The climate crisis may lead the human race to shrink in size, as mammals with smaller frames appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert has said.
Professor Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future. He compared the potential problem of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55 million years ago.
Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann’s rule. “The reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area relative to their volume than bigger animals and can thus improve the dissipation of the extra heat,” he writes.
Brusatte said that becoming smaller was “a common way that mammals deal with climate change”. He added, “That’s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures rise pretty quickly. That does raise the question: If temperatures do rise really quickly, might humans get smaller? And I think that’s certainly reasonable.”
However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to shrink. Professor Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak. “We are not really controlled by natural selection,” he said. “If that was going to happen, you’d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today’s world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.”
1. How do mammals cope with climate change according to Brusatte?| A．Moving to colder regions. | B．Reducing their body size. |
| C．Losing their weight. | D．Adapting their diet. |
| A．Exchange. | B．Formation. | C．Absorption. | D．Emission. |
| A．Worried. | B．Objective. | C．Skeptical. | D．Approving. |
| A．The Threat of Climate Change to Human Survival |
| B．The Impact of Climate Change on Mammal Body Sizes |
| C．The Evolutionary Trends in Mammal Body Sizes |
| D．The Adaptive Strategies of Mammals to Climate Change |
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【推荐1】While the arts can’t stop the COVID-19 virus or the social unrest we see in the world today, they can give us insight into the choices we make when moving through crises and chaos. The arts invite everyone to think in new ways.
We often experience works of art as something that’s pleasing to our senses without a full understanding of the creative effort. Great art often shows us contradictions and crises, and we can learn a great deal from their resolutions (解决). Through our understanding of art, we can gain a deeper understanding of how we might overcome our own challenges. In understanding extremes of contrast, we can see the beauty in art with themes that are not simply pleasing for their magnificent features or qualities.
Beethoven offers a wonderful example of moving artfully through crises and chaos. He composed his Symphony No.9 as his hearing loss became more and more pronounced. The opening of the symphony seems to come out of nowhere, from near silence in the opening to a full expression of what many consider to be the joy of freedom and universal brotherhood with Schiller’s Ode to joy (欢乐颂). Beethoven appears to have created a work of art that not only freed him from his personal struggles, but one that also speaks to the joy of living together in peace and harmony.
Have a dialogue between the two opposing parts and you will find that they always start out fighting each other until we come to an appreciation of difference — a oneness of the two opposing forces. The arts offer many lessons that can help us gain the knowledge we need to move more confidently in today’s competitive and uncertain environment. An openness to arts-based solutions will give you more control over your future.
1. What value does art have beyond pleasing people’s senses?| A．It brings people inner peace. | B．It contributes to problem-solving. |
| C．It reduces the possibility of crises. | D．It deepens understanding of music. |
| A．It aims to show crises and chaos. | B．It celebrates freedom and unity. |
| C．It opens with Schiller’s Ode to Joy. | D．It is quiet and peaceful throughout. |
| A．He had almost gone deaf at the time. |
| B．He was going through a personal creative crisis. |
| C．He was enjoying the joy of freedom with his brothers. |
| D．He was considered as an example of symphonic composition. |
| A．How art can change people’s lives. | B．Essentials of Symphony No. 9. |
| C．Moving artfully through crises. | D．Joy in the eyes of Beethoven. |
【推荐2】“The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do whether it’s protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is well spent,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook in January.
If the tech firm succeeded, Facebook would end 2018 on a much better path. But the cracks in Zuckerberg’s social media empire only grew as scandals(丑闻)about data misuse, security and even Facebook’s leadership piled up.
The social network has faced criticism many times since launching 14 years ago, but the public uproar reached new heights in 2018. Facebook’s missteps, even as it tried to fix its problems, were yet another reminder of what happens when a company grows rapidly with little oversight(监管). They also set the stage for another showdown between the tech powerhouse and lawmakers who have their own ideas on how to manage a platform used by 2.3 billion people every month.
“I think there’s just a general growing consensus from both parties in Congress that self-policing is not going to work,” Democratic senator Mark Warner of Virginia said in an interview. Facebook pointed to a series of notes Zuckerberg published this year outlining what the tech firm has done to combat(战斗，争论)election meddling(好干预的), as well as hate speech, misinformation and other offensive content. The social network pulled down more than 1.5 billion fake accounts, launched a database of political ads and announced the creation of a Supreme Court like independent body to oversee content appals.
But in many ways, Zuckerberg fell short of his New Year’s resolution(决议). UN investigators said Facebook played a role in spreading hate speech that fueled ethnic cleansing(清洗)in Myanmar. Media outlets found loopholes(漏洞)and errors in Facebook’s political ads database. Users questioned whether they should delete Facebook after learning that Cambridge Analytical, a UK political consulting firm with ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, gathered data on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their permission.
In short, Facebook’s problems ballooned out of the company’s control.
“They created a platform where sharing was mindlessly easy and interacting with each other required almost no forethought at all,” said Woodrow Hertzog, a law and computer science professor at Northeastern University. “As a result, there was massive sharing, including leaking of personal information that put lots of people at risk.”
1. What can be inferred about Facebook from the passage?| A．It is a platform where people can easily share well-selected information. |
| B．It is a social network that has faced criticism because of data misuses from Zuckerberg. |
| C．It is a social network which grows rapidly without enough management from the government. |
| D．It is a popular app that 2.3 bllion people use for information and communication every day. |
| A．crack | B．criticism | C．disagreement | D．argument |
| A．A tough challenge for Facebook | B．Zuckerberg’s new year resolution |
| C．Criticism of Facebook for misusing | D．A dark future for Facebook |
【推荐3】A large number of people enjoy listening to various types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps creativity.
However, an international study conducted by English and Swedish researchers is challenging that opinion. Psychologists from Lancaster University, The University of Gävle, and The University of Central Lancashire say that their findings show music actually blocks creativity.
To come to their conclusions, researchers had participants(参与者) complete verbal insight problems designed to inspire creativity while sitting in a quiet room, and then again while music played in the background. They found that background music “badly affected” the participants’ ability to complete tasks related to verbal creativity.
The tasks were simple word games. For example, participants were given three words, such as dress, dial, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word related to all three that could be combined to form a common phrase or word. The single word, in this case, would be “sun” (sundress, sunflower, etc).
Participants completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while exposed to three different types of music; music with unfamiliar words, instrumental music, or music with familiar words. “We found strong evidence of damaged performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions,” says co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University.
To conclude, the findings challenge the popular view that music encourages creativity, and instead prove that music consistently disrupts creative performance in dealing with problems.
1. What’s the main idea of this passage?| A．A new idea about music while working. | B．Music encourages creativity while working. |
| C．Music does harm to creativity while working. | D．We’d better not listen to music while working. |
| A．lift | B．strengthen | C．raise | D．limit |
| A．By comparing. | B．By following time order. | C．By analyzing causes and effects. | D．By presenting the process. |
| A．While working, we can listen to some familiar music. |
| B．Music has no effect on our creativity while working. |
| C．To improve our creativity, we should choose to work in quiet background conditions. |
| D．Music does more good than harm to our health. |
【推荐1】For the last ten years, we’ve worked one-on-one with kids from elementary school through graduate school. No matter what their age is and no matter the material, when you ask what they’re struggling with, kids almost universally name a subject: math, English or, in some instances, school. wandering if the school was the key to the problem, we asked to see their last test. After a few complaints, the student digs down, deep into the darkness of his or her backpack, pulls out a dirty paper, flattens it, become the latest exam.
For a teacher, this should be very unpleasant. You spend a lot of time grading tests, and giving thoughtful feedback on homework, only to be ignored. Yes, children look at their tests, but you shouldn’t have any illusion(幻想) about what they look at except for the red scores . Before blaming your children for being ungrateful or lazy, you need to understand why their behavior is perfect reasonable.
Telling kids they need to make use of the feedback they get isn’t just good advice . In the last few decades, researchers have discovered a lot about how people become experts. The main idea, made popular by everyone, is the 10,000-hour rule. Ten thousand is the number of hours it takes to become an expert in almost any field.
So why don’t kinds view their mistakes as a valuable thing? Well, kids don’t think about their mistakes well- they think about them emotionally. Mistakes make kids feel stupid. “Stupid” is just that: a feeling. Specifically, it’s the feeling of shame, and our natural response is to avoid its source. If we get a bad grade, we hide the test away. Unsurprisingly, that’s the worst move to make if you ever want to get better. Academic success does not come from how smart or motivated kids are. It comes from how they feel about their mistakes.
1. The passage suggests that learning to face mistakes is ______.| A．a great difficult thing to both kids and adults |
| B．of great importance to the growth of kids |
| C．a practice scientist always neglects in their work |
| D．the best way for language experts to be excellent in their fields |
| A．doing whatever they like to do |
| B．ignoring their mistakes |
| C．seeking advice and feedback from teachers |
| D．being brave to without thinking of them as a shame |
| A．Learn from their mistakes | B．Listen to the teachers’ advice |
| C．Regard themselves as stupid | D．Think about their mistakes rationally |
| A．correct kids’ mistakes as soon as possible |
| B．remove kids’ fear of making mistakes |
| C．give kids more information about study |
| D．always help to correct kids’ mistakes |
【推荐2】Nowadays, it is more common for people to express their thoughts in an e-mail or text. In fact, more and more students use technology for written communication in their lives. Even so, research shows that teaching handwriting skills has its benefits. However, are the benefits worth spending valuable classroom time in teaching handwriting skills when students could be learning more about computer keyboarding?
States across the country have good reasons to require students to learn computer keyboarding skills. For one, students are learning technology that will help them communicate faster with more people and in many different forms, such as e-mails, websites, blogs, and so on. Also the better a student’s computer keyboarding skills, the greater the chance that a student has to become a better writer. Computer tools such as the grammar and spell check make correcting quick and easy, although not 100％ accurate(准确的). With these and many other tools，students gain important computer skills. Furthermore, students no longer have to worry about their writing being graded poorly by teachers. All in all, computer keyboarding skills are a step in the right direction.
Still, the advantages of computer keyboarding skills may not be enough to leave handwriting instruction in the dust. Marlena Hamilton, professor of neurology at University of Pennsylvania, did an experiment with her co-workers to study what happens in students’ brains when writing. They found that many of the areas of the brain light up. These are the same areas that are used to learn to read. They then wondered if the same would be true when students looked at letters on a keyboard. “What we found, “she states, “is that brains are much less involved when we just look at letters. When we actually use our hands to make things, the brain works much harder.”
Schools across the nation are looking at the evidence and deciding what to do. William McIntyre, a reading coach at Sunshine Elementary School in Albany, New York, says, “What we have learned from the research is that learning handwriting benefits students educationally. What we also know is that students need to be taught keyboarding skills. Now, it is up to each school to make a decision.
1. From the first paragraph, we can know that _______.| A．students don't want to learn handwriting skills any more. |
| B．students don't like communicating with friends in person. |
| C．students’ communicating by technology is more and more common. |
| D．students spend more time in playing computer games than before. |
| A．The roles of computer tools. |
| B．The advantages of computer keyboarding skills. |
| C．The importance of communication skills. |
| D．The necessity of developing writing skills. |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncaring. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Keyboarding skills are very useful. |
| B．Handwriting is helpful for students to learn. |
| C．Keyboarding makes our brain more active. |
| D．Handwriting is more difficult than keyboarding. |
| A．Whether schools should offer computer classes. |
| B．Whether schools should still teach handwriting. |
| C．Whether students should learn keyboarding skills. |
| D．Whether students should use the grammar and spell check. |
【推荐3】If you could have a kind of super power, what would it be?
Dreaming about whether you would want to read minds, see through walls, or have superhuman strength may sound silly, but it actually gets to the heart of what really matters in your life.
Every day in our work, we are inspired by the people we meet doing extraordinary things to improve the world.
They have a different kind of super power that all of us possess: the power to make a difference in the lives of others.
We’re not saying that everyone needs to contribute their lives to the poor. Your lives are busy enough doing homework, playing sports, making friends, seeking after your dreams. But we do think that you can live a more powerful life when you devote some of your time and energy to something much larger than yourself. Find an issue you are interested in and learn more. Volunteer or, if you can, contribute a little money to a cause. Whatever you do, don’t be a bystander. Get involved. You may have the opportunity to make your biggest difference when you’re older. But why not start now?
Our own experience of working together on health, development, and energy in the last twenty years has been one of the most rewarding parts of our lives. It has changed who we are and continues to fuel our optimism about how much the lives of the poorest people will improve in the years ahead.
1. What kind of people are inspiring?| A．Those who try to do their own job quite well. |
| B．Those who are born with various kinds of super power. |
| C．Those trying to make the world a better place to live in. |
| D．Those who can find an interesting issue and learn more. |
| A．Finding out who you truly are. | B．Acting right now to help others. |
| C．Seeking after bigger opportunities. | D．Contributing more to your community. |
| A．To prove much more progress in health will be made in the near future. |
| B．To show humans have been rewarded for their continuous efforts spiritually. |
| C．To state that the poorest people are likely to live a much better life in the future. |
| D．To explain the work concerning energy development is the most valuable experience. |
| A．Superman—To come soon |
| B．Super power—You have it, too |
| C．Superman—Everyone’s dream |
| D．Super power—To fit in with the world |
【推荐1】According to reports, three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on pollinating (授粉的) insects like bees and butterflies. By pollinating, pollinators enable the production of seeds. Without them, crop farming can become extremely difficult or costly threatening food supplies and prices globally.
Research has shown a rapid and consistent decline in pollinator populations. Average butterfly populations have almost halved since 1991 and bee populations in particular face a sharp decline. Given the world’s growing dependence on these insects, we can only expect the problem to worsen if no action is taken.
Much has been written about how intensive farming practices the use of chemical pesticides (杀虫剂), and pollution are threatening the survival of these helpful insects. To add to the already critical situation, global warming is contributing significantly to the rapid disappearance of pollinators.
Climate change is a major threat to pollinators, with rising temperatures and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events affecting the food sources and habitats, on which pollinators depend for their survival.
Climate change also changes the timing and availability of lowering plants, leading to mismatches between pollinators and their food sources. A study has found that climate change has shifted plants’ blooming to earlier times and caused certain plants to move to higher areas, resulting in a decline in pollination.
Another study has found that climate change could lead to a decline in the quality of nectar, which is the main food source for many pollinators. As temperatures rise, the sugar content of nectar decreases, making it less nutritious for pollinators. This leads to a decline in the health and reproductive success of pollinators, as well as a decline in the pollination of plants.
Needless to say, cutting global emissions (排放量) is key. It’s essential that we continue to advocate for emission reductions. From country-level to individual businesses, more concrete roadmaps to net zero are a must.
We must at least minimize, if not prevent, the usage of pesticides, since these chemicals are harmful to pollinators and can have a far-reaching effect on pollination as a whole.
1. What does paragraph 1 try to show?| A．The influence of crop crises. | B．The importance of pollinators. |
| C．The serious challenges faced by humans. | D．The increasing difficulty of crop production. |
| A．Curious. | B．Suspicious. | C．Humorous. | D．Anxious. |
| A．Why chemical pesticides are harmful to pollinators. | B．Causes of the decline in pollinator populations. |
| C．The importance of pollinators to the ecosystem. | D．How climate change has affected pollinators. |
| A．Climate change greatly affects pollination. |
| B．Pollution seriously threatens pollinators survival. |
| C．Global warming contributes to the loss of pollinators’ habitats. |
| D．Improper farming practices cause some pollinators to disappear. |
| A．Starting keeping bees. | B．Reducing pesticide use. |
| C．Increasing the amount of nectar. | D．Building more habitats for pollinators. |
【推荐2】The world’s top climate scientists of the IPCC have just released a landmark report, warning about the future of the planet. The headline—burning fossil fuels is already heating up the planet faster than anything the world has seen in 2,000 years.
The IPCC is a U. N. body of 195 member states that assesses the science related to the climate crisis on behalf of governments every few years. This is the group that defines the scientific consensus. Hundreds of scientists work on a series of reports, which take years to produce. Governments have to sign off on them. And this one is just the latest big reassessment of the climate that the IPCC has done, but it’s the first one that is done in eight years. It also has the clearest, most confident conclusions that have ever been seen in an IPCC report.
According to the report, the greenhouse gases that we have already put into the air have warmed up the planet so far by almost 2 °F compared to the pre-industrial times. This warming trend appears to be accelerating as the greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. And if we keep burning fossil fuels, by 2100—so within the lifetime of a child that’s born today—the planet could be 5 to 7°F hotter.
And one new thing in this report is that it tries to put numbers on what that means. So, for instance, they say heat waves so extreme used to only happen once every 50 years. Now they’re happening almost five times more often. Extreme droughts could double or four times in frequency. In some cases, extreme storms could become three times more frequent and drop 30% more rainfall in a day.
The scientists say preventing the worst effects will demand a U-turn away from use of fossil fuels. And it depends on us collectively. If every country, every business shifts away from burning gas, coal and oil over the next 30 years or so, we could probably limit this warming trend to a total of less than 3.5°F.
1. What’s the author’s probable purpose of introducing the IPCC in Paragraph 2?| A．To make its work better known. | B．To respect the scientists’ commitment. |
| C．To make the report more convincing. | D．To appreciate its great achievements. |
| A．It results from extreme weather. | B．It is running out of fossil fuels. |
| C．It is badly speeding up. | D．There is no way to slow it down. |
| A．By defining scientific consensus. | B．By using statistics and inference. |
| C．By quoting authority figures. | D．By modeling climate change. |
| A．Make joint efforts to stop the use of fossil fuels. |
| B．Take positive attitudes to our planet`s future. |
| C．Follow the global warming trend collectively. |
| D．Develop new approaches to using fossil fuels. |
【推荐3】One of Australia’s most famous natural gifts, the Great Barrier Reef is blessed with the breathtaking beauty of the world’s largest coral reef. The reef contains a large variety of life and over 3,000 reef systems and hundreds of islands with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. Because of its natural beauty, the Great Barrier Reef has become one of the world's most sought-after tourist attractions.
However, for the past few years, the news about corals has been discouraging. Currently, the reef is threatened by climate change, tourism, water pollution, and overfishing. Agricultural fertilizer (肥料) run-off from Australian farms also has caused the widespread growth of sea-plants, which absorb most of the nutrients (养分) and leave little remaining for the living coral reef and the animals that live in it. “What has changed is the increasing importance of climate change as a greater threat than the others,” says David Wachenfeld, a scientist of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Coral reefs are extremely sensitive (敏感的) to warming ocean temperatures.
In a report on April 28, the Australian government said it set aside $ 500 million to help protect corals. The money will be spent on reducing water pollution from agriculture, reef monitoring and research on climate influence.
Though the Australian investment is welcome, it will at best only delay coral deaths. It’s too little, too late, as a leading coral-scientist Terry Hughes of James Cook University put it. The only way to save corals over the long term is to slow down climate change. That process will require all countries to work together to find the most effective way of cutting emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases.
The most recent emissions figures, however, show that the world is failing at that task. The year 2019 has seen an increase in global emissions. This week in Bonn, Germany, countries are meeting to discuss how to keep their word in the Paris climate agreement. Let’s hope they hear about the silent death of the world’s corals.
1. Why does the author write the text?| A．To introduce the Great Barrier Reef. |
| B．To show the result of climate change. |
| C．To offer ways of protecting the Great Barrier Reef. |
| D．To tell us the serious situation of the Great Barrier Reef. |
| A．timely | B．unsatisfying | C．effective | D．useless |
| A．By reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. |
| B．By cutting down the number of tourists. |
| C．By setting more strict rules on overfishing. |
| D．By investing more in climate research. |
