Deforestation in tropical (热带的) regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas has reduced the cooling effects of trees. “The temperature change associated with deforestation over the 15-year study period is equal to a century of global warming, happening almost instantly, at these locations,” says Luke Parsons at Duke University in North Carolina.
Now, by using data from population surveys and mapping tree cover loss over a 15-year period, Parsons and his colleagues have estimated the effect of deforestation on outdoor workers across 41 countries. He says climate change has already pushed tropical locations right to the edge of what would be considered safe for heavy outdoor labour and that deforestation causes those locations to be even more precarious.
Parsons and his colleagues used land surface temperature measurements from satellites, and collected humidity (湿度) data, to estimate how hot an average day felt to outdoor workers in regions which either lost or maintained tree cover between 2003 and 2018. “The study focuses on what you would think of as a ‘feels-like’ temperature. It takes into account how well you can cool yourself by sweating, which is affected by humidity, as well as the temperature,” says Parsons.
The researchers then turned to population surveys to estimate the number of outdoor workers in these areas. This revealed that some 2.5 million outdoor workers in Asia lost at least half an hour of safe work per day, between 2003 and 2018, due to increased temperatures in deforested regions. Nearly 200,000 outdoor workers in the Americas and some 31,000 people in Africa lost this amount of safe work time each day. Regions that maintained forest cover generally stayed cool, and less work time was lost.
It is important to remember that, due to the scale (规模) of the study, the team didn’t measure actual worker hours on the ground across the entire tropics, says Parsons. This means the assessment of lost worker hours is based on theoretical considerations rather than direct observations of behaviour.
1. Why does Parsons make a comparison at the beginning?| A．To explain the causes of global warming. | B．To state the challenges of tropical regions. |
| C．To show the consequence of deforestation. | D．To emphasize the high rate of deforestation. |
| A．Poor. | B．Unsafe. | C．Destructive. | D．Inaccessible. |
| A．It hit places in Asia the hardest. | B．It was more common in tropical areas. |
| C．It affected daily lives severely. | D．It decreased safe outdoor working hours. |
| A．It is just proven true in theory. | B．It ignores regional variations. |
| C．It lacks systematic assessment. | D．It is based on a random sample. |
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【推荐1】The tons of plastic we’re dumping in the oceans is finding a new home—the stomachs of our beautiful marine animals. Yet another reminder of this fact washed ashore in Eastern Indonesia this week. A large amount of waste, including drinking cups and flipflops, was found in the stomach of a whale that died off the coast near Kapota Island.
The 9.5metre sperm whale (抹香鲸) was found by rescuers from the Wakatobi National Park. “The whale had swallowed 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, and more than 1,000 other kinds of pieces of plastic,” park chief Heri Santoso told the reporter.
“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF Indonesia. She said it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the whale’s death because of the animal’s advanced state of decay (腐烂). But this is only the latest.
Four Asian nations—Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand—account for 50% of the plastic waste in the oceans, according to a report by environmental campaigner Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. The Philippines is second to Indonesia when it comes to putting away plastic waste in the oceans, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. Of the 3.2 million mismanaged waste it produces every year, 1.29 million ends up in the ocean. A report released earlier this year stated that the amount of plastic in the ocean is likely to increase.
1. What can we know about the sperm whale?| A．Its stomach is the home of plastic waste. |
| B．It died of swallowing lots of plastic waste. |
| C．It was the first whale to eat plastic waste. |
| D．It had eaten much plastic waste before its death. |
| A．Figure out. | B．State. | C．Approve of. | D．Contain. |
| A．Thailand. | B．Indonesia. | C．Vietnam. | D．Philippines. |
| A．Philippines puts away 1.29 million tons of plastic. |
| B．A sperm whale was found dead near Kapota Island. |
| C．Much dumped plastic waste was found in a dead whale. |
| D．We should take measures to reduce the waste in whales. |
【推荐2】Stepping outside the railway station early on an morning, visitors are met with the view of the cold air joining the water, forming a thick, soft blanket of fog over the Grand Canal (运河), the “main street” of Venice. The church of San Simeone Piccolo and the neighboring buildings appear to be floating on the water of the lagoon. It’s a sight that has welcomed millions of visitors from all over the world since the great days of the Serenissima, when the city ruled as one of Europe’s economic superpowers.
Yet, the breath-taking beauty that inspired countless painters, writers and artists over the centuries remains at risk of being lost forever. Like the Abu Simbel temples, the city’s survival is threatened (威胁) by rising water levels. The increase in sea level has caused flooding to be a regular thing.
After 1966, the year of the worst flooding in Venice’s history, UNESCO and the Italian Government started a major project to save the city. Huge movable flood gates were used to protect the lowest areas from flooding. Thirty years later there is agreement on the successful results both of the technical achievements and international cooperation.
But Venice still needs attentive care, and its continued survival calls for careful watch. The city remains threatened on several aspects -mass tourism, the potential damage of city development and the steady stream of large ships crushing its weak foundations.
International pressure around the status of Venice led to the Italian Government’s decision in2021 to ban large ships from the city center. This decision came a few days after UNESCO announced its decision to put the city on its World Heritage in Danger list. Until a suitable docking place (码头) is developed, large ships will be allowed to pull up in Marghera, an industrial suburb of Venice. Such decisions show the difficulty of protecting historic cities and cultural heritage urban centers, which in this particular situation called for specially-made measures and techniques different from those made for the safeguarding of the Egyptian temples.
1. What can we learn about Venice from the first two paragraphs?| A．Venice is Europe’s economic superpower. | B．Many artists are natives of Venice. |
| C．The lagoon is a church in Venice. | D．The “main street” of Venice can be foggy. |
| A．A celebration of life. | B．A painful lesson for all. |
| C．A reflection of human nature. | D．A result of joint efforts. |
| A．Technological advancements. | B．Tourism overload. |
| C．The popularity of water sports. | D．Rising local population. |
| A．The safeguarding of Venice is in process. |
| B．UNESCO called for immediate Venice Ship Ban. |
| C．Italian government was struggling for protection measures. |
| D．The measures to protect Egyptian temples are copied in Venice. |
【推荐3】A new report says plastics are responsible for $13 billion in damage to the oceans and the undersea environment. The findings were announced recently at a United Nations conference.
Plastic thrown away carelessly makes its way into rivers and other waterways.
The report also calls on panies to improve methods for using plastics.
| A．The plastic eventually reaches coastal areas and ocean waters. |
| B．But people can make a big difference. |
| C．Plastics should be gathered together and reused. |
| D．Then, fish may eat the plastics. |
| E．It is convenient to use plastic bags in everyday life. |
| F．It asks for them to better measure and direct plastic use. |
| G．The report tells about harm to sea life and what might be done to improve the situation. |
【推荐1】So many girls are raised thinking that the world is perfect and they will grow up to be a princess.
I know that when I have my daughter, I’ll probably tell her stories of Peria, Ancient Egypt and Sparta. I don’t really want my daughter to grow up to be a Princess; I want her to grow up to be a Spartan woman. I don’t want to be the father who tells his daughter all of these tales of happy endings, and she gets older only to find out they were all lies. Most of those stories from our youth were great, I think there was some truth to them, but I don’t think it was explained all that well.
I can remember stories, those things my mother said
She told me fairy tales, before I went to bed
Spoke of happy endings, then tacked me in real tight
She turned my night light on, and kissed my face good night
My mind would fill with visions, of perfect paradise
She told me everything, she said he’d be so nice
He’d ride up on his horse and, take me away on night
I’d be so happy with him, we’d ride clean out of sight
She never said that we would, curse, cry and scream and lie
She never said that maybe, someday he’d say goodbye
——Anita Baker Fairy Tales
I always loved that song as a child. Now, take for example, Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Nala. I’m going to break this down in a way that will relate this to the real world in the most realiest way ever.
Cinderella—She lived in a city with mad people. She basically got treated like garbage from her family because she was pretty. But Cinderella was one chick in that whole city. That’s the only woman in die city who ended up getting a Prince. Remember the scene at the ball? How many of those women showed up looking for a Prince and the shoe didn’t fit? Think about that in today’s terms: So many women want a Barack, but there’s only one Michelle out of all those women in the world. That was the same for Cinderella story, you can’t possibly think that everyone can find a Prince.
Belle—Many of you know how I feel about “faith-based” relationships. Faith is the belief in things not seen. She had to learn to love a Beast in order to get her Prince. But think about how many women will turn to Gaston because he looks good on paper and miss out on their Prince. Your mother told you not to bring home any ugly babies. The Beast never had a chance.
Ariel—Ariel had to learn to shut the heck up to get a man.
Jasmine—She was looking for love, and her dad was trying get $30,000 by getting her casted on Teen Mom. She ended up dating a homeless guy who was convinced he was a Prince. Turn out he was a nice guy, but she had to learn to trust a man with her heart and that’s hard work.
Mulan—She had to pretend to be a man to get a man.
Pocahontas—She had to fight a war and teach white folks (who would later end up killing off all her peoples) to survive.
Nala—Spartan. That’s all you can say, she had to go get her man who had forgotten who he was and ran away from his home. Then she managed to get pregnant on the first night! That’s Spartan.
But you’ve got to ask yourself, are most of the women we know as strong willed as these fairy tale women were? And while we’re thinking about all of this, let’s think about the men.
Cinderella’s Prince—He had to try and slide a glass slipper on a bunch of rathchets and hoppers just to find his Princess.
Ariel’s Prince—He had to kill a super-saiyan sea monster to get his Princess.
Aladdin—He had to go into the desert, get a genie, a magic carpet, a parrot and kill a wizard to get with Princess Jasmine.
Simba—He had to go back to the place where his pops was murdered and fight his Uncle, which required him to not only beat a bunch of hyenas, but then he got fire thrown in his eyes.
Ask yourself another question, do you really think the men of today are trying to do all that for their Princess?
The reality of life is that while your mother told you that you’d grow up to be a Princess, they never told you that Princes sow their royal oats before settling down. You’ll have to wait for him to finish sowing and decide he wants to be a Prince, ask Kate Middleton. Your mother told you that you could one day be the Princess, but she never told you that the Prince would have options. Your mother told you that a man was going to sweep you off your feet, but she never told you that most men don’t chase women any more. You’re going to have to figure out how to make him sit still. In real life we can count all the happy endings we know on our hands.
Maybe your mother should have told you this when you went to bed at night:
When you get older you’re going to find a man to marry and you’ll get to pick out the best wedding dress in the world. People will come from far to see it. You’ll have to take your dress though. It will be free, you know we love free. It will be beautiful and it will make you look like a Princess. In fact, it will be televised for everyone to see. The whole world will be matching.
But baby? There is only one Vera Wang dress and there’s a nasty b*tch that wants it more than you do. So if you truly want that fairy tale wedding, and you want the best wedding dress in the world, you are going to need to kill that b*tch and take what’s yours. Now get some rest we got work to do in the morning. There’s only room enough for one Princess.
1. How many women characters in the fairy tales are mentioned in the passage?| A．7 | B．8 | C．10 | D．11 |
| A．Gaston | B．Aladdin | C．Simba | D．Spartan |
| A．Never Have All the Eggs in One Basket. |
| B．Prince and Princess Tie the Knot by Killing the Wizard. |
| C．There Always Exists a Stepmother in Fairy Tales. |
| D．The Real Truth Behind Fairy Tale Relationships. |
【推荐2】A new UN report is set to reveal that up to 1 million species face extinction because of human actions. We are causing a mass extinction event, and critically we cannot separate one environmental crisis from another. Biodiversity loss cannot be separated from climate change, or from human population growth or pollution or plastics in our oceans. These challenges are all interconnected. If we continue to consider these problems separately, solutions will continue to emerge far too slowly.
The connections between these crises make solutions seem all too difficult. But in fact, a solution to one problem will inevitably make a positive impact on many others too. More than 28, 000 people are dying because of polluted air each year in Britain and air pollution is linked to psychotic (精神病的) experiences and a reduction in educational achievement. It’s not rocket science: improving air quality in our cities by cutting polluting vehicles will bring a vast range of benefits to human health, and help deal with climate change too.
George Monbiot advocates taking land out of meat production and rewilding it. This will not only boost biodiversity enormously but will also deal with global warming because those rewilded, rewetted lands will capture significantly more carbon. If these lands are also opened up for us to enjoy, our physical and mental health will flourish. Thus we repair the ecology of destruction.
It can be difficult to know what we can do as individuals—but at least we all possess an increasingly understanding of how farming, consumption and energy-use impacts upon the planet. If everyone makes a small change, that will make a difference to our planet.
We're not struggling to find ideas to solve problems either globally or locally. It's action we're lacking, in government and beyond, as individuals and together as a species. If we act now we may be surprised at how these seemingly vast problems decrease quicker than we imagine.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?| A．The age of mass extinction has arrived. | B．Environmental crises are interrelated. |
| C．Humans are to blame for mass extinction. | D．Environmental crises should be solved separately. |
| A．They attract tourists. | B．They provide habitat for birds. |
| C．They take in carbon. | D．They boost biodiversity. |
| A．Take action now. | B．Find a better idea. |
| C．Cooperate with others. | D．Turn to the government. |
| A．A news report. | B．A scientific journal. |
| C．A climate handbook. | D．A biology textbook. |
【推荐3】What will the schools of the future look like? With the introduction of 5G technology, we’re starting to find out.
The answer is smart campuses, with high-tech features to help students learn more effectively and safely. They also bring convenience to teachers and administrators (管理者).
The University of British Columbia has what is believed to be Canada’s first 5G-powered smart campus, according to The Star newspaper. The school has partnered with tech company Rogers Communications to install (安装) a massive 5G network on its campus. Researchers at the school can use the network to test real-time 5G applications, as well as access a data storage facility (设施) similar to “cloud” storage, the newspaper noted.
US tech company Amazon is also looking to get into the smart campus arena (舞台). Alexa, the company’s voice-activated (声控) smart assistant, is being aimed at teachers. They may help to run classes more efficiently, says Amazon. For example, if a teacher has to teach different classes in different rooms, Alexa can remember the teacher’s preferences, such as whether or not they need to use a projector (投影仪).
Smart technology can also be used to keep students and teachers safe. At the Global Indian International School in Singapore, CNET reports that facial recognition scanners (扫描器) allow teachers to automatically lock or unlock classroom doors, while students can store their textbooks in smart lockers linked to their student ID cards.
People often describe college campuses as “mini-cities”. After all, they have their own on-campus infrastructure (基础设施), including transport links, roads, shops, restaurants – even police. And just like the smart cities being designed around the world, many college campuses are adopting smart technology. The University of Michigan in the US, for example, has its own self-driving shuttle (班车) system, allowing students to go from classroom to classroom in a safe and efficient manner.
Unlike cities, universities are seen as a particularly good testing ground for smart technology because many of them have sole (单一的) control over their property (财产). “Cities are so big, and there are so many players and stakeholders (利益相关者), it can be difficult. But many universities around the world have control over their estates (房产). They own all their buildings ... so they can become like a living lab,” said Gemmy Ginty, a designer working on a smart campus development strategy for the University of Glasgow, UK, in a news report by the Guardian.
1. How is the text mainly developed?| A．By giving examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. | D．By explaining causes and effects. |
| A．It offers free “cloud” storage to its users. |
| B．It is used to test real-time 5G applications. |
| C．It can help improve classroom efficiency. |
| D．It can help monitor students’ class performances. |
| A．Smart technology benefits students the most. |
| B．Universities are full of laboratories and researchers. |
| C．Sole control over their properties makes it easier to test new tech. |
| D．There are many players and stakeholders on university campuses. |
