Each winter, an army of ice, fishermen move onto frozen (结冰的) lakes. After digging a hole, through the ice, they all hope to land a tasty dinner. But within just a decade, many dozens of northern lakes are no longer frozen all winter long. That number may jump to thousands within 70 years.
When lakes warm too much, things then worsen in summer. “At sea and on land，many species respond to warming environments by moving to cooler ones,” says R. Iestyn Woolway. He’s a scientist. He says, “In lakes, the only place is deeper, cooler water. However, deeper water is often oxygen-poor.” Soon, he worries, lakes may warm to a situation where there is nowhere for the fish to go.
To find out when this is likely to happen, his team used a computer to model the likely influences of summer heat on 702 lakes throughout a 200-year span, starting from 1901. According to the model, the average (平均的) temperature of lake heatwaves (酷热期) will increase about 3.7 to 5.4 degrees Celsius. And such lake heatwaves will last more than three months by 2099. In 1901, the average was only one week.
That may make the water more comfortable for people to swim in, but many fish and other creatures won’t like it. As water temperatures rise, the number of species will decrease greatly, Woolway says. Weather patterns also will change. That will lead to increased rainfall in some regions and changes of local air temperatures in others, he adds.
Gretchen Hansen is a fisheries ecologist. She points out that each study is important in under-standing how warming lakes are likely to affect fish and other water creatures. “We should be working hard to protect lakes for fish communities and drinking water,” she says. To achieve that, she argues, “We should do everything we can to move towards a CO2-free economy within the next decade.”
1. What will happen to northern lakes in the near future?| A．They will be polluted by garbage. |
| B．They will become ice-free in winter. |
| C．They will dry up due to climate change. |
| D．They will be covered with thick ice and snow. |
| A．It may cause species to fight with each other. |
| B．It can lead to overfishing in northern lakes. |
| C．It will change summer into a hotter season. |
| D．It may make fish unable to survive. |
| A．Lake heatwaves are likely to be more serious. |
| B．Global lakes will be influenced by summer heat. |
| C．Lake heatwaves can only be noticed during a long time. |
| D．Human activities play a role in increasing lake temperatures. |
| A．The difficulty in dealing with climate change. |
| B．The ways of reducing water temperatures. |
| C．The influences of warming water. |
| D．The causes of natural disasters. |
相似题推荐
In a fast-paced world, where stress and mental tiredness seem commonplace, we’re constantly looking for new ways to unwind. People may carry out a variety of activities to help them relax. But what about the birdsongs or other nature sounds? Could they also help people to let go of the tensions of modern life?
According to a study by King’s College London in 2022, seeing or hearing birds could help to boost the mental wellbeing of people. Taking a trip to places rich in birdlife like parks, forests and canals and encountering birds singing to each other in the trees could even help to treat some mental health conditions. And it’s not just birds that could have a curative effect on our moods. Another study conducted by the National Trust compared the effects of woodland sounds with voiced meditation (冥想) apps. The study found listening to birdsong as well as other woodland sounds like leaves crunching underfoot or the gentle flow of a stream boosted feelings of relaxation 30% more than the apps do. Other sounds which may help to cool people down are waves lapping on the shore, gentle wind, and light rainfall.
However, not all of us live in rural surroundings, and depending on where we live, a trip to the countryside to see birds may not be an option. But could the nature sounds that originate there still help you? According to research by California Polytechnic State University, even a recording of the sounds of birds had a profound effect on people’s mood, while other studies saw people listening to soundscapes of the coast and forests with similar outcomes to their wellbeing.
So, wherever you live, you can access the wonderful sounds of birds and nature during a stroll through a wood or via some headphones. And maybe listening to the chirps, trills, warbles and whistles of some birds could help you to relax after a long, hard day.
1. What did the study by King’s College London in 2022 find?2. How did the National Trust conduct the study?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
According to the passage, birds singing, voiced meditation apps and the recording of the sounds of nature have the same effect on people’s mood.
4. Besides what is mentioned in the passage, what do you usually do to help you relax in your daily life? (In about 40 words)
【推荐2】"Creativity is the key to a brighter future, "say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think of as great importance: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.
Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.
Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can't recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.
It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it' choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.
1. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?| A．It should encourage people to work a longer time. |
| B．People should be discouraged to think freely. |
| C．People will do better if they spend most of their working time developing new ideas. |
| D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time considering and developing new ideas. |
| A．something that most people are born with |
| B．something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all |
| C．a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems |
| D．something that is not important to the life in the future at all |
| A．They don't attach importance to creativity education. |
| B．They don't want their students to make mistakes. |
| C．They pay no attention to examination marks. |
| D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class. |
| A．Allow them to have a try. |
| B．Try to help them as much as possible. |
| C．Take no notice of whatever they do. |
| D．Order them to spend the least money. |
【推荐3】Never Think You’re Too Old to Become a Beginner
As we head into a new year, there is one thing from the outgoing disastrous year we should carry forward and even deepen: the spirit of the beginner.
Many people, in the face of such disorder, decided that they wanted to learn new things. But there’s a warning: The older you are, the harder you’re going to have to work. There’s a happy twist (扭转), however:
How, then, to prepare ourselves to become better beginners? We can draw crucial guidance from a group of research subjects:
For adults, the lessons are clear.
Babies also remind us that progress is often not a straight process. Babies seem to learn best when operating near the limits of their current skill level. In other words:
| A．None of this is easy |
| B．Babies learning to walk |
| C．One problem is that skills take time |
| D．Adults who have great achievements |
| E．The more older adults have experienced |
| F．The more learning that older adults take on |
| G．Always be at the edge of what you can’t currently do |
【推荐1】In 1960, at just 26 years old. Jane Goodall was chosen to go to what is now Tanzania and study the little-known world of chimpanzees. Since then, She has received many awards and honorary degrees and become the model of some young girls.
But before Goodall was a world-renowned conservationist, she was just a kid who liked animals. She was born loving animals so people gave her diverse animal toys. Now, Goodall has received an unusual honor. She is becoming a toy — a Barbie doll with little girly clothes.
Goodall may not have expected to become a Barbie at 88 years old — but it’s not just any doll, it’s made out of recycled plastic. And the Barbie is partnering with the Jane Goodall Foundation and her Roots & Shoots program, which inspires young people to protect others, animals and the environment. The main message is “every day you live, you make an impact on the planet and you get to choose what sort of impact you make.”
Once Goodall had given a talk about protecting the world in Burundi school and a little boy of 7 came up to her and said, “If I pick out a piece of trash every day, it will make a difference, won’t it?” She said, “Yes, it will. And suppose you persuade 10 of your friends to pick up the rubbish every day.” He said, “Oh, that’s it. They could all get 10 of their friends!”
Goodall has been inspiring young people for decades, but now, newer generations will get to know Jane Goodall. “I sincerely hope that the Barbie will help kids to create more interest and fascination (吸引) in the natural world,” she said. “It doesn’t really matter if they have a career in conservation, as long as they live conservation in their daily lives.”
1. What gets young girls interested in Jane Goodall?| A．The Jane Goodall Barbie doll. |
| B．Jane Goodall’s childhood experience. |
| C．Her work with the chimpanzees. |
| D．Her research into environmental pollution. |
| A．Partnering with Jane’s Foundation. |
| B．Supporting young people in trouble. |
| C．Producing toys out of recycled plastic. |
| D．Encouraging kids to protect the planet. |
| A．People should make many friends. |
| B．Every effort can make a difference. |
| C．Everyone has a potential to succeed. |
| D．Rubbish should be dealt with regularly. |
| A．Jane Goodall is strange to new generations. |
| B．Barbie dolls will be popular in the toy market. |
| C．The spirit of Jane Goodall will inspire more people. |
| D．Conservation of nature will be the most popular career. |
【推荐2】To understand the effect of ice melting around the world we first have to understand what an ice sheet actually is. Covering 5.4 million square miles in Antarctica and 656,000 square miles in Greenland (our two remaining ice sheets today), an ice sheet is actually a huge land of ice from the Ice Age. These sheets, over thousands of years, form by snow changing into ice over the winter, which doesn’t entirely melt during the summer. This ice, home to different species of animals, is now melting at a rate that cannot support the life it currently holds.
Many of these creatures rely on ice sheets as land for resting, hunting and protection, yet as the size decreases, they are forced out of their homeland in search of other land on which to live. Often this means journeys to search for food and an imbalanced ecosystem arises when different species are forced together onto the coast.
Since the 1990s, the deer population has dropped by 56 per cent—climate change has caused warmer temperatures over winter setting off rainfall instead of snow, which freezes more quickly underfoot and makes it harder to walk and search for food. In the summer, frozen layers of land melts and releases trapped diseases which bring death to animals. A similar situation has fallen on the polar bears who suffered a 40 per cent population loss between 2001-2010.
Quite apart from these problems, the threat of sea levels rising if the ice caps were to disappear is approaching. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, the sea level would rise around six meters, and if the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, sea levels would rise by around 20 feet. As a matter of fact, sea levels have risen about eight inches since 1880, three of which we’ve gained over the last 25 years. This seemingly small amount has already caused dangerous flooding, loss of farmland and more deadly storms.
While we’re still a long way from losing the ice sheets all together, we’ve already lost too much for many ecosystems and humans to reasonably survive under, and if we don’t take climate change seriously now, we will certainly hit the point of no return.
1. What is an ice sheet according to the passage?| A．It is an area where ice never melts in summer. |
| B．It is a land of ice that covers all Greenland. |
| C．It is a large area of ice that exists for centuries. |
| D．It is an ice world for animals used to cold. |
| A．It makes it easier to travel to other land. |
| B．It increases the population of sea animals. |
| C．It makes their surroundings more comfortable. |
| D．It causes hunger and illness among animals. |
| A．Ice Sheet will soon disappear from the Earth. |
| B．Sea levels are rising faster in recent years. |
| C．Greenland will be the first to lose all its ice. |
| D．All natural disasters happen due to sea level rise. |
| A．Effect of Melting Ice Sheets | B．Ice, Sea and Animals |
| C．Greenland and Antarctica | D．Changes of Sea Levels |
【推荐3】More than one billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. every year, and after they’ve been used for Halloween, millions of them will end up in a waste yard.
“Driving around after Halloween, you see so many pumpkins on top of their garbage cans. All of them will go to a waste yard and become methane gas(沼气),” says Kay McKeen, director of an environmental education organization based in Illinois.
Methane is a greenhouse gas. Compared to CO2, it warms the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time, which means it’s a most important cause of climate change. And waste yards—where we send as much as 40 percent of the food we produce—take up 14 percent of methane produced in the US every year.
That’s why, in 2014, McKeen began a collection event where local people can bring their waste pumpkins to 69 different locations to send them off to the bins, and—of course—smash them to pieces.
“It puts nutrients(营养) back in our soil, it saves water, it doesn’t make methane gas—it’s just a win-win,” says McKeen.
But not everyone has access to pumpkin smashing events, so we asked our newsletter readers how they reduce their pumpkin waste. The answers are various, ranging from baking sweet treats to bringing a pumpkin treat to farm animals.
1. What happens after Halloween?| A．A lot of pumpkins are thrown away. |
| B．People are busy cleaning up garbage. |
| C．It is the best time for pumpkin harvest. |
| D．People use pumpkins to make methane gas. |
| A．Pumpkins cause the climate change. |
| B．Illinois people waste half of their food. |
| C．Both methane and CO2 are greenhouse gases. |
| D．Methane is the only reason for climate change. |
| A．Burn. | B．Shake. | C．Break. | D．Press. |
| A．A letter. | B．A speech. | C．A news report. | D．A health report. |
【推荐1】A good education is an excellent way to land a successful career and develop your personality. But can education also have a positive effect on our brains as we get older? A team of researchers under the University Research Priority Program “Dynamics of Healthy Aging” led by Lutz Jäncke, professor of neuropsychology at the University of Zurich, has now explored this question in a long-term study.
The researchers followed more than 200 senior citizens for over seven years. The study participants are not affected by dementia(痴呆), have average to above-average intelligence and lead highly active social lives. Based on complex statistical analyses, the researchers were able to show that academic education had a positive effect on age-related brain degeneration (衰退).
The findings revealed that over the course of seven years, senior citizens with an academic background showed a significantly lower increase in typical signs of brain degeneration. “In addition, academics also processed information faster and more accurately—for example, when matching letters and numbers of patterns. The decline in their mental processing performance was lower overall,” summarizes Lutz Jäncke.
The findings add to initial findings of other research groups, who have found that education has a positive effect on brain aging. Previous studies also suggest that mental processing speed depends on the integrity(完整性) of neural networks in the brain. If these networks are affected, mental processing speed decreases.
“Even though no one can explain the causal link between education and reduced natural brain degeneration so far, the following at least seems likely: We suspect that a high level of education leads to an increase in neural and cognitive networks over the course of people’s lives, and that they build up reserves, so to speak. In old age, their brains are then better able to make up for any injury that occurs,” says neuropsychologist Lutz Jäncke.
1. From the first paragraph, we know a good education ________.| A．helps one get whatever he needs | B．changes one’s appearance |
| C．can ensure one’s physical health | D．contributes to one’s career success |
| A．Through data analyses. | B．By reasonable prediction. |
| C．Through doing experiments. | D．By referring to other studies. |
| A．Academics are not good at matching letters. |
| B．High academic level slows brain degeneration. |
| C．Academics experience fast brain degeneration. |
| D．Brain degeneration has no connection with education. |
| A．How a good education affects our brains. | B．What effects education has on our brains. |
| C．Why education positively affects our brains. | D．Whether education has a positive effect on our brains. |
【推荐2】School field trips have been part of the educational experience for children across the US for decades. While many schools believe there’s value in letting students develop socially with out-of-classroom experiences, measuring the influence and the value of field trips is difficult. And showing the value of out-of- class time can be challenging for teachers tasked with providing a good education.
As such, many art venues, science museums and zoos have reported drops in field trip attendance. Teachers and students have also reported falling numbers of school supported trips, particularly for minority students in academically low-performing schools.
But thanks to new research from Brigham Young University and the Heritage Foundation, the value of field trips is finally being understood. The study used an experimental design and randomly assigned fourth-and fifth-grade students from fifteen elementary schools in Atlanta to join in three field trips during a school year. The field trips included a trip to a gallery, a live theater performance and a symphony concert.
Students who attended three different field trips in the fourth or fifth grade scored higher on end-of-grade exams, received higher course grades, were absent less often and had fewer behavioral problems. Besides academic(学业的) improvements， students who took part in field trips were more likely to express a desire to have careerism related fields in the future. In parents’ opinion, they are very interested in the academic quality of their children’s schools, but they’re also interested in the social skills and social engagement habits they develop. Field trips are easy ways to help facilitate both.
“We expected that field trips wouldn’t harm test scores. However, we never predicted the all-around improvements for students who joined in these field trips,” said Eriekson, a researcher in the study. “One potential reason for this is that field trips widen students’ world concepts and introduce them to new ideas. Similarly, students might be more engaged in school thanks to field trips. Students find school more exciting and want to try harder in class.”
1. Why do the number of school field trips drop?| A．Teachers give students too many tasks. |
| B．Schools have great problems with money. |
| C．The value of field trips is hard to be measured. |
| D．Students have difficulty in academic learning. |
| A．Art. |
| B．Nature. |
| C．Sports. |
| D．Technology. |
| A．They have more interests. |
| B．They have more self-control. |
| C．They become more creative. |
| D．They become more expressive. |
| A．Doubtful. |
| B．Surprised. |
| C．Disappointed. |
| D．Negative. |
【推荐3】Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months (=lose 1 hour), and back again in the fall (=regain 1 hour), in order to make better use of natural daylight. So “spring forward, fall back” is one of the little sayings used to remember which way to set your watch.
In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of DST, which begins on the second Sunday of March each year and ends on the first Sunday of November. In 2021, Daylight Saving starts at 2 a.m. on March 14 and it will end at 2 a.m. on November 7. In other words, sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later on March 14 than the day before, meaning there will be more light in the evening.
Benjamin Franklin is often credited with first proposing daylight saving in his 1784 essay, An Economical Project. The idea wasn’t seriously considered, however, until more than a century later when William Willetts, a British builder, fiercely recommended it. The current DST format was proposed in New Zealand by entomologist (昆虫学家) George Hudson. In 1895, he recommended a two-hour time change because he wanted to have more daylight after work to go hunting for bugs in the summer.
Some studies show that DST could lead to fewer road accidents and injuries by supplying more daylight during the hours when more people use the roads. It is also used to reduce the amount of energy needed for lighting during the evening hours. However, other studies claim that people’s health might suffer due to DST changes.
Nearly every state in the U.S. observes DST, according to the Department of Transportation. However, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and most of Arizona do not.
1. Why is DST observed?| A．To save money. | B．To save time. |
| C．To take advantage of natural daylight. | D．To reduce traffic injuries. |
| A．4 a.m. | B．3 a.m. | C．2 a.m. | D．1 a.m. |
| A．Benjamin Franklin. | B．A British builder. |
| C．William Willetts. | D．A New Zealand entomologist. |
| A．To show the rules of Daylight Saving Time. |
| B．To introduce Daylight Saving Time in the USA. |
| C．To stress the importance of Daylight Saving Time. |
| D．To inform readers of the influence of Daylight Saving Time. |
