Now you can make polar bears your pen friends. First you need to find one, then tranquilize (使镇静) it and quickly give it a necessary tool before it wakes up. It’s an awkward first encounter — how many friendships do you know start with tranquilizers? — and admittedly a one-sided correspondence, but soon they’ll be sending messages daily.
Every morning, Jon Aars, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, receives a bunch of emails from several female polar bears, letting him know where they are. Each year, Aars and his colleagues equip around 70 polar bears with a tracking collar (项圈) which continuously logs their movement. Once a day the collar makes a satellite call, sending the last 24 hours of data back to the Institute. “Data about their movement is very important in understanding how they might respond to climate change,” Aars explains.
A warm climate means a vast amount of sea ice is melting. Several seal species — polar bears’ main food — rely on sea ice, and more often than not, where sea ice can be found, so can polar bears. But these creatures are being forced to move. “We have seen that bears move much further north,” Aars explains.
The collar can also record body temperature, which can tell scientists if a bear has moved inside a habitat — an indication that the animal is going to give birth. Sea ice loss is also having an impact on where polar bears are born. “Important areas where they used to go to give birth to cubs (幼兽) are more or less lost,” says Aars. “Bears are now swimming as far as 200 kilometers to reach an island habitat,” he adds, “something they did not need to do 20 years ago.”
Aars hopes his research can reveal how to help his pen friends hold out a little longer. “What is important for us is that all this data tells us how they will respond in the future,” he adds.
1. What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 1?| A．Provide some key facts about polar bears. |
| B．Explain how to deal with wild polar bears. |
| C．Suggest ways to save tranquilized polar bears. |
| D．Describe how to get polar bears ready for tracking. |
| A．Guiding polar bears to sea ice. |
| B．Protecting polar bears from being hunted. |
| C．Labeling polar bears ready to give birth. |
| D．Collecting data on polar bears’ movement. |
| A．They are forced to move south. |
| B．They have trouble finding food. |
| C．Their habitats are too hot to live in. |
| D．Their cubs fail to adapt to the climate. |
| A．Polar bears — creatures on sea ice |
| B．Climate change — sea ice loss speeding up |
| C．Another wake-up call — polar bears facing extinction |
| D．Emails from the edge — polar bears sending messages to scientists |
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Winter begins in the north on December 22nd. People and animals have been doing what they always do to prepare for the colder months, Sqzeirrels, for example, have been busy gathering nuts from trees.
Rob Swihart of Purdue University did the study with Jake Goheen, a former Purdue student now at the University of New Mexico. The two researchers estimate that several times as many walnuts grow when gathered by gray squirrels as compared to red squirrels. Gray squirrels and red squirrels do not store nuts and seeds in the same way. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time in a number of places.
| A．Gray squirrels are native to Indiana. |
| B．But they seldom remember where they buried every nut. |
| C．Red squirrels bury nuts in a different way. |
| D．The black walnut is the nut of choice for both kinds of squirrels. |
| E．Jake Goheen calls them a sign of an environmental problem more than a cause. |
| F．Scientists are worried that they will drive away the gray squirrels. |
| G．Well, scientists have been busy gathering information about what the squirrels do with the food they collect. |
【推荐2】We see big lies.
But behind big lies are a series of small tricks or lies. Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economies, writes about this in his book The Honest Truth about Dishonesty.
These small lies are quite common. There are many of us who might go a little too fast on the highway, or pocket extra change at a gas station. As humans, it seems we are natural liars.
But still, we want to look in the mirror and see ourselves as good, honest people, though we benefit from our lying. That's why Ariely describes honesty as something of a state of mind. He thinks the IRS（税务局）should have people promise to be honest when they start working on their taxes, not when they 're done.
Ariely says the research about honesty isn't all negative（消极的）.
| A．Most people tell some kind of lies every day. |
| B．When talking about dishonesty, we always think of something big. |
| C．But when we think to ourselves, we believe we could never do that. |
| D．We have plenty of chances to lie and cheat, without getting caught. |
| E．Some of the most common lies are white lies, which are typically considered to be harmless, |
| F．He found what separates honest people from not honest people is not necessarily character, but chance. |
| G．Setting the stage for honesty is more effective than asking someone after the fact whether or not they lied. |
【推荐3】Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid, T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion (视觉影像) of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could reach out and touch and then to show them the illusion. If they knew that objects are solid and they reached out for the illusion and found empty air, they could be expected to show surprise in their faces and movements. All the 16 to 24-week-old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to reappear. If the experimenter took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted (替换) a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week-old babies did not seem to notice the switch (更换). Thus, he 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of “something permanence”, while the 22-week-old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.
1. The passage is mainly about ______.| A．babies’ sense of sight | B．effects of experiments on babies |
| C．different tests on babies’ feelings | D．babies’ understanding of objects |
| A．keeps its shape | B．still exists |
| C．still stays solid | D．is beyond reach |
| A．A chair. | B．A film. |
| C．A screen. | D．A box. |
| A．The babies didn’t have a sense of direction. |
| B．The older babies preferred toy trains to balls. |
| C．The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion. |
| D．The younger babies liked looking for missing objects. |
【推荐1】What defines (定义) a generation? Often, experts say, members of a generation are defined by the events that shaped their lives as young adults.
“World events like wars, pandemics (大流行病) and racial unrest can be especially formative,” says Meg Jay, a psychologist and author of “The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter — and How to Make the Most of Them Now”. Because our 20s are often when we have our first jobs and first relationships and first moves and first real-world experiences, these big events become important parts of our life stories.
In 2020, it was a pandemic.
For the last three months of 2020, the Monitor followed twelve 2l-year-olds from around the world. We wanted to understand how this global health crisis is encoding itself in the cultural DNA of a generation coming of age in its shadow. Their lives and circumstances as they rolled into 2021 varied wildly. But the lives of the 2l-year-olds we met had many obvious similarities. Separately, for instance, the internet was their collective lifeline to the world. In Mexico, an art student isolating in her family home posted a daily piece of art to Instagram to remind herself that time had not stopped altogether. In Germany, a labor organizer negotiated contracts and planned strikes via Zoom.
By the end of 2020, many of the world’s 21-year-olds had lost jobs; others wondered if they’d ever find one. In the U. S, youth unemployment doubled between July 2019 and July 2020. Also, the pandemic opened fault lines, and stressed old ones. In India, Jordan, and South Africa, our 21-year-olds wondered how they’d collect enough money for mobile data for online studies. In Mexico, Canada, and Germany, 21-year-olds reflected on loneliness as a privilege — that they were alone because they could isolate, their lives not dependent on doing otherwise.
We found a generation suspended (悬停) between the world they’d grown up in and uncertain arrival of their future.
1. According to Meg Jay, what determines the future of the people in their twenties?| A．Their fundamental changes of working circumstances. |
| B．Their great efforts of coping with uncertainties in life. |
| C．Their first experiences of the major events then. |
| D．Their deep reflections on the attitudes to life. |
| A．Significant employment challenges. | B．Potential social problems. |
| C．Special individual privileges. | D．Global health crises. |
| A．Approving. | B．Negative. | C．Critical. | D．Concerned. |
| A．The World Children Have Grown up in Defines a Generation |
| B．A Young Generation Was Suspended But Ready to Start |
| C．A Great Pandemic Has Brought Various Global Crises |
| D．World Events Changed the Lives of Young Adults |
【推荐2】To some, a cow’s burp (打嗝) might seem like a small thing. But in New Zealand, cows outnumber people by two to one. There are only five million people in New Zealand, which is home to 10 million cows and 26 million sheep.
Cows do not easily digest the grass they eat — instead, they ferment (发酵) it in their stomachs. The process releases a lot of gas. So, every time someone eats beef or drinks milk, the process of getting that product comes at a high cost to the environment. The cows produce methane (甲烷) gas. While the gas does not last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, it has a much stronger effect on global warming.
The scientists in New Zealand are working on ways to reduce the amount of gas that comes out of the cows.They are considering changing the food the animals eat or putting a device on the cows to change the methane into something innocuous. There is also talk of feeding the cows a kind of special red seaweed or giving them a food addition that would help them digest the grass.
In addition, farmers want a solution. That is because New Zealand has announced plans to tax farmers whose animals produce too much methane gas. The farmers say they will be affected if the tax plan goes into effect.
A farmer running a farm in the town of Featherston,in the Wellington Region, is trying to get more milk from each cow. The increased efficiency means he does not need as many cows, which in turn reduces the amount of methane coming from his farm. At a farmer level, he is doing his bit to help save the planet.
The fight against methane is serious in NewZealand. The country promised to reduce the gas produced by farm animals by up to 47 percent by the.year 2050.
1. Why does cows’ burping become a problem in Name Zealand?| A．The cows consume much grass. |
| B．New Zealanders prefer milk. |
| C．The number of the cows is too large. |
| D．The cows have the digestive problem. |
| A．Harmless. | B．Useful. |
| C．Rare. | D．Inexpensive. |
| A．They can’t afford the rising costs. |
| B．They will raise fewer cows. |
| C．They can’t increase milking efficiency. |
| D．They will face a heavier burden. |
| A．Climate Change: Cow Burping Is to Blame |
| B．Methane Gas: The Fight Against It Is Serious |
| C．Global Warming: New Zealand Targets Cow Burps |
| D．Cow Burping: Scientists Look for Ways to Stop It |
【推荐3】These days a green building means more than just the color of the paint. Green buildings can also refer to environmentally friendly houses, factories, and offices.
Green building means “reducing the effect of the building on the land”, Taryn Holowka of the U.S. Green Building Council(评议会) in Washington, D.C., said. According to Holowka, building accounts for 65 percent of total U.S. electricity use.
But green buildings can reduce energy and water use. Also, the buildings are often located near public transportation such as buses and subways, so that people can drive their cars less. That could be good for the environment, because cars use lots of gas and give off pollution. Green buildings are often built on developed land, so that the buildings don’t destroy forests.
Marty Dettling is project manager for a building that puts these ideas into action. The Solaire has been called the country’s first green high-rise building. According to Dettling, “We’ve reduced our energy use by one-third and our water by 50 percent.”
The Solaire cuts energy in part by using solar power. “On the face of the building we have solar panels(光板) which change the sun’s energy into electricity,”Dettling explained.
The Solaire also has lights that automatically turn off when people leave the room. In addition, the building has lots of windows, allowing people to use the sun for light during the day. The Solaire cuts water by reusing it.
Not everyone is eager to move into a green building, however. Some people think that things like solar panels cost more money than more traditional energy sources. Anyhow, Holowka said, “It’s going to be big.”
1. A green building means ________.| A．a building that uses no electricity |
| B．a building that saves energy and water |
| C．a building occupying less land |
| D．a green-colored building |
| A．which has already been for buildings |
| B．which has thick forests around |
| C．where people of high income live |
| D．where traveling around by car is most convenient |
| A．will be more comfortable |
| B．will be more environmentally friendly |
| C．will become popular in future |
| D．will take the place of traditional buildings |
| A．Dettling designed the first green building in the U.S. |
| B．Energy shortage calls for buildings of new design. |
| C．The Solaire serves as a model of high buildings. |
| D．Green buildings help save the environment. |
【推荐1】Once again, China has conquered the world’s highest peak, Mount Qomolangma, on May 4th, 2022. Thirteen members of the Chinese Earth Summit Mission 2022 scientific expedition (探险) team successfully established an automatic weather station at an altitude of over 8800 meters, the world’s highest of its kind, on Mount Qomolangma on the China-Nepal border, achieving the milestone task of the country’s second comprehensive survey to the roof of the world.
To finish this mission, Yao Tandong, a leader of the expedition, said they have organized a massive party consisting of 16 teams and over 270 researchers, some of whom trained for over two years for the project. Now they have set up eight stations from 5200 meters to 8800 meters on Mount Qomolangma, with four stations higher than 7000 meters respectively at 7028 meters, 7790 meters, 8300 meters and 8800 meters. These weather stations at different altitudes mainly monitor the temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, wind speed, pressure and radiation changes in the region, and can realize real-time remote transmission (传输) of data.
Conventional weather observations are generally below 5000 meters and rarely above 5000 meters, and such high-altitude weather observations are scarce at the moment, Zhao Huabiao, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, said. “The reason for building a weather station at 8800 meters instead of 8848 meters is that the snow and ice on the summit are not suitable for fixing equipment, and in this regard, the weather station was built on bedrock around 8800 meters which is easier,” said Zhao.
The team reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma and used high-accuracy radar to measure the thickness of ice and snow, and collected samples for further research. Kang Shichang, a researcher of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said studying the changes to the glacier aims to clarify the impact of global warming, which is beneficial to mounting a global response to climate change. “Through the study of glacier changes and glacier air pollutants, we can see the impact of global and regional human activities in the Qomolangma area,” Kang said.
1. What do we know about the expedition team?| A．They built the world’s highest automatic weather station. |
| B．They found the quickest way to reach Mount Qomolangma. |
| C．They conducted an experiment successfully on the world’s highest peak. |
| D．They became the first Chinese team to do research on Mount Qomolangma. |
| A．The importance of real-time data transmission. |
| B．The tough environment of Mount Qomolangma. |
| C．The difficulty of monitoring weather conditions. |
| D．The challenging task of the scientific expedition. |
| A．To reduce the effect of strong winds. |
| B．To keep away from tough bedrocks. |
| C．To fix equipment more conveniently. |
| D．To predict the weather more accurately. |
| A．Its characteristics. | B．Its value of research. |
| C．Its formation process. | D．Its impact on climate change. |
【推荐2】As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, one of Greenland’s previously most stable glaciers is now reducing at an unheard-of rate, according to a new study.
The study was led by researchers at The Ohio State University. The team found the truth. Between 2018 and 2021, Steenstrup Glacier in Greenland reduced about 5 miles, thinned by about 20% and doubled in the amount of ice that went into the ocean. According to the study, such a rapid change is so extraordinary among Greenland’s ice formations that it now places Steenstrup Glacier in the top 10% of glaciers that contribute to the entire region’s total ice discharge.
Steenstrup Glacier is part of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a body of ice that covers nearly 80% of the world’s largest island, which is also the single largest contributor to the global sea rise from the cryosphere (冰冻圈), the portion of Earth’s ecosystem that includes all of its frozen water. While the region plays a crucial part in balancing the global climate system, the area is steadily reducing as it loses hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year because of global warming.
As far as scientists knew, Steenstrup Glacier had been stable for decades. It was hardly influenced by the rising temperatures that had influenced so many other regional glaciers, likely because of its special position in shallow water. It wasn’t until Thomas Chudley, lead author of the study, and his colleagues collected observational and modeling data from previous remote sensing analyses on the glacier that the team realized Steenstrup Glacier was likely experiencing melting due to anomalies (反常现象) in deeper Atlantic water.
According to Chudley, the current situation in Greenland serves as an early warning sign for possible future events in West Antarctica within the next few centuries. He also expressed the importance of conducting direct observations in the fjord to understand the reasons behind the changes observed in Steenstrup Glacier.
1. Why does the author mention the figures in paragraph 2?| A．To count the number of global glaciers. |
| B．To show the severity of melting glaciers. |
| C．To tell people the percentage of glacier water. |
| D．To stress the consequence of global warming. |
| A．Its location. | B．Its content. | C．Its sort. | D．Its big coverage. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Concerned. | C．Disappointed. | D．Confident. |
| A．A once-stable glacier in Greenland is now rapidly disappearing. |
| B．The Steenstrup Glacier is the largest contributor to the global sea rise. |
| C．Researchers try to enter Greenland to observe how it has changed. |
| D．Glaciers play a crucial part in balancing the global climate system. |
【推荐3】A huge block of ice has collapsed from the Marmelada mountain in Daly, leaving at least 5 dead and 10 wounded. All the mountain rescue stations in the area have been activated and the injured have been hospitalized in several hospitals, the national Rai TV reported, citing the Alpine Rescue.
“This summer risks being the perfect storm for glaciers(冰川),” said Ginvanni Baccolo. He is an environmental scientist and glacier expert at Milan-Bicocca University. Baccolo noted a lack of winter snow and a hot start to the summer affecting glaciers. “Nobody could have expected a glacier like the Marmolada to react like this,” he told Reuters. Temperatures on the normally freezing Marmolada reached 10 degrees Celsius on Saturday, Veneto area governor Luca Zaia said.
In fact, Italy has experienced early and severe summer heat. Glaciers in Europe’s Alpine Mountains, including the Dolomite Mountains, are becoming more unstable and dangerous because of rising temperatures linked to climate change.
“High altitude glaciers such as the Marmolada are often steep(陡峭的) and relying on cold temperatures below zero degrees Celsius to keep them stable.”said Poul Christoffersen. He is a professor at the University of Cambridge who studies glaciers. Christoffersen said that climate change melts more water, which releases heat that warms up the ice if the water re -freezes. He added that a worse effect would be the lifting of the glacier forn the rock below, causing a sudden unstable collapse.
Baccolo made suggestions to the climbers heading into the mountains to escape the summer heat. “The invitation I want to make to those who go to the high mountains this summer is to use much more carefulness,” he said. “The problem is that it may no longer be enough to read the signs from the glacier that have been read so far,” he added.
1. What does the author want to show by mentioning the glacier accident?| A．Mountain glaciers melt easily. | B．Accidents can happen anywhere. |
| C．High temperature affects glaciers. | D．It is dangerous to hike near glaciers. |
| A．Ice becomes water. | B．Frozen ice gets highter. |
| C．Ice in high location shrinks. | D．Glaciers separate from rocks. |
| A．More signs should be put up. | B．Climbers can never be too careful. |
| C．Summer is not suitable for climbing. | D．Climbers shouldn’t try steep mountains. |
| A．Italy Experiences Severe Summer |
| B．Global Warming Brings Threat to Tourism |
| C．Glacier Collapse Adds to Difficulty in Rescue |
| D．Rising Temperature Awakens Alpine Glaciers |
