Wearing heavy cotton clothing, head protection and a device to help her breathe, Jessica Ball recently spent the night observing lava (岩浆) coming out of Hawaii’s Kilauca Volcano.
Ball is a researcher from the United States Geological Survey, the agency which studies the country’s land and natural resources. She was at “fissure 8”, one of at least 22 holes that have opened around the Kilauea Volcano in the past two months.
Rock from deep inside the volcano is so hot that it has become a liquid. The liquid, known as lava, began flowing from the openings in early May. At “fissure 8”, the lava shot up as high as 45 meters in the air before slowly heading for the Pacific Ocean a few kilometers away.
Scientists have been in the area of the volcanic activity measuring the eruptions 24 hours a day, seven days a week since Kilauea first erupted. The severe heat will melt (融化) any non-natural clothing materials, so the team members can only wear heavy cotton. Gloves protect their hands from sharp volcanic rock and glass. Head coverings protect against falling lava stones, and breathing devices protect against gases coming from the openings.
Kilauea has been erupting almost without stopping since 1983. It is one of the world’s most closely observed volcanoes. Most of these observations took place at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Kilauea’s highest point, from which researchers have now had to escape. But the latest eruption is the biggest and could provide scientists with a lot of new information.
Ball says they want to learn what warning signs may exist for future eruptions to better protect Hawaii’s communities.
Hundreds of small earthquakes caused by the eruptions have damaged the structure of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. So scientists pulled equipment and records out of the building and moved them to the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
1. Why do scientists wear heavy cotton clothes while observing the volcano?| A．They can bear severe heat. | B．They are natural and healthy. |
| C．They are comfortable to wear. | D．They can stop poisonous gases. |
| A．It lasts long. | B．It has wide influence. |
| C．It is closely observed. | D．It offers much information. |
| A．To prevent eruptions. | B．To predict eruptions. |
| C．To find the cause of eruptions. | D．To measure the power of eruptions. |
| A．The Hawaii Volcano Has Been Erupting | B．The Greatest Eruption Appears in Hawaii |
| C．Scientists Risk Heat and Gas to Study a Volcano | D．A rare Chance to Observe Volcano |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】The quick action of Nick helped five people escape a fire on Hope Road. Nick said he usually left his house about 5:30 a.m. to do morning exercises, but that day he decided to stay at home to get his daughter ready for school. As he looked at his neighbor’s house, he realized that it was on fire. “I saw smoke and flames and ran over and started beating on the side of the house shouting, ‘Your house is on fire! Your house is on fire!’” Nick remembered it was at about 9 a.m. that the firefighters put out the fire.
Beverly Penny and her husband, Clark, along with their younger daughters, were sleeping in the living room, next to the kitchen, when they heard Nick beating on the walls. She opened the bedroom door and black smoke came in. She managed to get her kids out. Her dog tried to hide under the bed, but Penny caught it by the leg and threw it out of the door. However, chickens in one of the rooms weren’t so lucky.
Firefighters got the call at about 7:05 a.m. “When we arrived with our fire trucks, there were heavy flames outside on the house,” Jerry said. He called Nick a hero, saying that without his quick responses(回应) the result could have been much worse. “The firefighters were fast,” Nick said. “They arrived here within about three minutes.”
“They did a great job, and I can’t thank them enough,” Penny said, then looked at what remained in the house and shook her head as tears rolled down in her eyes. “Everything I have is gone. Luckily nobody was hurt in the fire.” She said the fire could have been caused by an electrical problem. “We’ve been having problems with mice, so that we could have had something to do with it,” she added.
1. What do you know about Nick?| A．He left house at 5:30 am that day. |
| B．He has a son who goes to school. |
| C．He lives next to Beverly Penny. |
| D．He had a day off on Thursday. |
| A．Clark got hurt in the fire. |
| B．Penny’s dog saved her kids. |
| C．Penny’s dog was killed in the fire. |
| D．Penny’s chickens were killed in the fire. |
| A．At about 5:30 am. | B．At about 7 am. |
| C．At about 8 am. | D．At about 9 am. |
| A．Jerry is a firefighter |
| B．Jerry found the fire |
| C．Jerry called the police |
| D．Jerry helped Nick escape the fire |
| A．Her dog. | B．Her husband. |
| C．Her chickens. | D．Some mice. |
【推荐2】You may laugh it off if someone told you that extreme weather disasters were actually a child’s tricks. But El Nino, meaning ＂little boy＂ in Spanish, could be about to cause trouble.
A recent statement from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of a strong El Nino event that may be similar to the strongest in modern times. Scientists believe that evidence shows a more than 90 percent chance that it is coming – and it’s going to be big. ＂If this lives up to its potential, this thing can bring a lot of floods, mudslides (泥石流), and trouble,＂ said Bill Patzert, a NASA scientist.
El Nino is a climate event occurring in the Pacific Ocean. The wind usually blows strongly from east to west due to the rotation (旋转) of the Earth. This causes water to pile up in the Western Pacific and pulls up colder water from the bottom in the eastern part. However, in El Nino years, the winds pushing the water get weaker and cause the warmer water to shift back toward the east. This warms the ocean as it travels before finally reaching the shores of North and South America. In an El Nino event, the waters of the eastern Pacific can be up to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than usual.
Most El Ninos last from 9 to 12 months and their effects are felt around December. They don’t happen every year though, usually between every two to seven years.
Last seen in 1997-98, El Nino caused severe droughts in Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as deadly floods in Peru and Ecuador. The world also heats up during an ElNino – 1998 became the warmest year on record at the time. If the current trend continues, 2015 is almost certainly to become the hottest year yet again.
A strong El Nino also affects hurricane seasons around the planet. The warmer the Eastern Pacific is, the more hurricanes it gets. The Western Pacific, on the other hand, tends to see more and stronger typhoons.
The weather isn’t the only thing that’s affected. Warmer surface waters in the Eastern Pacific make the cold-water fish swim away and damage the fishing industry in much of Latin America.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．El Nino and its harmful effects. | B．Extreme weather disasters ever. |
| C．The hottest years ever in history. | D．The strongest El Nino in history. |
| A．It results from hurricanes or typhoons in the oceans. |
| B．It happens every two years and last about half a year. |
| C．It is a weather phenomenon occurring in the Atlantic. |
| D．It can cause extreme weather, such as floods and droughts. |
| A．the wind blows so strongly that it causes the water to pile up |
| B．the fishing industry in much of Latin America is likely to suffer |
| C．the more typhoons it experiences, the warmer the Western Pacific is |
| D．the surface water in the Eastern Pacific usually gets colder than ever |
| A．a little Spanish child’s trick |
| B．the natural rotating of the Earth |
| C．an American expert’s prediction |
| D．the weaker winds in the Pacific |
【推荐3】Extreme heat often brings extreme wildfires, and this year is no exception, with heat waves fueling giant outbreaks of fires in the western United States and Canada, as well as across the Mediterranean and in Siberia. However, the wildfires can have the opposite effect on temperatures, cooling Earth's surface regionally and globally.
Thick wildfire smoke can temporarily block sunlight near the ground, causing regional temperatures to drop by several degrees. Wildfire smoke can also have global cooling effects by making clouds in the lower atmosphere more reflective or blocking sunlight in the upper atmosphere, similar to what a volcanic eruption does.
Scientists have only recently begun studying these effects, with Australia's record 2019-2020 bushfire season marking the first time researchers detected wildfire smoke-caused global cooling. The effect is far too small to balance human-caused global warming, but beyond that, researchers say it's too early to predict what it means for the broader climate system. But with fire seasons growing severer around the world and this summer witnessing much extreme fire weather in North America and elsewhere, the search for answers is growing increasingly urgent.
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research reported that those Australian fires poured so much smoke into the Southern Hemisphere's atmosphere which caused a “strong and rapid” global cooling effect of about 0.06℃ (0.01°F). According to the lead study author John Fasullo, this was largely due to how smoke particles interact with clouds in the lower atmosphere.
While Fasullo's research highlights the cooling effects of smoke in the lower atmosphere, on occasion, wildfire smoke rushes into the higher atmosphere. There, it can have additional effects on the climate, which is something that is poorly known. “We might still be in the initial stage of understanding how large and how important the effects of these wildfires are,” says Sergey Khaykin, a fire weather expert at Sorbonne University in France.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?| A．Wildfire breaks out more often now. | B．Wildfire smoke cools Earth's surface. |
| C．Regional temperatures increase due to wildfire. | D．Volcanic eruption affects the upper atmosphere. |
| A．They are too small to be noticed. | B．They can be accurately predicted |
| C．They deserve an in-depth study. | D．They can improve the global climate. |
| A．By giving an example. | B．By listing figures. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing an experiment. |
| A．Climate change is in need of a global solution. |
| B．The higher wildfire smoke rushes, the cooler it gets. |
| C．Weather experts are satisfied with Fasullo's research. |
| D．The influence of wildfires needs to be explored further. |
【推荐1】After eight years of construction, the Padma Multipurpose Bridge in Bangladesh opened to the public on June 26, reducing travel time from parts of the southwest of the country to the capital Dhaka from seven to eight hours to as little as just 10 minutes.
The 21.5-meter-wide, 6.15-kilometer-long bridge built over the Padma River, the main branch of the Ganges, has two levels with the upper tier having a four-lane highway and the lower tier a single-track railway, according to Wuhan-based China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, or MBEC, one of China’s biggest bridge makers. Before that, travelers and goods were transported via boat or ship because of the vast width and fast-flowing nature of the river, and the tendency of the area to flood.
In 2014, the Bangladeshi government awarded MBEC a $1.54-billion contract to build the core structure of the bridge, making it the country’s largest infrastructure(基础建设) project as well as the largest foreign bridge project undertaken by Chinese companies in terms of total cost.
“The construction was much harder than expected as the complex geological conditions brought multiple challenges to us,” said Shen Tao, deputy general manager of the project. “The bridge is located above a river with banks on loose soil, and downpours in the rainy season often caused flooding, bringing us numerous difficulties we had never experienced before.” “During the construction, we had to adjust the design plan to adapt to environmental changes whenever necessary,” he added.
“However, through continuous learning and adaptation, construction teams have greatly improved their abilities including technology, communication and adaptability.” said Wen Wusong, chairman of MBEC. “They demonstrated the strength of China’s road bridge construction to the whole world and the bridge is a model of international cooperation.”
Over the past eight years, the project has created over 50,000 jobs for local residents, according to MBEC.
1. What do we know about the bridge?| A．It is over the Ganges. |
| B．It is across the Padma River. |
| C．The upper tier has a single-track railway. |
| D．The lower tier has a four-lane highway. |
| A．Costs of building the bridge. |
| B．Features of the newly-built bridge. |
| C．Benefits the bridge can bring about. |
| D．Difficulties in constructing the bridge. |
| A．Measured | B．Adapted. | C．Showed. | D．Preserved. |
| A．China-made bridge opens in Bangladesh |
| B．Eight years of China’s constructing a bridge in Bangladesh |
| C．Constructing a bridge creates over 50,000 jobs in Bangladesh |
| D．Bangladeshi government awards MBEC $1.54-billion contract |
【推荐2】When rescuers were called to rescue a “little owl”, they did not expect to find one that was too fat to fly. A concerned citizen first spotted the poor bird lying helplessly. Even Rufus Samkin, whose team then took the team in on Jan.3, believed the bird to be injured. There were no wounds to be found, however, causing experts to believe the female owl was simply too wet to fly.
But it was only after a thorough drying-off and complete checkup that they noted the real issue. The rescuers weighed the owl and concluded that she was “simply extremely obese” and couldn’t take off. This additional weight left her unable to fly, though experts began to wonder how she got so fat in the first place. Because it’s rather unusual for wild birds to reach such a state, they decided to keep her a few weeks and monitor her.
In the end, the rescuers assessed that it was simply a case of “natural obesity”. December 2019 was quite warm, which meant that there were many insects for the bird to feast upon. Indeed, the owl was discovered in a field that was “filled with field mice” due to the usual climate. “It’s been very mild here, and the owl is able to find foods easily,” Samkin explained. With the sudden food, “she absolutely ate much and got very fat. She had a lovely time, but went too far.”
The researchers consequently put the owl on a “strict diet” so she could shrink to a more “natural weight”. She was even put on a bit of exercise and encouraged to fly around. In the end, the bird was sent flying gracefully off into the British countryside at a much healthier and happier weight. Hopefully, this owl won’t come upon another feast of field mice—unless she wants another few weeks at the fat camp.
1. What did people think happened to the owl at first?| A．She was hurt. | B．She was trapped. |
| C．She was hungry. | D．She was wet. |
| A．She needed a thorough checkup. | B．She should be given a drying-off. |
| C．She was completed overweight. | D．She was simply extremely strong. |
| A．The especially warm weather. | B．The reducing number of insects. |
| C．The rich fields growing crops. | D．The lovely time the bird enjoyed. |
| A．Going on a diet and exercising. | B．Flying in the British countryside. |
| C．Visiting that fat camp again. | D．Enjoying her wonderful feast freely. |
【推荐3】China’s second female astronaut to enter space delivered a lecture to more than 60 million students across the country on Thursday, while aboard the Tiangong-1 space module (舱) 340 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, in the first attempt at this kind of lecture by a Chinese astronaut.
Wang Yaping, one of the three crew members in the Shenzhou-X class spacecraft, delivered the lecture through a 40-minute live video broadcast, nine days after the successful spacecraft launch.
Assisted by the other two astronauts Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, Wang showed students how movement occurs in a zero-gravity environment through a series of physics experiments to help students understand basic physics concepts. Observers say the creative lecture is not only good for science and patriotic W1 education of the younger generation but also shows national confidence in China’s maturing (成熟) W2 space technologies.
Via the video feed system, the three astronauts interacted with some 300 curious students in Beijing on Thursday after the lecture, who raised questions about their daily life in the space module.
“I’m extremely excited to see the magical effects of the experiments. I feel like I’m close to space while watching the live broadcast,” a primary school student in Beijing told the Global Times after the lecture. The lecture became one of the most popular topics on Weibo Thursday, with some Web users saying this visually W3 impressive method of education has made them interested in space science.
The lecture also drew international attention. After the lecture, Wang replied to a letter of greeting from Barbara Morgan, a female US astronaut who participated in a space teaching program in 2007. “We would like to join the effort, as you have done, to bring science-loving youth around the world closer to their dreams of exploring the universe,” Wang said in the reply, Xinhua reported.
1. What do we learn about Wang Yaping?| A．She did the experiment on her own. |
| B．She holds the lecture only to amuse the students. |
| C．She is the only person who participated in the lecture. |
| D．She did the experiment in an environment without gravity. |
| A．Data. | B．Idea. | C．Tissue. | D．Signal. |
| A．Educational but boring. | B．Creative but impractical. |
| C．Interesting and educational. | D．Impressive and intelligent. |
| A．Wang Yaping’s space class | B．China’s outstanding astronauts |
| C．The Shenzhou-X class spacecraft | D．The global effect of China’s space exploration |
