminder of ChatGPT. In this AI spring, much awaits for customers.
Designs are on the rise. November’s release ChatGPT turned AI a breaking news. Two months later, it increased to 100 million monthly active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Earlier this month, OpenAI came to market for the first time—the ChatGPT, with its models still advancing. Finally, both Google and Microsoft put out AI plans as well.
Funds are flooding. Recent attention turns to a large amount of investment on Microsoft’s $10 billion OpenAI. The past few months have witnessed a “gold rush” for new AI model startups (新企业). Some outstanding ones: Adept raised $350 million, Google dropped another $300 million into Anthropic, Character AI raised $200 million from Andreesen Horowitz, Perplexity raised $25 million, and Salesforce Ventures launched a $250 million fund.
Demands for policy. As foundation models change rapidly, the demand for AI policy grows as well, which catches the attention of top policymakers across the world, attempting to ensure AI security. In the U.S., Congressman Ted Lieu presented a report calling for AI regulation that was written by ChatGPT, accompanied by a column (专栏) in the New York Times.
“AI is no longer a matter of science fiction, nor is it a technology confined or restricted to research labs. AI will dramatically change our lives. Jobs like journalists, lawyers and doctors are facing challenges. AI is a technology that is already being highly concerned.”
1. What do you know about AI according to paragraph 1?| A．AI develops fast in these weeks. | B．GPT-4 is failed in the first show. |
| C．Tsinghua released a medical model. | D．AI reminds people of the spring. |
| A．Tsinghua developed one on medicine. |
| B．More competitors were beaten recently. |
| C．ChatGPT attracted 100 million users. |
| D．GPT-4 is a newly updated version of ChatGPT from OpenAI. |
| A．It’s just in America that AI technology develops. | B．Better policies are demanded for AI security. |
| C．Google and Microsoft will make the best AI. | D．Funds are raised for a lot of new startups. |
| A．Some professions are in face of challenge. | B．Models are lighter and cheaper. |
| C．Quite a few funds are invested lately. | D．It develops rapidly in the west. |
【推荐2】My house is made out of wood, glass and stone. It is also made out of software.
If you come to visit, you’ll probably be surprised when you come in. Someone will give you an electronic PIN （个人身份号码）to wear. This PIN tells the house who and where you are. The house uses this information to give you what you need. When it’s dark outside, the PIN turns on the lights nearest you, and then turns them off as you walk away from them. Music moves with you too. If the house knows your favorite music, it plays it. The music seems to be everywhere, but in fact other people in the house hear different music or no music. If you get a telephone call, only the nearest telephone rings.
Of course, you are also able to tell the house if you want something. There is a home control console (控制台), a small machine that turns things on and off around you.
The PIN and the console are new ideas, but they are in fact like many things we have today. If you want to go to a movie, you need a ticket. If I give you my car keys, you can use my car. The car works for you because you have the keys. My house works for you because you wear the PIN or hold the console.
I believe that ten years from now, most new homes will have the systems that I’ve put in my house. The systems will probably be even bigger and better than the ones I’ve put in today.
I like to try new ideas. I know that some of my ideas will work better than others. But I hope that one day I will stop thinking of these systems as new, and ask myself instead, “How will I live without them?”
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?| A．How to develop a new system. | B．The function of the PIN. |
| C．A home for the future. | D．Easy life in the future. |
| A．To let readers know why his ideas are new. |
| B．To let readers know how special his house is. |
| C．To explain the importance of the PIN and the console. |
| D．To explain more easily what the functions of the PIN and the console are. |
| A．it has been controlled by computers |
| B．you can make a telephone call anywhere |
| C．it has your favorite music following you |
| D．the writer is able to change his new idea into practice |
| A．An IT expert. | B．A famous doctor. |
| C．An idealist | D．An experienced teacher. |
| A．turns on the lights | B．play music |
| C．get a telephone call | D．go swimming |
【推荐3】The Roman Colosseum( 罗马圆形大剧场), built around two thousand years ago, survived a 14th century earthquake and most of the 150-some foot high building is still standing. It has seen the rise and fall of enormous structures as well as the Roman Empire. Why could the ancient structure stand the test of time while many modern constructions fall apart after a few decades? Scientists believe the ancient Romans used a specific concrete which may account for its super-long existence.
Previous discoveries have confirmed the components of the Roman concrete: volcanic material, limestone (石灰石) and water. Architects suppose the volcanic material is what makes the building strong—which it does. But this is not enough to explain the architecture’s durability. A team of researchers recently discovered a magical power of the Roman concrete: self-healing. And the key actually lies in the tiny pieces of limestone. Worth mentioning is that researchers had taken them as impurities (杂质) due to the limitation of ancient technology. But it turned out that ancient Romans seemed to have discovered the secret.
When the Romans made the mixture, they heated up the limestone to turn it into quicklime, a very reactive chemical. Quicklime reacted with water and produced heat that set up a chemical foundation to strengthen the building material. Meanwhile, it would “wear” a hard “shell”, forming limestone pieces. It was these pieces that stopped the cracks (裂缝) from becoming bigger. When there was rain, the pieces reacted with water again, quickly filling the cracks.
For material scientist Ainissa Ramirez, this new understanding of ancient Roman concrete is a welcome discovery. “This is one way that the material can be greener,” says Ramirez, “The Romans made the material. We had to kind of figure out how they did it so that we can make better materials—and then, you know, in turn, be better guards of our environment.”
1. Why could Roman Colosseum still exist according to the text?| A．It was rebuilt constantly. | B．It met few natural disasters. |
| C．It contained a special material. | D．Its shape increased the stability. |
| A．To purify the concrete. | B．To react with volcanic material. |
| C．To make the structure water-proof. | D．To enable the building to repair itself. |
| A．The rainwater. | B．The foundation. | C．The quicklime | D．The limestone. |
| A．Architects can get inspiration from ancient structures. |
| B．The Romans’ building method remains a secret till now. |
| C．Romans’ wisdom throws light on eco-friendly architecture. |
| D．Scientists are exploring how to guard the ancient civilization. |
【推荐1】Chinese researchers have found that the knife fish in the Yangtze River, once endangered by overfishing, is recovering thanks to a fishing ban（禁令）.
Monitoring data from different sections of the Yangtze shows that knife fish resources have been continuously recovering since 2019 when measures were taken to protect the fish, said Yang Jian, researcher with the Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.
The knife fish was known as “the first delicacy in the Yangtze,” and its population saw a sharp decrease due to overfishing and damage of its natural habitat（栖息地）. China banned the productive fishing of this species in 2019 and a 10-year fishing ban took effect in the Yangtze in 2021.
Since 2014, Yang Jian and his team have been monitoring a part of the Yangtze-connected Poyang Lake, an area for the knife fish to lay eggs. Yang said that from 2019 to 2021, the average number of knife fish caught by every observation unit in the area is 67 times that recorded during the period from 2014 to 2018.
The average length and weight of knife fish collected in 2021 was 27.2 cm and 91.4 grams respectively, an average increase of 41 percent and 37.55 percent compared to those collected from 2019 to 2020.
Yang Jian added that areas inhabited by knife fish have been increasing along the Yangtze, and the species was recently found in places such as Dongting Lake and the Ganjiang River where there had been no trace of the fish for more than ten years.
1. What can we learn from the discovery of the researchers?| A．The number of the knife fish is increasing. |
| B．China did very little to protect the knife fish. |
| C．China passed a ban forbidding feeding the knife fish. |
| D．Researchers only monitor the same section of the Yangtze River. |
| A．The globe is getting much warmer. | B．The knife fish lay less eggs than before. |
| C．There is less water in the Yangtze River. | D．Overfishing and destruction of its habitat. |
| A．About 34 grams. | B．About 57 grams. | C．About 66 grams. | D．About 125 grams. |
| A．A medical report. | B．A newspaper. | C．A biology textbook. | D．A fashion magazine. |
【推荐2】Do you know that forests cover an estimated 38 percent of the total land surface of the European Union(EU)?And that these extensive areas covered with trees and underbrush need to be protected so they can continue to do good for the environment for the next generation? Now the EU has just come up with its ambitious new "Forest Strategy".
Forests can fight against climate change and prevent biodiversity loss. They can reduce the impacts of climate change by cooling down cities, protecting us from heavy flooding, and reducing drought impacts. They are valuable ecosystems that are home to a major part of the world's plants and animals. But forests also improve our health and well-being through functions like water regulation, erosion(侵蚀)control and air purification. And they serve as ideal settings for "recreation, relaxation and learning, as well as securing livelihoods".
This new European-wide forest conservation vision takes in an impressive commitment to plant a minimum of three billion additional trees over the next decade. This is an ambitious plan but a long overdue one because forests have been battered by severe weather and human impacts, particularly the demand for wood over the last ten years. As the EU Observer puts it, "extreme weather events and the increasing demand for forest services and products, driven by wood-based bioenergy and international trade, have accelerated tree cover loss in the last decade."
This EU strategy takes into account the complexity of forest sustainability(可持续性). Observation, knowledge exchange, ongoing monitoring and close cooperation between public and private organizations and individuals are also key elements in this new continent-wide forest protection strategy.
This is a future-focused blueprint, designed to protect these precious green areas, and ensure that the trees and greenery are here to stay!
1. Why are two questions raised in the beginning?| A．To show the EU's forest coverage. | B．To call on people to protect forests. |
| C．To encourage more forest expansion. | D．To explain the reason for the strategy. |
| A．The importance of forests. | B．The environmental role of forests. |
| C．The background of the strategy. | D．The urgency of the strategy. |
| A．Struck. | B．Controlled. | C．Damaged. | D．Removed. |
| A．Planting Trees for the World | B．Taking Forests into the Future |
| C．EU's Action to Protect the Earth | D．Irreplaceable Benefits of Forests |
【推荐3】Most of us like visiting the hills during the holiday season. The pure air, the greenery, and the simple living of the people in these regions is what attracts us. While the increase in the number of tourists visiting the hills has done wonders for the local economy, the pollution levels, especially the plastic waste, is also increasing rapidly.
In an attempt to maintain the beauty and the greens in the Himalayan region, Pradeep Sangwan started an organisation, which he named ‘Healing Himalayas’.
While in college, Pradeep took an interest in long hiking, and that was the beginning for him. He says, “Movies of Bollywood plays a huge role in making the hills popular. Movies of friends going on holidays to hike and finding themselves on these adventures have inspired many to come here. But when we arrived at Himalayas, things were different”.
Along with a group of volunteers, Pradeep set out with jute bags (麻袋) to return with piles of waste. He says, “A few months ago, we found that we had collected around 4,00,000 kilos of waste. This number would have gone up now.” The waste that is collected is sent to two recycling plants in the state, where electricity is produced.
Healing Himalayas conducts special activities, mass clean-ups and events in the community and schools to create awareness about the maintenance and restoration of the environment.
His quest is to ensure that people enjoy the place as it is, without spoiling it. In an interview, he offers a few tips to travellers, such as carrying your own bottle of water and completely avoiding using straws.
1. What inspired Pradeep to go adventure in Himalayas?| A．Indian films | B．Serious pollution |
| C．Adventurous books | D．Beautiful scenery |
| A．living things with leaves and roots | B．factories or buildings |
| C．useful and scientific methods | D．advanced machines |
| A．Pradeep calls on people not to climb Himalayas. |
| B．The number of waste has decreased due to their work. |
| C．Tourists made few contributions to local economy. |
| D．It is vital to raise people’s awareness of protecting environment. |
【推荐1】A study, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, tracked the same 875 mother-child pairs in Chile for 16 years, conducting assessments at ages 1, 5, 10 and 16. At each visit researchers screened the mother for signs of depression and used cognitive (认知的) development tests on the child. They also asked questions to assess the home life, featuring the level of connection between the mother and child.
Researchers found that signs of depression in moms when the child is one are associated with lower scores on cognitive function tests for the child at age 16. “We found that mothers who were highly depressed didn’t invest (投入) emotionally or in providing learning materials to support their child, such as toys and books, as much as mothers who were not depressed. This, in turn, impacted the child’s IQ at ages 5, 10 and 16,” Patricia East, PhD, research scientist with the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and one of the lead authors on the study, said in a statement.
The authors found the relationship in reverse to be true, as well — lower development scores early in the child’s life promoted less engagement from mom and that only increased signs of mothers’ depression as the child entered into adolescence.
Children who had severely depressed mothers were found to have an average verbal IQ score of 7.30 compared to a score of 7.78 in children without depressed mothers. Although seemingly small, differences in IQ from 7.78 to 7.30 are highly meaningful in terms of children’s verbal skills and vocabulary, said East. “Our study results show the long-term consequences that a child can experience due to long-term mothers’ depression.”
However, the authors recognize that these families in Chile can be very different from mothers and children of other cultural backgrounds or nationalities. Besides, all the families studied were from a similar cultural background and socioeconomic status and had a similar level of education.
1. What did the researchers do in the study?| A．They screened the child for signs of depression. |
| B．They tested the cognitive abilities of the mother. |
| C．They evaluated the mother-child pairs’ relationship. |
| D．They ignored the mother’s educational background. |
| A．A kid’s IQ scores were decided by the mother’s. |
| B．A kid’s IQ scores were different at different ages. |
| C．Depressed mothers gave birth to kids with low IQ scores. |
| D．Mothers’ depression might negatively impact their kids’ IQ. |
| A．They don’t sound debatable. |
| B．They may encourage public debate. |
| C．They may not be very representative. |
| D．They have been confirmed in a large scale. |
| A．Adolescents’ Confusion in Chile |
| B．Impact of Mothers’ Depression on Kids |
| C．Significance of IQ in Kids’ Academic Tests |
| D．Maternal Depression and Kids’ Cognitive Test Scores |
【推荐2】The 2010s brought no shortage of miraculous technologies, from tablet computers to 4G mobile internet. But these had surprisingly little effect on the economy. During that decade productivity growth in the developed countries averaged a miserable (少得可怜的) 1% a year, holding down average wages. Innovative firms embraced new tech, but many less adventurous ones did not bother. The experience showed that technological breakthroughs and improvements in average living standards do not always go hand in hand.
Generative AI, its developers say, will be different. Not since the invention of the internet has a new technology so captured the public imagination. The technology is consumer-friendly: within days of its release to the public, Chat GPT, the most famous AI chat bot, had millions of users. It is easy to see how this innovation could improve all types of work at all types of firms, from increasing the accuracy of doctors’ diagnoses to helping programmers write software code more efficiently.
With that said, for AI to truly spread out in the economy, it needs to make its mark beyond the most innovative companies. And this will take time. Although the internet began to be used by some companies in the early 1990s, it was not until the late 2000s that two-thirds of American businesses had a website. About 70 world’s largest firms still show no interest in AI, according to our analysis. Some evidence even suggests that usage of Chat GPT and its competitors is falling—perhaps as people have tried it out, and then decided it is not for them.
Indeed, even the most powerful technologies take time to be adopted, because companies tend to use a mix of software and services, some of which may be years or even decades old. Replacing outdated systems can be costly and complicated. Moreover,in the many industries either run or heavily regulated by the government, such as healthcare, education and construction, bosses and trade unions often resist the application of new technology, worried that it will lead to job losses. In time AI could well transform how people live their lives and do their jobs. But the road to widespread usage, and any resulting productivity boom, will be a long one.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．Whether economic growth follows new technologies. |
| B．Why the 2010s is a productive decade. |
| C．How productivity affects average wages. |
| D．What innovative companies care for. |
| A．AI’s public imagination. | B．AI’s huge potential. |
| C．AI’s healthy profits. | D．Consumers’ enthusiasm. |
| A．Big firms are less motivated to adopt new tech. |
| B．Websites were uncommon in the early 2000s |
| C．Chat GPT is falling behind its competitors. |
| D．More efforts are needed to advocate AI. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Worried. |
| C．Cautious. | D．Pessimistic. |
【推荐3】The hottest product at this year’s CES（国际消费电子展）technology conference may just be privacy. Several of the biggest tech companies are putting a special attention to user privacy, following years of mounting scrutiny（监察）from regulators and consumers over the industry’s handling of personal data.
Google announced that it has added two new voice commands for people to better control their privacy when using its voice assistant. For example, users can tell Google Assistant to forget what it just heard if it was activated accidentally by using the new command: “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you. ” Users can also ask “Hey Google, are you saving my audio data?” to learn more about their privacy options and change their settings. The company also gives users the option to delete data using their voice by saying: “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week.”
Facebook announced a new version of its “Privacy Checkup” tool with the goal of walking users through their key privacy settings. Facebook says the updated tool will help users control who can see what they share, how their information is used and how they can boost their account security. Previously, the tool was focused on showing users who could see their posts, their profile information and connected apps.
Ring, the home security and video doorbell company owned by Amazon, announced an update to its app that allows users to choose out of requests from local police for video. It comes in the wake of criticism of its partnerships with law enforcement.
Victoria Petrock, principal analyst at research firm eMarketer,said that privacy would likely be a“hot topic”at this year’s CES as consumers only become“more aware and concerned”about the problem.“Tech companies are trying to‘prove they are taking privacy seriously’,” Petrock said. Call it a defensive move. “If they don’t, they risk more heavy-handed regulation at some point, so they would rather be part of the way than part of the problem,” she said.
1. How does Google help users protect their privacy?| A．By deleting all the data. | B．By providing new voice commands. |
| C．By using the command. | D．By storing their information. |
| A．To show users connected apps. |
| B．To allow users to choose out of requests. |
| C．To go through their key privacy settings. |
| D．To store or delete their information. |
| A．Because of growing users. |
| B．Because of the need to protect. |
| C．Because of the development of technology. |
| D．Because of users’growing concern about it. |
| A．They may lose users. |
| B．They may be fined seriously. |
| C．They may solve more problems. |
| D．They may face serious regulation. |
