The rapid pace of global warming and its effects on habitats raise the question of whether species are able to keep up so that they remain in suitable living conditions. Some animals can move fast to adjust to a swiftly changing climate. Plants, being less mobile, rely on means such as seed dispersal(传播) by animals, wind or water to move to new areas, but this redistribution typically occurs within one kilometre of the original plant.
When the climate in a plant’s usual range becomes hotter than it can tolerate, it must find new, cooler areas that might lie many kilometres away. One explanation for long-distance seed dispersal is through transport by migratory (迁徙的) birds. Such birds swallow seeds when eating fruit and can move them tens or hundreds of kilometres outside the range of a plant species.
Gonzáiez-Vary and colleagues report how plants might be able to keep pace with rapid climate change with the help of migratory birds. The authors analysed the fruiting times of plants, patterns of bird migration and the interactions between fruit-eating birds and fleshy-fruited plants across Europe. Plants with fleshy fruits were chosen for this study because most of their seed transport is by migratory birds, and because fleshy-fruited plants are an important part of the woody-plant community in Europe. The common approach until now has been to predict plant dispersal using models fitted to abiotic (非生物的) factors such as the current climate. Gonzáiez-Vary instead analysed an impressive data set of 949 different seed-dispersal interactions between bird and plant communities, together with data on entire fruiting times and migratory patterns of birds across Europe. The researchers also analysed DNA traces from bird wastes to identify the plants and birds responsible for seed dispersal.
1. How do species adapt to climate changes when it’s too hot?| A．All animals will move away across great distanced. |
| B．Some plants depend on migratory birds to carry seeds. |
| C．Some plants depend on animals, wind or water to move. |
| D．Plants’ seeds disperse to cooler places of several kilometres away. |
| A．Most of these can’t fit rapid climate change |
| B．Migratory birds like making nests in them |
| C．Migratory birds transport their seeds. |
| D．They are favoured by most birds. |
| A．To explain relations between fruit plants and migratory birds. |
| B．To clarify the reason why birds migrate in fruiting times. |
| C．To present a fact that migratory bird eats flesh fruits. |
| D．To show that fruits depend on migratory birds. |
| A．The advantage of fruit plants. |
| B．The destination of the bird migration. |
| C．The adaptation of fruit plants to the climate change. |
| D．The influence of climate change on plants and animals. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】The latest fashion in Japan is posing for photos with your hand pressed against your cheek as if you have toothache. The “cavity(牙疼) pose” is said to make the model’s face appear attractive, slimmer and smaller, which is considered more beautiful in Japan. The craze is sweeping Japanese social media, as well as fashion magazine front covers.
Just recently a model of a popular culture magazine, NYLON, did a pose which looked as if she had toothache. Twitter user, Okoge, spotted it among a range of similar magazines, with front cover models all doing the same pose. Okoge posted photos of the front cover models all with the exact same toothache pose, on the social media site, writing, “Does everyone have cavities?” The image has since been re-tweeted more than 35,000 times, but this is anything but an isolated incident (单一事件). Twitter and Instagram are going crazy for the pose, too.
The name, which means cavity pose, is called “mushiba no poozu” or “mushibapoozu” in Japanese. Some people also refer to it as the “mushibagaitaipoozu”, the “cavity hurts pose”, “mushibamitainapoozu” or “looks like a cavity pose”, or even, “mushibaninattapoozu” or “I got a cavity pose”.
According to the magazine, Kotaku, such photographs first appeared on Twitter last year in Japan. Many Japanese people said they are doing the cavity pose. And in only a few weeks, the trend has spread to art, popular cartoons and even national magazines.
There have been more and more photos cropping up online from earlier this year, but whether the trend will stand the test of time remains to be seen.
1. What is the strange thing regarding fashion models in Japan, according to the passage?| A．They are very dissatisfied with the shape of their face. |
| B．Most of them have an occupational disease, such as toothache. |
| C．They are competing to appear on fashion magazine front covers. |
| D．They like doing the toothache pose when being photographed. |
| A．To share interesting things with people. |
| B．To get more people to visit his Twitter page. |
| C．To show his sympathy for toothache patients. |
| D．To teach people how to take photographs. |
| A．why the “cavity pose” becomes so popular |
| B．when the “cavity pose” happened on the Internet |
| C．how many names of “cavity pose” there are |
| D．whether people will continue to like the “cavity pose” |
【推荐2】The cooperation between the Ten cent’s Digital Culture Laboratory (DCL) and the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology is ground-breaking. Using digital technologies such as AI, big data, cloud computing, knowledge graphs and computer vision, thousands of pieces unearthed from the Sanxingdui are being scanned, analyzed and calculated to determine whether or how they can be pieced back together.
This greatly improves efficiency (效率) and presents new situations that may not have been possible through traditional means. A 4,500-year-old bronze statue from Sanxingdui, for centuries in broken and bent pieces, now appears in its impressive form. The restoration (修复) is an important development for archaeology—it’s digital.
The bronze statue shows a four-legged beast with a worshipper kneeling on its back. The beast and the kneeling worshipper were unearthed separately from two different holes in 2021. Through markings on the beast’s back and the worshipper’s knees, the team guessed they may have been part of the same statue.3D modeling and AI analysis of size, weight and balance helped the team to decide that the two belonged together. Computer vision aided in straightening the bent parts and filling in missing pieces, such as an ear and an arm.
Sanxingdui is believed to be part of the ancient Shu Kingdom. There is no written text on how the Shu people lived or why they disappeared. Clues to their existence come from relics. While some relics were discovered in the late 1920s, detailed archaeological excavations (挖掘) began only in the 1980s when the first two holes were unearthed. Six more came to light in 2021. All uncovered relics suggest a civilization not only technologically advanced, but also earlier than first thought.
“There is more to the work we are doing than just archaeology.” said Zhan Shu, Head of DCL. The project will include the Shu people’s history and culture into video games, music, and literature so that the past can be more related to the younger generations.
1. What can we know about the restoration of the bronze statue?| A．Digital technologies provided a new solution. |
| B．The restoration was completed by hand. |
| C．Traditional ways helped fill in missing parts. |
| D．Major parts were discovered in one single hole. |
| A．Its newly-found written text. | B．Its sudden disappearance. |
| C．Its excavation method. | D．Its archaeological value. |
| A．To provide relaxation means. | B．To reform music education. |
| C．To connect youths with history. | D．To highlight Shu technology. |
| A．Digital Technologies: Changing Archaeological Practices |
| B．Sanxingdui: The Lost Civilization of the Shu Kingdom |
| C．Uncovering the Secrets of Ancient Bronze Statue |
| D．Promoting Culture Through History Education |
【推荐3】People produce all kinds of food waste. A news report in our magazine published in November last year shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted in the United States every year. (A metric ton is 1,000 kilograms or 2,205 pounds.)
The value of the waste is about $162 billion. About half ends up in city landfills (垃圾填埋场). It costs local government about $1.5 billion a year to deal with them. The report says that one third of all food in the world is never eaten. The full cost of the world’s food waste can be $400 billion a year. Billions can be saved if the amount of food waste is reduced. Most of the food is thrown away by shopkeepers and consumers in wealthy nations. If it is saved, it could feed 870 million hungry people of the world. A family of four wastes about $1,600 worth of food each year.
The production of food uses large amounts of water, land and fertilizer. Food waste in landfills creates methane—a powerful greenhouse gas. This gas is about seven percent of total pollution worldwide. Reducing food waste can make a difference.
Composting (堆制肥料) is one solution. However, there are other ways to reduce food waste. Extending expiration (终结) dates will reduce waste. Selling smaller bags of food also will reduce waste. An expert said, “We need to find ways to deal with food waste, but most importantly, we need to prevent it at the first place.”
1. What does the author want to tell us in Paragraph 2?| A．Many people are facing hunger. |
| B．Food waste is likely to increase. |
| C．Food waste is caused for various reasons. |
| D．The problem of food waste is very serious. |
| A．To put prevention first. | B．To build more landfills. |
| C．To extend shelf life of food. | D．To make it into useful materials. |
| A．He is an editor. | B．He is a TV reporter. |
| C．He is a public official. | D．He is a professor assistant. |
| A．By listing data. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By providing definitions. | D．By making comparisons. |
【推荐1】A solar tree is a structure like a tree that generates solar energy using photovoltaic panels (太阳能光伏板). It helps solve an urgent global challenge: Replacing greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources like oil and gas with renewable energy. But the power generation potential of solar trees is relatively limited, and their primary purpose is to raise public awareness about renewable energy by getting people to notice and interact with solar energy in new ways.
Solar trees generally have a firm metal, plastic, or stone base that extends up and out into “branches” on which solar panels are mounted. Beyond this basic structure, there is great diversity in the design of solar tree units. The solar tree’s photovoltaic “leaves” absorb sunlight, converting it into electricity that is conducted down through the trunk-like central pillar of the structure to an inside battery. Many designs feature rotating (旋转的) panels that can move throughout the day in order to obtain the greatest amount of sunlight.
Solar trees help power homes, businesses, and public services. They can create shade to help reduce the urban heat island effect and provide shelter in severe weather such as rainstorms and heatwaves, creating greater urban adapting ability in the face of climate change. They also enhance public spaces, providing charging stations, and powering streetlights.
In comparison to other kinds of ground-mounted solar panel devices, solar trees don’t require much land. They make solar energy generation possible in areas with little land that can’t support vast solar arrays, as well as places that lack sufficient rooftop space for panels. However, solar panels are much cheaper than solar trees at present and have far greater energy generation capacity. Therefore, present solar tree designs often serve as a extra source rather than as a primary energy source.
At present, solar trees aren’t designed as large-scale solar projects, which limits their ability to contribute to the low-carbon energy transition. Still, their varied designs are appealing. This makes solar trees effective at displaying and thereby educating people about solar energy, and promoting a business or organization’s commitment to renewable energy.
1. What is the main purpose of building solar trees?| A．To beautify the urban environment. | B．To draw public attention to solar energy. |
| C．To replace non-renewable energy resources. | D．To provide charging services in emergencies. |
| A．It stores energy in its own battery. |
| B．It can adjust its height automatically. |
| C．It is made of environmentally friendly materials. |
| D．It transforms sunlight into electricity by its metal base. |
| A．The design features of solar trees. | B．The ways of saving energy in cities. |
| C．The benefits of solar trees to humans. | D．The difficulties of promoting solar trees. |
| A．They occupy much less land. | B．They are cheaper to manufacture. |
| C．They are more effective in generating energy. | D．They can work in various weather conditions. |
【推荐2】Hundreds of native North American plants, often dismissed as weeds, deserve a lot more respect, according to a new study. These plants, distant cousins of foods like sunflowers and lettuce (莴苣), actually represent a botanical treasure now facing increased threats from climate change and habitat loss. The crops that the human race now depends on, including grains like wheat and tree fruit like peaches, originally were selected or bred (培育) from plants that grew wild hundreds or thousands of years ago. In the U.S., there are wild ancestors of blueberries, sweet potatoes, onions, potatoes, and many other food crops. “Some of them are quite common,” says Colin Khoury, a research scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. “Wild lettuce plants grow along sidewalks, or in backyards, but go unrecognized.”
Other crop relatives are rare and threatened. One of Khoury’s favorites is the paradoxical sun flower.” It grows just in wetlands of the deserts of New Mexico and Texas. Little salty areas where there’s a little bit of water beneath the soil,” he says. So plant growers crossbred it with commercial sunflowers and created new varieties that can grow in places where the soil contains more salt. Other wild relatives may be hiding similarly remarkable gifts, Khoury says, such as genes that could help their domesticated relatives survive diseases, or deal with pests.
Khoury and some of his colleagues just finished a survey of about 600 wild crop relatives that grow in North America, and they found that most of these plants are threatened by things like fires, farming and development. The scientists argue that they deserve more protection. For one thing, “gene banks” should collect and preserve them. In addition, these plants need more protection in their natural habitat.
According to Khoury, that doesn’t necessarily mean setting aside land for them. In many cases, the plants already are growing on public land that’s managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). “It’s more about just being aware that these plants actually exist,” he says.
1. What did the new study mainly focus on?| A．Endangered plant species. |
| B．Wild relatives of food crops. |
| C．The impacts of climate change. |
| D．The threats from plant habitat loss. |
| A．It needs much water to grow well. |
| B．It grows along sidewalks or in backyards. |
| C．It seems capable of surviving various diseases. |
| D．It helps commercial sunflowers adapt to salty soil. |
| A．Relieved. | B．Concerned. | C．Annoyed. | D．Critical. |
| A．Join hands with the USFS. |
| B．Set aside land for wild plants. |
| C．Collect genes of threatened crop species. |
| D．Learn about plants on its managed land. |
【推荐3】My neighbor has a beautiful lawn. He hates to see even one weed(野草)in it. I understand his feelings but accept a little more of a natural look. Every year, the spring rains caused weeds to appear where they were not planted, especially in the lawn. He then starts to mix up all his different poisons in his garage. There is one weed killer for killing weeds in paths, another for killing weeds in flower beds, another for killing grass in flower beds and yet another for killing weeds in grass.
One day when I got home from work, he was killing the dandelions(蒲公英) growing at the side of my house. “ I'm sure that you will be happy with me killing these weeds for you,” he said.
Knowing he meant well, I said thanks to him. However, deep inside, I felt saddened. I happen to like dandelions. For me, even in something as simple as a dandelion, there is art. In fact, there is even poetry in a dandelion!
Dandelions can be used for many different purposes. They certainly do grow where nothing else does, like along the side of my house where I do not water. The flowers are a pretty bright yellow. They form their own picture of golden color around my washing line, something like a crazy artwork.
The flowers also add fine flavor and color when dropped in ice water. Do you know that the leaves can be used in a salad to spice it up? They also add vitamins. I've been told that the leaves and roots contain vitamins A, B and C as well as minerals such as iron and calcium. It does not taste that great, but it certainly is good for you.
If dandelions weren't so tough and hardy, gardeners would raise them carefully in greenhouses. They'd be expensive in the shops and people would form dandelion societies to show them off and teach others about their benefits. But they are not rare and delicate, so we label them weeds and kill them.
But I say that they are works of art, carefully made by nature's magical hand. As the season progresses, the flower turns into light puffy seeds that can float in the wind. If you blow the round head of seeds gently but firmly, the seeds fly away in every direction, forming a kind of art on the move.
So in the dandelion are both art and poetry. Let nature's art and beauty never stop to fill you with joy and amazement.
1. How did the author feel about his neighbor killing dandelions for her ?| A．She was very grateful and thanked him. | B．She didn't pay much attention to it. |
| C．She had mixed feelings about it. | D．She hated his neighbor for the trouble made. |
| A．Dandelions can serve different purposes. |
| B．Dandelion flowers form a beautiful picture in the author's garden. |
| C．Dandelions can be added to salad, improving the flavor. |
| D．Dandelions are free of charge, just like poetry. |
| A．Dandelions are not as beautiful as other flowers. |
| B．They are too tough to arouse gardeners' desire to raise them carefully. |
| C．They are so expensive that people can't afford to buy in the shops. |
| D．They are very strong and uncommon in nature. |
| A．Nutritious and tasty. | B．Common but delicate. |
| C．Tough but rare. | D．Artistic and poetic. |
【推荐1】This summer, the interview teams at the North Pole were witnessed wearing short sleeve shirts due to the warm weather. A study published on Aug 29 revealed more concerning issues in the supposedly coldest area of the world. Zombie ice from a massive Greenland ice sheet was confirmed to be melting, which would eventually raise global sea levels by at least 10 inches (27 centimeters) on its own, reported Associated Press (AP).
Zombie ice is the kind of ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by larger glaciers. Since glaciers are getting less snow to complement (补充) the amount of ice melted, once the zombie ice is melted, it cannot be re-formed.
Scientists decided to look at the balance of the ice. In perfect balance, snow in the mountains of Greenland flows down and thickens the sides of glaciers, offsetting what’s melting on the edges, according to AP. But in the last few decades, there has been less refill and more melting, creating an imbalance.
Study co-author William Colgan at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland told AP that 3.3 percent of Greenland’s total ice volume would melt eventually. “Starving would be a good phrase” for what’s happening to the ice, Colgan added.
With a great number of natural resources buried under the earth, areas of melted ice revealed treasures that attracted the world’s richest men. According to CNN, in early August, there was a “treasure hunt” in Greenland. Billionaires, including Bill Gates and others, financially backed KoBold Metals, a US-based mineral exploration company, to explore the rare metals under the glaciers in Greenland. The company told CNN that since there were enough minerals to power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles, the critical resource was capable of powering the green energy transition.
1. What happened in North Pole this summer?| A．North Pole experienced unusual weather. |
| B．The massive Greenland sheet has melted. |
| C．The melted ice has raised sea level significantly. |
| D．The interview teams revealed concerning issues. |
| A．Zombie ice can be easily formed again. |
| B．Starvation is an issue worth attention. |
| C．The recent snow refill cannot balance out the melting. |
| D．3.3 percent of Zombie ice volumn will melt ultimately. |
| A．Denveloping electric vehicles is resource-consuming. |
| B．The treasure hunt can only benefit the richest people. |
| C．The resources will be profitable if exploited. |
| D．The minerals will soon become a green energy alternative. |
| A．Every coin has two sides |
| B．Man can conquer nature |
| C．The early bird catches the worm |
| D．One false move may lose the game |
【推荐2】Every spring, in regions at high altitudes around the world, one of Earth’s tiniest migrations takes place. The migrants are single-celled green algae (海藻); they are relatives to plants growing in the sea, but instead of living in the sea they live in snow. They spend the winter deep in the snow. In the spring, they wake and swim up through flowing streams of melted snow to the surface, dividing and photosynthesizing (进行光合作用) as they go. Then, at the top, they turn red. This creates what scientists call pink snow.
The color comes from astaxanthin (虾青素), a substance that gives some living things their reddish color. The algae produce astaxanthin as a form of sun protection; it absorbs UV light, thereby warming the organisms and thus melting the surrounding snow. “The melting helps them a lot,” said Roman Dial, a biologist at Alaska Pacific University. “The moment there is liquid water on the snow, the algae start growing.”
Pink snow is a perfectly natural phenomenon, but in an age of disappearing glaciers (冰川), it is also problematic. Last year, scientists discovered that the algae turned the snow surface dark, reducing the amount of sunlight reflected by some glaciers in Scandinavia—and increasing the amount of sunlight absorbed—by 30%. The result, as Dial and his colleagues demonstrated in this month’s issue of Nature Geoscience, is faster melting. As in other parts of the warming planet—particularly the Arctic, where scientists fear that melting permafrost (永冻土层) may lead to further climatic changes. Ice sheets are already being darkened by dust and ash, which makes the process of melting faster and provides nutrients for algae growth. As the organisms multiply, they melt even more snow, which allows them to increase in their population again. “It spreads more rapidly than people realize, once it gets established,” Dial said.
Snow algae need snow; when that’s gone, which seems to be the direction of things, the snow algae will go, too. Before the snow algae disappear, though, and while there’s still some glacier left, it’s entirely possible that the last snow we’ll see on Earth will be pink or even red, a wound on Earth.
1. What causes the color of pink snow?| A．The migration that involves the algae and other plants. |
| B．The flowing streams that the algae travel through. |
| C．The algae that turn red at the snow’s surface. |
| D．The sunlight that directly reflects on the algae. |
| A．It absorbs UV light to cool down the algae. | B．It prevents the algae from photosynthesizing. |
| C．It colors the algae for the purpose of decoration. | D．It helps protect the algae from the sun. |
| A．It increases the reflection of sunlight. | B．It speeds up the melting of glaciers. |
| C．It leads to a decrease in algae populations. | D．It reduces the amount of liquid water available. |
| A．The rapid melting of glaciers may lead to an increase in permafrost. |
| B．The darkening of ice sheets may slow down the process of melting. |
| C．The warming climate may result in the extinction of algae in the region. |
| D．Darkening ice sheets and multiplied algae may worsen climate change. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Indifferent. | C．Neutral. | D．Optimistic. |
【推荐3】Artificial intelligence (Al) has the potential to develop more efficient methods of farming in order to fight global warming.
Global warming threatens every aspect of our everyday lives, including crop production. It will reduce the soil moisture (水分) in areas close to the equator according to a study. We are already seeing the negative impact of these changed growing conditions on our crop production. Climate change harms poorer countries that do not have the money to import food. The result is growing food insecurity. However, agriculture is not just affected by global warming — agriculture is part of a vicious (恶性的) cycle in which farming leads to global warming, which in turn destroys agricultural production. The process of clearing land for agriculture results in widespread deforestation (毁林) and contributes to 40 percent of global methane production. Therefore, to deal with climate change, it is necessary to ensure reforestation — but how? What is the path to efficient, environmentally-conscious farming?
This is where AI enters the scene. Farmers use AI for methods such as precision agriculture; they can monitor crop moisture, soil composition, and temperature in growing areas, enabling farmers to increase production by learning how to take care of their crops and determine the ideal amount of water to use. Furthermore, this technology may help reduce deforestation by allowing humans to grow food in urban areas. It could be especially beneficial for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, where much of the population lives in cities.
However, AI is far from a silver bullet — it could actually contribute to global warming as well. Due to the large amount of data that AI needs to process, training a single AI releases five times the emissions that an average car would give off during its lifetime. Further, securing access to AI on a global scale may pose some challenges. Countries will need experts in the field who can successfully use the technology and Internet connection, neither of which are always readily available. Therefore, there is still a long way for developing countries to take advantage of the benefits of AI.
Given these concerns, global leaders must consider the potential costs, and the environmental consequences of data processing before developing AI for use in agriculture.
1. What can we learn about today’s agriculture from paragraph 2?| A．It is the main challenge of reforestation. |
| B．Poorer countries rely on it more than before. |
| C．It is still dependent on deforestation for more land. |
| D．It is both a victim and a cause of global warming. |
| A．Building farming communities in cities. |
| B．Abandoning traditional farming methods. |
| C．Making the most of agricultural resources. |
| D．Balancing farming with farmers’ everyday lives. |
| A．There are technical barriers in developing countries. |
| B．The relevant technology is still under development. |
| C．The process of developing Al is difficult. |
| D．There is no one-size-fits-all AI technology. |
| A．The benefits of agricultural AI |
| B．The future of farming: AI and agriculture |
| C．A block to environmentally-conscious agriculture |
| D．Global warming and agriculture: a vicious cycle |
