Around the globe far more bird species are losing ground than gaining, according to an expansive review of a half-century of bird population research published in the journal Annual Review of Environment and Resources in May.
The review, entitled The State of the Worlds Birds, showed that more than 5, 200 different species of birds—just shy of half the world’s total —are known or suspected to be declining. Around 3, 800 species are relatively stable, and fewer than 700 species show increases. Among birds on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, almost 400 birds worldwide have had their conservation status changed for the worse in the past three decades (moving from vulnerable to threatened, or threatened to endangered)—five times more than the number of bird species with an IUCN status that has changed for the better.
“After documenting the loss of nearly 3 billion birds in North America alone (according to a 2019 study published in the journal Science), it was disturbing to see the same patterns of population declines and extinction occurring globally,” says review coauthor Ken Rosenberg. a conservation scientist now retired from the Cormell Lab of Omithology.
The review points to disappearing and degraded habitat—resulting from climate change, urbanization, agricultural intensification, and international trade—as the leading driver of bird declines worldwide. In a note of hope, the authors cite a 2020 study indicating that restoring just 5% of habitat in priority areas around the world could avert 60% of likely extinctions.
Lead author Alexander Lees, a research associate at the Cormell Lab, also points to the need for substantial changes in human behavior to prevent further losses. “Loss and degradation of habitat is often driven by demand for resources,” says Lees, “We need to better consider how commodity flows such as beef, oil, and seed crops can contribute to biodiversity loss and try to reduce the human footprint on the natural world.”
1. In what order are threatened species arranged on the IUCN’s Red List?| A．Species quantity. | B．Conservation status. | C．Declining rate. | D．Living habitat. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Relieved. | C．Doubtful. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．Protect. | B．Increase. | C．Cause. | D．Prevent. |
| A．Extra reasons for bird extinction. | B．Possible solutions to habitat loss. |
| C．Substantial changes in human behavior. | D．The prospect of biodiversity loss. |
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【推荐1】Trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they provide him wood and other products; they give him shade; and they help to prevent drought (干旱) and floods.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers.
Two thousand years ago, a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became bare and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the country found itself faced by floods and starvation.
Even where a government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult sometimes to make the people realize this. They cut down the trees but are too careless to plant and look after new trees. So unless the government has a good system of control, or can educate the people, the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that there will be fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees, their roots break the soil up, allowing the rain to sink in, and also bind the soil. This prevents the soil from being washed away. But where there are no trees, the rainfalls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, and this causes floods and the rain carries away the rich top soil in which crops grow. When all the top soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
1. Trees are useful to man mainly in three ways, the most important of which is that they can ________.| A．keep him from the hot sunshine | B．protect him from droughts and floods |
| C．make him draw quick profit from them | D．enable him to build warships |
| A．man hasn’t realized the importance of trees to him |
| B．man is eager to profit from trees |
| C．man is only interested in building empires |
| D．man hasn’t found out that he has lost all trees |
| A．unless a country has a plenty supply of trees |
| B．unless people stop cutting down their trees |
| C．unless the government punishes those who cut trees instead of planting them |
| D．unless all people are taught the importance of planting trees |
| A．to wash away | B．to make stay together |
| C．to make wet | D．to improve |
With over 2,000 animals and more than 400 species, the whole family will learn so much about animals and conservation here. Bring your walking shoes because the Dallas Zoo is 106 acres, and you want to be comfortable as you walk from the gorillas to the giraffe feeding area and everywhere in between. For a behind-the-scenes tour of the Dallas Zoo operations, sign the family up for a 90-minute guided tour called the Backstage Safari.
Legoland Discovery Center
When the summer gets hot, it’s nice to have some indoor fun with kids. Check out the Legoland Discovery Center, where the whole family can play with LEGO Bricks or take photos with their favorite characters from LEGO films. Relax in the 4D cinema and watch some stellar short, action-packed films. Grab a quick snack at the cafe before letting the kids run wild on the playground.
Dallas World Aquarium
Dallas may not be anywhere near an ocean, but that doesn’t mean the family can’t learn about the fish and mammals that call it home. At the Dallas World Aquarium, which is housed in a couple of old storehouses in Downtown Dallas' West End Historic District, the family can admire colorful fish, sharks and sea animals while walking through the aquarium.
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Walk through 66 acres of beautiful parkland, creative nature displays, and an ever-changing selection of art. Children will love exploring the Rory Meyer’s Children’s Adventure Garden. In addition to an adventure bridge, the garden has various interactive exhibits that teach kids about the science of nature and space. Families with older children might enjoy cooking classes or Thursday night concerts in the arboretum.
1. What are visitors to the Dallas Zoo advised to do?| A．Wear comfortable shoes. | B．Sign up for the tour early. |
| C．Avoid feeding the animals. | D．Learn about the animals in advance. |
| A．Feed animals. | B．Watch a 4D movie. |
| C．Learn about the fish. | D．Experience an adventure bridge. |
| A．They all offer free snacks. | B．They are all nature-related. |
| C．They all have playgrounds. | D．They are all family-friendly. |
【推荐3】New Zealand is no stranger to stranded whales (搁浅的鲸). Every year, rescuers help refloat many whales that get stuck in the coastal waters or sand during low tide (潮汐). However, last week’s stranding of two groups almost never happens.
On February 9, over 400 pilot whales were stranded at the base of Farewell Spit at the northern end of Golden Bay. Unfortunately, by the time rescuers arrived, almost 300 whales had died. More than 500 volunteers worked tirelessly to keep the remaining whales cool until high tide. At 3:30 PM local time, the whales had been successfully pushed back into the ocean.
But before the exhausted volunteers could recover, came another piece of news. Late on Friday, February 10, a new group of almost 200 pilot whales was discovered stranded along the same place. Andrew Lamason, the Operations Manager at the DOC, says they are confident it was a new group because they had tagged (贴标签) all the refloated whales from the first group and none of the whales in the new group had tags.
Unfortunately, nothing could be done to help the stranded whales at night. Early Saturday, hundreds of locals returned to the beach. To their surprise and delight, all but 17 of the stranded whales were gone! DOC spokesman Herb Christophers says they were probably able to “self-rescue” when the tide came in during the night. The rescuers took care of the remaining 17 whales until the tide returned．
Thanks to its unique shape and shallow waters that affect the echolocation (回声定位) of whales making their way around, whale strandings are not unusual near Farewell Spit. However, experts are shocked at the unusually large number. Christophers guesses that a lost whale’s distress (求救) call may have caused the entire group to rush to the rescue. However, another expert, Mike Ogle, has a different theory. After noticing some shark bites on one of the whales, he believes they may have been trying to escape from danger.
1. Which of the following is correct according to the passage?| A．Only about 100 stranded whales in the first group survived. |
| B．Rescuers arrived to save the first group of stranded whales in time. |
| C．Rescuers couldn’t do anything to save the whale before high tide came. |
| D．Whales seldom get stranded on the beach of New Zealand. |
| A．at the sight of sharks | B．by means of the high tide |
| C．under the guidance of the tags | D．with the help of human beings |
| A．Many of the second group of stranded whales died. |
| B．The stranded whales were taken away. |
| C．Someone saved the stranded whales. |
| D．High tide came. |
| A．Because all the whales in the first group had shark bites. |
| B．Because the whales in the second group looked strange. |
| C．Because the whales in the second group did not have tags. |
| D．Because the whales in the first group had left the coastline. |
【推荐1】The Joy Luck Club explores the connection, or lack of, between immigrant Chinese mothers and their Chinese American daughters. The book is divided into four sections in which the tales of mothers and daughters connect.
The book begins with Jing-mei taking her mother's place playing mahjong at a weekly gathering. They call the group the Joy Luck Club. Jing-mei's mother had a similar club in China before Jing-mei was born. Her mother restarted the tradition in San Francisco when Jing-mei was just a little girl. The other members of the group, Lindo, Ying-ying and An-mei, were her mother's oldest friends. The women tell Jing-mei that before her mother, Suyuan, died, she had finally succeeded in locating Jing-mei's lost half-sisters in China. Suyuan had abandoned the girls when she fled during World War Ⅱ. The women offer to help Jing-mei travel to China, meet her sisters and tell them about their mother. Jing-mei is overcome with emotion and wonders if she is up to the task. Then each woman tells an emotional story from her own childhood. The women then wonder if their daughters can really understand them.
In the second section, the four daughters Waverly, Jing-mei, Lena and Rose share painful childhood stories about their relationships with their mothers. The stories contain misunderstandings of their mother's actions.
In the third section, the daughters share about their marriage and career troubles. They believe that their mothers' old-fashioned ideas do not apply to their American lives. But their quest for solutions to their troubles leads them back to their relationships with the older generation.
In the last section, the mothers tell current stories about their daughters and their attempts to help them solve their problems. In doing so, they learn more about themselves. Jing-mei travels to China, meets her half-sisters and help them to learn about a mother they cannot remember. In doing so, she fulfills her mother's wish to be reunited with her lost daughters. This helps Jing-mei understand and appreciate her mother better. Jing-mei's journey also helps the other members of the Joy Luck Club. They see the importance of the past and the present as they work to truly connect with their daughters.
1. Who told Jing-mei the story of her mother?| A．Her friends at work. | B．Her mother in person. |
| C．The mothers in the club. | D．The half-sisters in China. |
| A．To expand her career. | B．To mend her marriage. |
| C．To reunite with her half-sisters. | D．To have a vacation with her family. |
| A．They only care for playing mahjong. |
| B．They ended up bonding with their daughters. |
| C．They cruelly abandoned their children in the war. |
| D．They failed to help solve their daughters' troubles. |
| A．Heart-broken. | B．Rewarding. |
| C．Meaningless. | D．Classic. |
【推荐2】When you hear the word “recycling”, what comes to your mind? The color green or global warming?
What if I were to tell you there is a dark side of recycling? A type of recycling that does more harm than good. The dark side of recycling has nothing to do with the environment but rather has a lot to do with the recycling of ideas.
Environmental unrest isn’t the only trouble we must face. Idea pollution is quickly becoming widespread across the online world.
Think about it. When was the last time you read an original blog post? I’m guessing it has been quite a while. Why do you think top bloggers (博主) of today win so much respect? Do you think they recycle their ideas? With each recycled idea, the online world becomes much more polluted. Used content contributes to the everincreasing mass of digital smog (烟雾).
The first step to reduce pollution is simple: stop recycling. When you stop recycling, you will then be forced to take up the task of creating your own ideas. When you recycle an excellent idea, it soon becomes good. When you recycle a good idea, it soon becomes just OK. The chain continues until the key part of what used to make the idea good is saturated (饱和的) , leaving you nothing but a pile of mess.
In order not to pollute, your ideas must go beyond “just recycled”. Your ideas must stand out from the pollution of the Web. For your voice and talent to be heard and seen, you must go far beyond the standard copy of your neighbours’ ideas.
For the next step, make a promise not to recycle. Let your ideas flourish and flow. Believe in your ability to create, because the death of recycling starts with YOU.
1. Which is TRUE about top bloggers of today according to the writer?| A．They don’t recycle their ideas. | B．They tend to express many fresh ideas. |
| C．They are not worth much respect. | D．They make good use of others’ ideas. |
| A．the bad effects of recycling ideas | B．the good effects of stopping recycling |
| C．how to stop recycling ideas | D．how to recycle good ideas online |
| A．top bloggers | B．common bloggers | C．environment polluters | D．Net researchers |
| A．to remind people to pay attention to environmental protection |
| B．to prove that the Web environment is becoming worse and worse |
| C．to warn people not to pollute our Web environment with bad words |
| D．to call on people to write online more creatively instead of repeating |
【推荐3】Ms Yuting Zhou is an early-career environmental advisor working on industrial wastewater pollution management, In her work, she’s learning about an important type of environmental pollution, and finding ways to help companies manage water resources better.
When we asked Yuting how old she was when she got interested in environmental problems, we were surprised by her response. “I must have been about six years old. I used to watch an American TV series about an environmentalist Superhero named Captain Planet.”
There is one serious pollution event somewhere in the world. The concern about environmental issues deeply influenced Yuting. But how does one prepare to be a “Superwoman”? For Yuting, it came down to a reflection on what she might be good at — in her case, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects-and making considered choices in her education.
She began to study environmental engineering, and found a passion for the subject. “During my graduate studies.” I researched different kinds of health effects.
While she developed valuable skills that would help her in her career, she also learnt more about herself and her role in the world. “I learnt that science requires a scientific proof through repeated and sometimes long processes. Although I completed and published my research in a top academic journal, I realized that I’m not fit for laboratory work. I needed more interaction with people, and to solve real-life problems.”
Within three days of graduating, Yuting was on a plane heading to Kenya. She was excited about working for the United Nations because there were people from various industries and backgrounds gathering to improve the environment and create a more sustainable (可持续的) future — a lot like the setting of Caprain Planet which brought light to her in the first place.
1. What first exposed Yuting to environmental problems?| A．An American TV series. | B．A famous environmental expert. |
| C．A famous and popular hero. | D．A serious pollution event. |
| A．How she could make use of her talent. | B．What organization she should join. |
| C．How she could become a superwoman. | D．What she would focus on studying. |
| A．Publishing lots of papers about them. | B．Conducting many researches on them. |
| C．Carrying on many a related experiment. | D．Reaching out to as many people as possible. |
| A．She met with people from all walks of life. | B．She knew the key to success. |
| C．She changed her attitude to life. | D．She learned how to chat with others. |
