Earthquakes are a terrible natural disaster that will cause lots of danger and damage. In the last few years, we have seen some of the worst earthquakes in history.
Dogs have been known to warm their owners that dangerous weather was coming. We can take the ways our dog reacts (反应) in certain situations to give us a hand in predicting when something like an earthquake may be about to happen.
Although the signs of a dog sensing an earthquake aren’t very clear, dogs who sense earthquakes will show certain signs before the event actually happens.
On the other hand, dogs will instinctively look for shelter when they sense bad weather or they feel like they are in danger.
A.Many dogs can tell smelly gas. |
B.Your dog may run off or hide under a bed. |
C.Using dogs to predict earthquakes is not new |
D.If there is a coming earthquake, your dog will act strangely. |
E.They will also often bark for what seems to be no right reason. |
F.Earthquakes generally come with no warning and are hard to predict. |
G.There may be other reasons dogs may act this way or appear afraid for seemingly no reason. |
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【推荐1】Today, we have the ability to predict dangerous tornadoes (龙卷风), hurricanes (飓风) winter storms, and floods with more accuracy than ever. We know the areas that are likely to be struck by earthquakes, and the areas that are easily harmed by wildfires, and we can tell hours in advance whether a tsunami (海啸) will hit our shores.
However, in spite of all the capabilities for advance warnings, Americans are still quite poor at preparing for these disasters. In a 2006 poll (民意调查) carried out by TIME Magazine, only 16% percent believed they were “well prepared” for the next one.
A few weeks ago I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) as I was cooking dinner, and I heard a moving story about a young boy, Noah Stewart, who lived through a tornado that hit his Alabama home.
Noah was sucked up into the tornado and then dropped. He landed on his head first, a fall of such force that, under normal conditions, would have killed him. However, he survived because his mother made a quick decision to put a baseball helmet on his head right before the tornado hit. Noah was unhurt in the storm. But the helmet cracked (破裂) down the middle.
The CDC states that they can’t say whether helmets save lives during a tornado impact (撞击) . However, it still seems wise for anyone in a tornado-prone (可能的) area to keep several helmets at the ready. Any added protection is going to increase your chance of survival, and as Noah’s story clearly shows, helmets can save lives.
You don’t have to buy new helmets—picking up used bicycle, football, or baseball helmets at economical stores and garage sales (旧货市场) can save money and keep your family protected.
However, it’s necessary that you keep these helmets in an easily reachable place; they should not be used for any other purpose, as they may be misplaced. Remember, when a tornado hits, you might only have minute—or even seconds—to find shelter. You don’t want to be running around the house, searching for those helmets.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?A.Americans are fear of disasters. |
B.There are many disasters in America. |
C.Disasters are better predicted in America. |
D.Most Americans are not well prepared for disasters. |
A.Because he stayed with his mother. |
B.Because he was brave in the tornado. |
C.Because he was well protected by a helmet. |
D.Because he was quick-minded in emergency. |
A.Put them at hand. | B.Choose new ones. |
C.Use professional ones. | D.Save money to buy expensive ones. |
A.To ask us to prepare for the disasters. | B.To warn us of the tornado impact. |
C.To advise us to keep helmets handy. | D.To describe the moving story of a boy. |
【推荐2】The State of California is depending on its forests to help cut down planet-warming CO2. But that climate-change strategy may be risky, as new research from the University of California, Irvine(UCI)reports that trees in California’s mountains and open spaces are dying from wildfires and other pressures — and fewer new trees are filling the blank.
“The forests are not keeping up with these large fires,” said study co-author James Randerson, the Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Professor of Earth system science at UCI. Across the whole state, tree cover area has dropped 6.7% since 1985. “These are big changes in less than forty years,” he said. It’s the first time that researchers have been able to measure tree population fall in California, and find out the reasons (wildfires and woodcutting).
For the study, the UCI-led team used satellite data from the USGS and NASA’s Landsat mission to study plant changes between 1985 and 2021. They found that one of the most obvious falls in tree cover was in southern California, where 14% of the tree population in local mountain had disappeared, maybe everlastingly.
“The ability of forests to recover(恢复)from fire appears to be dwindling in the south,” said Jonathan Wang, a researcher in Randerson’s research group, who led the study coming out in AGU Advances. “At the same time, the state’s coverage of bushes and grasses is rising, which could mean more everlasting ecosystem shifts(生态系统转化).”
“The speed and scale of fall in tree cover is different across the state. Tree cover in the Sierra Nevada, for example, stayed relatively unchanged until around 2010, then began dropping suddenly. Fortunately, in the north, there’s plenty of recovery after fire,” said Wang, perhaps because of the area’s higher rainfall and cooler temperatures. “This threat(威胁) to California’s climate solutions isn’t going away anytime soon,” Wang said. “We might be entering a new age of bigger fire and vulnerable(易受损的) forests.”
1. What mainly helped California cut down CO2?A.Energy saving. | B.Rich forests. |
C.Less vehicles. | D.Fine weather. |
A.Poor soil. |
B.Continual floods. |
C.High demand for farmland and food. |
D.Large wildfires and people’s cutting trees. |
A.California’s trees will die out in the future. |
B.California’s environment will face a big challenge. |
C.Wildfires seriously threaten California’s tree cover. |
D.The reason for California wildfires has been found out. |
【推荐3】Landslides occur when large amounts of wet debris (碎片), including rocks, earth, and trees, slide down a slope (斜坡). They may occur as a result of fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, or human activities. Landslides are particularly dangerous because they strike suddenly, move at extremely high speeds, and travel long distances. Although landslides are often difficult to predict, you can prepare for a landslide.
1. Keep yourself alert and awake. Landslides can occur quite suddenly, so you need to be ready to take action at a moment’s notice. Many landslide-related deaths occur while people are asleep.
2.
3. Contact local officials about past landslides. Landslides tend to happen in the same area where they have occurred before.
4. Make an emergency kit (工具箱).
A.Notice unusual sounds. |
B.Go to a public shelter. |
C.Here are some tips which can help you. |
D.Talk to local officials about landslides in your area. |
E.In the event of a landslide or other emergency, choose a place. |
F.If you are with other people, work together to keep one another awake. |
G.An emergency kit contains the essentials that your household will need during an emergency. |
【推荐1】Throwing handfuls of bread to birds has long been seen as harmless enough. But in recent years, some scientists have suggested that bread might not do birds’ digestive systems any good, saying that as uneaten food rots down, the water quality worsens and algal blooms can occur. Plus, by encouraging birds to gather in one place, the build-up of droppings may result in outbreaks of disease too. Meanwhile, many cities have signs telling us not to feed pigeons and gulls, which are considered an “annoyance” due to the mess they make, and scattering bread inevitably attracts rats and mice.
It seems that the public has accepted these warnings, and that fewer of us now feed birds this way. In October, a sign went up in a Derbyshire park claiming that the local birds were dying of starvation, and urging visitors to feed them as before. When online posts about the notice went viral, feathers flew as people debated the benefits of handing out bread to birds.
Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust for Ornithology(BTO) points out that there’s insufficient scientific evidence for bread harming birds, adding that, as little research has been done, it could even turn out to be beneficial. ① “We just don’t know,” he says. Although bread is a heavily processed “unnatural” food intended for humans, that alone may be insufficient grounds for not feeding it to birds.
In the 1980s, the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT) carried out a comparative study of different flocks of mute swans, and the birds that consumed the most bread had weaker muscles, implying that a bread-heavy diet might be the cause. “Our official line is that bread is okay for ducks, geese and swans, but only in moderation,” says WWT’s Peter Morris. “However, this advice comes with several other warnings.” ② The first is that it’s best offered in winter, when there is less plant and insect food around. In spring and summer, too much artificial food may not be a good idea, since young birds have to learn how to look after themselves and natural food will contain a wider range of nutrients to help them grow.
“Just like us, birds need a varied diet to stay healthy,” says a spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds(RSPB). “Although ducks, geese and swans can digest all types of bread, too much can leave them feeling full without giving them all of the important vitamins, minerals and nutrients they need.” ③
When bird feeding first became popular in the UK in the 19th century, some Victorians encouraged tough love, arguing that such handouts would only make our feathered friends lazy and dependent on welfare. ④ Morris says that there is a theory that wild birds can get “hooked” on easy meals, losing interest in other types of food. Another danger, he says, is that birds fed regularly end up accustomed to humans, placing themselves at greater risk of predation(捕食).
1. How can feeding birds with bread affect our urban life?A.Birds’ mess can attract many rats and mice. |
B.Birds’ gathering in one place disturbs our peace. |
C.Bread goes bad and the water quality will suffer. |
D.Human beings are likely to be infected with bird flu. |
A.they will become bigger in size with stronger muscles |
B.lack of certain nutrients negatively influences their health |
C.their digestive system will be damaged by artificial food |
D.they would soon choose bread rather than natural food |
A.① | B.② | C.③ | D.④ |
A.Is feeding birds a wise choice? | B.Why not feed our bird neighbours? |
C.Can we treat birds as friends? | D.When do birds need our food aid? |
【推荐2】Images of polar bears struggling to stay on rafts of ice are often used by groups that want to promote conservation and stop the deterioration of natural habitats. However, part of the solution lies with the polar bears themselves.
Polar bears are highly specialized. This means they have adapted to survive in a specific region and eat specific food. Polar bears live above the Arctic Circle and eat fish. Their bodies are different from those of other types of bears. Polar bears feature webbed feet for swimming, thicker fur and more body fat for living and swimming in icy conditions, and light-colored fur to help them blend into their environment. As a result, polar bears do not do well when they are in a non-arctic region. They cannot run as well as other bears, they can become too hot and tired easily, and they have a hard time hunting animals that are not in the snow or ice.
Unfortunately for polar bears, climate change is reducing the size of the areas where they can live. This means the bears will eventually have to leave the arctic regions and travel farther south. However, because they are so specialized, it is unlikely that polar bears will be as strong as they once were.
Other creatures, such as crocodiles, are not nearly as specialized. They live on almost every continent and in a wide variety of climates. In fact, crocodiles are one of the most adaptable animals on the planet and have survived for millions of years. When animals specialize, they often do better than less-specialized species in the same place, but if the climate or other conditions change, the specialized animals are usually the first to die off.
If polar bears are going to survive the next 100 years, they will have to adapt. Many scientists believe that polar bears may eventually cross paths with brown bears and black bears. Whether these animals fight it out or fall in love to create new generations of bears remains to be seen. No matter how it happens, many hope the polar bears will live far into the future-in many different places.
1. Which of the following is an effect of polar bear specialization?A.Polar bears are not in danger of dying off. | B.Polar bears fight other bears for food. |
C.Polar bears adapt to new habitats. | D.Polar bears hunt well in arctic areas. |
A.the cause of climate change | B.the importance of adaptability |
C.the history of biological evolution | D.the changes of natural environment |
A.The color of their fur. | B.Their tendency to easily overheat. |
C.Their more body fat and thicker fur. | D.Their ability to travel on ice rafts. |
A.no longer exist | B.find a colder place to live in |
C.live in the south of the Arctic Circle | D.act more like brown and black bears |
【推荐3】“Why did the fox steal my shoes?” sounds like the start of a brain teaser or an annoyingly hot. But for people in Berlin, it was a real question that a local fox was behind a series of shoe thefts.
About two weeks ago, Meyer, a resident of Berlin, noticed that one of his new running shoes had disappeared from his porch and he decided lo examine the theft, German news site reported.
Meyer quickly found out that he was not the thief’s only victim, and a tip helped him catch the fox. Days later, Meyer spotted the fox again; he followed it and discovered the fox’s secret place of more than 100 shoes.
Meyer got a photo of thieving fox and its ill-gotten shoes,which he shared on Twitter. The shoes contained sneakers, and slippers in a range of colors, shapes and sizes, though the most numerous shoes by far were Crocs.
This isn’t the first time that an urban fox has demonstrated a seeming shoes fetish(恋物). In August 2019, a fox in Melbourne, Australia, repeatedly visited a woman’s porch and stole three boots over the course of a week. In a small town in Western Germany, a female fox stole about 110 to 120 shoes in just one night, possibly “for her babies to play with”, according to Reuters.
It’s unknown whether all of these foxes were acting independently or whether their actions were linked, perhaps as part of an international shoe-stealing group with a bad purpose that humans can only imagine.
1. What happened to Meyer?A.He had his shoes stolen. |
B.He loved Crocs best. |
C.He was physically attacked by a fox. |
D.He moved out of Berlin and settled in a new place. |
A.He drove the fox away. |
B.He took a picture and posted it on social media. |
C.He sent some food to the fox. |
D.He followed the fox and found many other foxes. |
A.To analyze the reason for fox’s behavior. |
B.To introduce more people’s similar experience. |
C.To explain how many shoes were stolen by the fox. |
D.To prove some fox does have affection for shoes. |
A.Delighted. | B.Serious. | C.Humorous. | D.Terrified. |