Marine life (海洋生物) in Florida Keys is negatively influenced by two forces: human activity and climate change. The former involves fishing, tourism and diving while the latter causes a large increase in intense hurricanes. Fortunately, when the researchers of Florida Museum of Natural History started looking for sea urchins (海胆) on the ocean floor off the coast of Florida Keys in the summer of 2020, they uncovered their population had relatively been stable since the 1960s.
The researchers visited 27 sites along a 20-mile stretch of coast near Florida Keys looking for tracks that reflected the presence of burrowing echinoids (穴居海胆类动物). “The findings that burrowing echinoids have been highly resilient (有适应力的) against climate change and environmental pollution over the last 60 years was a huge discovery for us.” said study co-author Tobias Grun.
Grun said, “However, we know little about their current distribution, population size, and health. The reason is not the lack of interest by the scientific community but lies in that fieldwork is very expensive.”
As the climate crisis progresses, it’s important to understand why some marine creatures are more resilient in bearing the impacts of a worsening environment than others. Grun said, “Evolution may be at play. Some marine animals are very opportunistic. They can tolerate a wide range of abiotic factors like pH, temperature, and salinity, to name a few.”
Grun added, “At this point, our data show that burrowing echinoids are more resilient than many other marine species and are doing comparatively well. That does not mean that we can push our luck and keep going the way we are right now. Our study provides some hope that these creatures are resilient, but much more work is needed to translate our findings into a larger scale. The reasons for their resilience are also widely unknown.”
1. Which has an effect on the marine life in Florida Keys?| A．Wildfire. | B．Pollution. | C．Fishing. | D．Flood. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Important. | C．Subjective. | D．Outdated |
| A．The goal. | B．The staff | C．The cost | D．The usage |
| A．It’s necessary to do further research. |
| B．It’s right to keep going the present way. |
| C．The reasons for sea urchins’ resilience are well known. |
| D．Fish are more resilient than other marine species. |
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【推荐1】You may have heard that bats are to blame for many disease outbreaks in recent years, including COVID-19 and SA RS. But how exactly does a disease spread from bats to humans? And with so many diseases coming from bats, you would think that bats would be sick all the time. It turns out this isn’t the case and it’s likely because of the way that bats’ immune (免疫)systems work.
Bats have very active immune systems to protect their cells from viruses. When a bat’s body notices a virus, a protein (蛋白质)is released (释放)that sends a signal to the bat’s cells to keep the virus out. In response, viruses reproduce very quickly to try to get into the cells before this immune reaction triggers (触发).Although the bats don’t get sick, these rapidly increasing viruses can jump to animals with slower immune systems and can quickly cause serious infections.
At the same time, bats are great disease carriers. Bats live in large crowded places—a perfect setting for viruses to spread. In addition, the average bat lives for around 30 years, which is a long time that an infected bat can spread the disease around its environment.
The question remains: Why are so many diseases spreading from bats to humans? Put simply, that problem may be on us. As the number of humans on Earth has increased, there are more chances for bats and humans to have contact with each other. People have taken over large areas of bats’ natural habitats due to urban development and the cutting down of trees. This leaves the bats with no choice but to live closer to us.
Even though bats can harbor dangerous diseases, we can’t blame them for getting us sick. It is only because of bats’ strong immune systems that they can carry such deadly illnesses. By studying bats, we may find ways to develop new treatments. However, the only way to do that is to protect the natural habitats of these extraordinary creatures.
1. What do viruses do when faced with the bat’s immune system?
| A．Release a protein. | B．Increase quickly. |
| C．Send a signal to cells. | D．Jump to other animals. |
| A．Larger areas taken over by bats as habitats. |
| B．The rising population of bats living on Earth. |
| C．The trees used to support urban development. |
| D．Increased contact between bats and humans. |
| A．Stopping bats from getting sick. |
| B．Protecting bats natural habitats. |
| C．Studying those who get sick from bats. |
| D．Strengthening the human immune system. |
【推荐2】A rat may seem like an unlikely candidate to receive a gold medal for bravery and devotion to duty. However, six-year-old African rat Magawa, which was honored with Britain’s highest animal award on September 25, 2020, is no ordinary rat. Over the past five years, the “HeroRAT” has saved hundreds of lives by detecting 39 landmines and 28 unexploded items in Cambodia.
Landmines were used during wars to protect important areas such as borders, camps or bridges and to restrict the movement of opposing armies. But it became extremely difficult to remove the explosives once the conflicts ended. Today, over 60 million people in 59 countries live in daily fear of landmines.
Magawa is one of hundreds of HeroRATs that have been trained by an animal charity in Belgium to detect landmines since the 1990s. The charity, which teaches the animals by rewarding them with tasty food each time they smell out a landmine and send signals to the handlers, says the intelligent rats are ideal for the dangerous job. They are easy to train, and more importantly, light enough not to set off the hidden explosives even if they mistakenly walk over them. The rats, which use their sharp smelling skills to identify the chemicals in landmines, are also more efficient than human-held metal detectors.
Magawa, which has been working in Cambodia since 2016, is the charity’s most successful HeroRAT. In addition to being accurate, it can screen an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes. This task would take a human with a metal detector up to 4 days! Over the past 4 years, the powerful animal has helped clear over 141,000 square meters of land, equal to 20 football fields.
Every discovery made by Magawa has reduced the risk of injury or death for local people. Hopefully, with brave detection animals like Magawa hard at work, the threats will soon be all removed.
1. What makes the rats the best choice for the dangerous job?| A．The rats’ weight and sense of smell. | B．The rats’ intelligence and experience. |
| C．The charity’s method of training the rats. | D．The delicious food for rewarding the rats. |
| A．Presenting the charity’s success. | B．Illustrating the rat’s natural talents. |
| C．Emphasizing the rat’s great efficiency. | D．Showing the inability of metal detectors. |
| A．Where Magawa is working now. | B．What the landmines were used for. |
| C．When Magawa began to be trained. | D．How the HeroRATs detect landmines. |
| A．Landmines are difficult to remove for human beings. |
| B．Rats are cleverer than humans at discovering dangers. |
| C．Landmines present deadly threat to Cambodian people. |
| D．A rat receives a gold medal for its life-saving contributions. |
【推荐3】Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, is home to some of the world’s most exciting and unique animals. Recently, scientists have discovered a tiny chameleon (变色龙) from Madagascar that may be the world’s smallest reptile! The chameleon is small enough to easily sit on a fingertip. Only two have ever been discovered-one male and one female.
The new kind of chameleon was discovered in Northern Madagascar’s rainforests by a team led by Dr. Frank Glaw from Germany. The tiny animals are being called nano-chameleons. The male nano-chameleon, which measures 2.2 centimeters from head to tail, is the smallest among all the world’s known reptile species. The female nano-chameleon is larger in comparison to the male, measuring about 2.9 centimeters.
Unlike most other chameleons, the nano-chameleons don’t have the ability to change their colors. But the skin of the nano-chameleons is a mixture of brown colors which blends in (协调) well with the leaves and grasses on the forest floor where they live. They also prefer to live on the rainforest floor, spending their days hunting and their nights hiding in the tall grass.
The scientists are not sure how the nano-chameleons became so small. In most cases, tiny size is considered as the “island rule,” where animals on small islands are likely to get smaller. However, the nano-chameleons were found in the high-altitude rainforests, which have enough space for animals to grow.
The nano-chameleons family tree further deepens the size mystery. “The closest relative of the new chameleon is also not the similarly tiny Brookesia micra, but instead the nearly twice as large as B. karchei, which exists in the same mountains,” says study co-author, Jorn Kobler.
The researchers, who were unable to find any more nano-chameleons, believe their habitat is most likely limited to just a few acres. If right, the animals are likely to be endangered. “Unfortunately, the habitat of the nano-chameleon is threatened by deforestation (森林砍伐), but the area has recently become a protected area, and hopefully that will enable this new chameleon to survive,” says biologist Oliver Hawlitschek.
1. What does the author want to show by mentioning “fingertip” in Paragraph 1?| A．The ability of the chameleon. | B．The shape of the chameleon. |
| C．The color of the chameleon. | D．The size of the chameleon. |
| A．They hunt mainly at night. | B．They do not change colors. |
| C．They do not live on the forest floor. | D．They come in several different colors. |
| A．Why the new chameleon is so small. |
| B．Why the new chameleon has special abilities |
| C．How the new chameleon left the small island. |
| D．How the new chameleon is different from its relatives. |
| A．The danger the new chameleon faces. |
| B．The environmental problems in Madagascar. |
| C．The unexpected survival of the new chameleon. |
| D．The influence of the new chameleon on Madagascar. |
【推荐1】What are two things that make humans different from animals? One is language and the other is music. It’s true that some animals can sing. However, the songs of animals like birds are very limited. It’s also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.
Music is a strange thing. It’s clearly distinct from language. However, people can use music to communicate things — especially their emotions. When music is combined (组合) with speech in a song, it’s a very powerful form of communication.
If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer, had a stroke (中风) in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand, sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech.
By studying the physical effects of music on the body, scientists have also learnt a lot about how music influences the emotions. But why does music have such a strong effect on us? That is a harder question to answer.
Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College, London, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires special talent, practice and physical ability. That’s why it may be a way of showing your fitness to be someone’s mate. For example, playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need a good memory to remember the notes. And playing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves, it may be a way of showing off.
However, Miller’s theory still doesn’t explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists, this is clearly an area that needs further research.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Music is a common language. | B．Humans are advanced animals. |
| C．Music is closely related to humans. | D．Animals can use music to communicate. |
| A．Different. | B．Direct. | C．Free. | D．Far. |
| A．Music is another form of language. |
| B．Music can inspire people’s creativity. |
| C．Gifted people have more opportunities to succeed. |
| D．’The brain processes music and language separately. |
| A．It was advanced at that time. | B．It made a valuable contribution. |
| C．It sill needs to be improved. | D．It will be confirmed by younger scientists. |
【推荐2】For much of history, biologists and behaviorists assumed that intelligence of species could be neatly organized into a hierarchy. Modern man was placed at the top, followed by other mammals (哺乳动物). Then came the birds, reptiles (爬行动物) and insects.
However, research suggests that intelligence is actually distributed in different ways across the animal kingdom. In the 1960s, a new generation of researchers pushed the rest of the academic community to define animal intelligence in looser terms. They thought the conventional definition of intelligence — something made up of both consciousness and the ability for abstract thought — was too particular to our own species. Because every animal followed a completely different evolutionary journey, intelligence should be measured in relative terms instead of absolute terms.
In the following decades, a variety of technologies that allow us to observe animals for longer periods of time without disturbing their normal routines revealed that animal behaviors are far more complex than many previous thoughts. In Melbourne, some remote controlled machines are helping researchers to better understand the breeding patterns of southern right whales. Meanwhile, they use the computer to learn to understand, track and predict the movements of organisms.
Regardless of our rapidly changing conception of animal intelligence, it is best recognized when the behavior of an animal is similar to our own behavior. For example, elephants, which are said to remember and return to the tomb sites of dead members of their herd. They also exhibit an unusual interest in the dead bodies of other elephants, signaling their attention to death and perhaps even realizing their own death.
As time passes, we are continuously amazed at the level of cognitive (认知的) complexity exhibited by animals. At times, their madness can be difficult to spot. Modern technology finally allows us to look with some precision. Though the search only got underway a few decades ago, we have already discovered more similarities between animals and ourselves than we previously expected.
1. What does the underlined word “hierarchy” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Rank. | B．Trend. | C．Form. | D．Campaign. |
| A．Abstract. | B．Inaccurate. | C．Unnoticed. | D．Complex. |
| A．To make a prediction. | B．To make an assumption. |
| C．To prove an exception. | D．To prove a viewpoint. |
| A．Human cognition. |
| B．Human intelligence. |
| C．The distribution of animal intelligence. |
| D．The species classification in the animal kingdom. |
【推荐3】While every dog owner knows their dogs can read their moods perfectly, scientists have always been a little doubtful. Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, we finally have some convincing evidence.
For this study, biologist Corson Miller and his team exposed eleven selected dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy. Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face, while the other half given their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.
Interestingly, the dogs were not provided with the entire face. Some dogs were shown only upper halves while the others observed lower halves. That's because the scientists believe humans show their eruptions on their entire face.
After some training on how to recognize small differences like the wrinkles between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions, the dogs were mostly able to identify the correct expression not only on a familiar face but on a strange face, the researchers concluded the dogs were smart enough to read human emotions.
They also found those being trained to read angry expressions took a longer time to learn. They guess it may be because dogs find angry faces disgusting, causing them to back away quickly. However, once the smart dogs realized they were getting rewarded, the trepidation seemed to disappear. In fact, the dogs had such a good time playing the computer "game"that scientists had a hard time keeping them away from the touch screens after the study was completed.
The researchers also noticed only dogs with a male owner had a harder time understanding the expressions correctly. Since the touched screen models were all females, this confirmed what has been observed in previous studies-dogs are more efficient at reading facial expressions of people that are the same gender as their owner.
1. How did the scientists conduct the experiment?| A．By mixing the selected dogs together. |
| B．By rewarding only half of the dogs touching the screen. |
| C．By leaving dogs to women who are either happy or angry. |
| D．By showing digital pictures of women's happy or angry faces. |
| A．fear and hesitation | B．curiosity and eagerness |
| C．excitement and happiness | D．doubt and uncertainty |
| A．are scared away at the male faces |
| B．are uninterested in telling the emotions on the entire faces |
| C．have difficulty telling the moods on the faces of males |
| D．can only recognize emotions on partial faces |
| A．Mood Changes Influence Dogs | B．Dogs Identify the Moods |
| C．Dogs and Their Owners | D．Dogs' Mood Research |
【推荐1】Most online fraud (诈骗) involves identity theft passwords help. But many can be guessed. Newer phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers often have strengthened security with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be imitated (模仿). That is why a new approach, behavioral biometrics (行为生物识别) is gaining ground.
It relies on the wealth of measurements made by today’s devices (设备). These include data from sensors that reveal how people hold their phones when using them, how they carry them and even the way they walk. Touchscreens, keyboards and mice can be monitored to show the distinctive ways in which someone’s fingers and hands move. These features can then be used to determine whether someone attempting to make a deal is likely to be the device’s habitual user.
“Behavioral biometrics make it possible to identify an individual’s unique motion fingerprint”, says John Whaley, head of Unifyid, a firm in Silicon Valley that is involved in the field. When coupled with information about a user’s finger pressure and speed on the touchscreen, as well as a device’s regular places of use—as revealed by its GPS unit—that user’s identity can be pretty well determined.
Used wisely, behavioral biometrics could be a great benefit. In fact, Unifyid and an unnamed car company are even developing a system that unlocks the doors of a vehicle once the pace of the driver, as measured by his phone, is recognized. Used unwisely, however, the system would become yet another electronic spy on people’s privacy, permitting complete strangers to monitor your every action, from the moment you reach for your phone in the morning, to when you throw it on the floor at night.
1. What is behavioral biometrics for?| A．To identify network crime. | B．To ensure network security. |
| C．To track online fraud. | D．To gather online data. |
| A．By offering and analyzing the operating system of devices. |
| B．By spotting and revealing a device’s regular places of use. |
| C．By restricting and detecting the access to an account of users. |
| D．By monitoring and comparing the ways users interact with devices. |
| A．Objective. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Health and wealth. | B．Books and arts. |
| C．Finance and economics. | D．Science and technology. |
【推荐2】Compared to saving the rainforests, or helping pandas to produce young, linguistic ecology (语言生态) might not seem very exciting. One language is becoming extinct every fortnight — so what？“Why should we care？”is a common reaction. Here are a few reasons why you should.
Identity: Many speakers of minority languages are fiercely proud of their language. Language forms an important part of anyone's identity. Nerys Jenkins in Belfast says, “Telling me not to speak Welsh would be like telling me not to breathe: I just couldn't do it.” To let someone's language die out is to let part of their identity die too.
Culture: Language is connected with culture — if a nation loses a language, it may also lose its links with a tradition of jokes, music and literature. Elizabeth MacDonald from Arisaig says Scottish Gaelic is “... our language, the most important part of an ancient culture which has somehow survived despite many persecutions (迫害) over the centuries. It is a culture rich in story, song and poetry, beloved of those familiar with it.”
Knowledge: Languages harbor all kinds of human knowledge — including useful biological or medical information that we might not find out about otherwise. In the Micmac language, for example, trees are named after the sound they make in the wind. The names change as the sounds change, so, if an elderly Micmac speaker remembers that a certain kind of tree used to have one name, but is now called something else, this can show the effects of acid rain on that species. Lose Micmac and you will lose that understanding.
Of the 6,000 or so languages in the world, more than half are expected to die within the next century, and many more are disappearing. It's estimated (估计) that two languages die out every month. It's easy to think of dying and extinct languages as just facts and figures, but behind every one, there are real people. The online Ethnologue database, for example, says of one Syrian language：“The last speaker died in 1998. His daughter knows Mlahsö well, but is nearly deaf and has no one to speak it to.”
1. What do Nerys Jenkins's words suggest?| A．He takes pride in his language. |
| B．He doesn't know other languages. |
| C．He can't find his identity in Wales. |
| D．He'll die if not allowed to speak Welsh. |
| A．It builds a nation's spirit. |
| B．It forms a nation's tradition. |
| C．It keeps people in touch with the classics. |
| D．It connects people from different nations. |
| A．Languages develop very fast. |
| B．The air pollution is getting worse. |
| C．The number of Micmac speakers is dropping. |
| D．People of different ages speak different languages. |
| A．Mlahsö is no longer in existence. |
| B．The extinction of languages matters little. |
| C．Languages die with the disappearance of facts. |
| D．Languages are disappearing at a surprising speed. |
【推荐3】In many aspects, nowadays business environment has changed greatly since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War completely altered the very nature of the world’s politics and economics. In just a few short years, globalization has started a variety of trends with profound consequences: the opening of markets, true global competition, widespread deregulation (解除政府对……的控制) of industry, and an abundance of accessible capital. We have experienced both the benefits and risks of a truly global economy, with both Wall street and Main street (平民百姓) feeling the pains of economic disorder half a world away.
At the same time, we have fully entered the information age, starting breakthroughs in information technology, which have irreversibly altered the ability to conduct business unconstrained by the traditional limitations of time or space. Today, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world without intranets(内联网), e-mail, and portable computers. With amazing speed, the Internet is profoundly changing the way we work, shop, do business, and communicate.
As a consequence, we have truly entered the post-industrial economy. We are rapidly shifting from an economy based on manufacturing and commodities to one that places the greatest value on information, services, support, and distribution. That shift, in turn, attaches great importance to “knowledge workers”, a new class of wealthy, educated, and mobile people who view themselves as free agents in a seller’s market.
Beyond the field of information technology, the increasing pace of technological change in virtually every industry has created entirely new business, wiped out others, and produced a great demand for continuous innovation (创新). New product, process, and distribution technologies provide powerful levers for creating competitive value. More companies are learning the importance of destructive technologies—innovations that hold the potential to make a product line, or even an entire business segment, virtually outdated.
Another major trend has been the consumer and business markets. There’s a growing appreciation that superficially similar groups of customers may have very different preferences in terms of what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. Now, new technology makes it easier, faster, and cheaper to identify and serve targeted micro-markets in ways that were physically impossible or prohibitively expensive in the past. Moreover, the trend feeds on itself—a business’s ability to serve sub-markets fuels customers’ appetites for more and more specialized offerings.
1. According to the first paragraph, the changes in the business environment in the past decades can be due to .| A．technological advances |
| B．worldwide economic disorder |
| C．the fierce competition in industry |
| D．the globalization of economy |
| A．The rapid development of information technology has taken businessmen by surprise. |
| B．The internet,intranets,e-mail,and portable computers have entered every corner of the world. |
| C．Information technology has removed the restrictions of time and space in business transactions. |
| D．The way we do business today has brought about startling breakthroughs in information technology. |
| A．it has to invest more capital in the training of free agents to operate in a seller’s market |
| B．it should try its best to satisfy the increasing demands of mobile knowledgeable people |
| C．it should not overlook the importance of information,services,support,and distribution |
| D．it has to provide each of its employees with the latest information about the changing market |
| A．demand a radical change in providing services |
| B．can eliminate an entire business |
| C．may destroy the potential of a company to make any profit |
| D．call for continuous improvement in ways of doing business |
