Off Australia’s northern coast, the remains of ancient coral reefs (珊瑚礁) form the bedrock of wooded islands, which are home to diverse animals and plants, including mangrove (红树林) forests that blanket their coasts and serve as vital habitats and carbon storers. A recent survey shows that expanding seas might have led to a massive mangrove increase, researchers report November 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store it as “blue carbon”, a term for carbon that is hidden away in ocean environments. “There’s a lot of interest in using mangrove blue carbon to lessen climate change,” says Kerrylee Rogers, an environmental scientist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. But there remain a lot of questions around their capacity to adapt to sea level rise.
In 2021,a team led by Wollongong environmental scientist Sarah Hamylton visited the Howick Islands to do a related research. They walked through the seawater to assess the plant diversity and measure individual trees. Using the measured widths and heights of several mangroves, the team calculated tree widths for the rest of the forest from the data to estimate the total mangrove quantity. The islands host nearly 54,000 metric tons of mangroves, the team estimates, which is roughly 10,000 more metric tons than there was in 1973.
The Howick Islands are uniquely suited to supporting mangroves as the ocean rises. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, around 12,000 years ago, water levels rose around northern Australia, and coral reefs grew upward to fill the space that had opened for them.
When sea levels fell thousands of years later, the exposed reefs became sediment (沉积物). With sea levels now rising again, the mixture of saltwater and sediment makes a perfect home for the salt-tolerant mangroves.
Rogers and Hamylton are now working on a bigger effort to study mangoves around Australia. “If we’re going to invest in mangroves to provide us blue carbon and to protect shorelines, we need to understand how dynamic they are,” Rogers says.
1. What can be known about blue carbon?| A．It is produced by ocean water. | B．It is massively present in the air. |
| C．It is friendly environment. | D．It is nutritious for mangroves. |
| A．To measure the size of mangroves. |
| B．To figure out where to plant mangroves. |
| C．To confirm whether local natural environment is polluted. |
| D．To see how the mangroves respond to sea level rise. |
| A．The diversity of ocean life. |
| B．The increase of coral reefs. |
| C．The combination of salt water and sediment. |
| D．The formation of the bedrock of wooded islands. |
| A．Climate Change Causes Sea Level Rise |
| B．Sea Level Rise Helps Mangroves Boost |
| C．Environment on Australia Islands Is Improving |
| D．Climate Warming Poses Dangers To Mangroves |
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【推荐1】Imagine this: your child has just been involved in an emergency. You call 911. The medical workers rush in and begin asking you questions as they work to rescue your child. But they also ask questions about your child’s medical history. It’s hard to think clearly. You begin to answer and then end up saying, “I don’t remember. I don’t know.” So many doctors suggest that parents keep handy a record of their children’s important healthy facts. This can often help the medical team make a better and more rapid diagnosis of a problem at a time when time really counts.
The most important information to know is the child’s allergies (过敏). It is especially crucial if the child is allergic to any medicine — penicillin, for example. Food allergies can come into play, so make a note of those as well. Children who have been hospitalized in the past may have developed latex (胶乳) allergies. Often this information can help emergency workers find a cause for problems like breathing difficulties.
Keep a list of any medicine, including what your child is now taking. Some medicines can cause adverse reaction when they are taken together, so the doctors need this information before they give your child anything. You’ll need to know when the child took the medicine last and how much was taken.
It is also important to tell emergency workers about any health problem or illness that your child has had. These pre-existing conditions can have a huge effect on the type of tests and treatment in an emergency. Consider having any child who has a health problem wear a tag around his neck. This kind of rapid notice can help doctors who are providing emergency care, especially if your child suddenly becomes ill at day care, school or a friend’s house.
1. What’s the function of the example in paragraph 1?| A．To tell us what we should do in an emergency. |
| B．To tell us the importance of keeping a record of children’s health facts |
| C．To remind us emergent situation is everywhere. |
| D．To tell us what doctors will ask |
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
| A．essential | B．professional | C．convincing | D．admirable |
| A．the medicine the child took last and the amount. |
| B．if the child is allergic to any medicine |
| C．if your child suddenly becomes ill at day care, school, or a friend’s house. |
| D．if your child has had any health problem or illness. |
【推荐2】Rowan Atkinson was born in a middle-class family. He had a speaking disability right from his childhood. This gave him a tough time in his childhood and at the start of his career. He was constantly bullied and laughed at because of his look and his speaking disability. This made him very shy and quiet. He didn’t have a lot of friends and the several rejections left him feel lonely. Rowan was very much interested in science. And he decided to pursue a career in this field.
After he completed his Master’s degree, he realized acting was something he really wanted to pursue. He auditioned for several TV shows but faced back-to-back rejections, because he didn’t have a good face and grand body in addition to his stammering (口吃的) problem as well. Rowan kept his passion alive and worked hard towards reaching his dreams. He aimed at making people laugh and with persistent efforts over the years he has successfully established this.
After the several rejections he started creating original comedy sketches. Interestingly he realized that whenever he played some characters, he spoke fluently. He used it as an inspiration for his acting. This is exactly where Rowan’s life changed.
Rowan continued pursuing his dreams, despite all the hardships and rejections he had faced because of his looks and disorder. He had a major breakthrough when he started his own show Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean was “strange, surreal and non-speaking character”. He proved that even without a Hollywood face or a heroic body, you can become one of the most loved and respected actors in the world.
Life always rewards those who are willing to keep moving forward. He teaches us that for success all you really need is hard work. Never let your fears and disabilities stop your life. Walk past these and make yourself better. Your hard work and efforts are sure to pay off one day.
1. What can we know about Rowan when he was young?| A．He liked bullying his classmates. | B．He had a few friends and felt lonely. |
| C．He showed little interest in science. | D．He recovered from his speaking disability. |
| A．He wanted to become popular. | B．He enjoyed staying in the stage. |
| C．He intended to make people happy. | D．He was eager to overcome his drawback. |
| A．That he was respected by the audience. |
| B．That he could speak fluently in some characters. |
| C．That he got a Hollywood face and a herbic body. |
| D．That he received a. Master’s degree in science. |
| A．His wisdom | B．His independence. | C．His honesty. | D．His willpower. |
【推荐3】For those who can stomach it, working out before breakfast may be more beneficial for health than eating first, according to a study of meal timing and physical activity.
Athletes and scientists have long known that meal timing affects performance. However, far less has been known about how meal timing and exercise might affect general health.
To find out, British scientists conducted a study. They first found 10 overweight and inactive but otherwise healthy young men, whose lifestyles are, for better and worse, representative of those of most of us. They tested the men’s fitness and resting metabolic (新陈代谢的) rates and took samples (样品) of their blood and fat tissue.
Then, on two separate morning visits to the scientists’ lab, each man walked for an hour at an average speed that, in theory, should allow his body to rely mainly on fat for fuel. Before one of these workouts, the men skipped breakfast, meaning that they exercised on a completely empty stomach after a long overnight fast (禁食). On the other occasion, they ate a rich morning meal about two hours before they started walking.
Just before and an hour after each workout, the scientists took additional samples of the men’s blood and fat tissue.
Then they compared the samples. There were considerable differences. Most obviously, the men displayed lower blood sugar levels at the start of their workouts when they had skipped breakfast than when they had eaten. As a result, they burned more fat during walks on an empty stomach than when they had eaten first. On the other hand, they burned slightly more calories (卡路里), on average, during the workout after breakfast than after fasting.
But it was the effects deep within the fat cells that may have been the most significant, the researchers found. Multiple genes behaved differently, depending on whether someone had eaten or not before walking. Many of these genes produce proteins (蛋白质) that can improve blood sugar regulation and insulin (胰岛素) levels throughout the body and so are associated with improved metabolic health. These genes were much more active when the men had fasted before exercise than when they had breakfasted.
The implication of these results is that to gain the greatest health benefits from exercise, it may be wise to skip eating first.
1. The underlined expression “stomach it” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “______”.| A．digest the meal easily | B．manage without breakfast |
| C．decide wisely what to eat | D．eat whatever is offered |
| A．Their lifestyles were typical of ordinary people. |
| B．Their lack of exercise led to overweight. |
| C．They could walk at an average speed. |
| D．They had slow metabolic rates. |
| A．They successfully lost weight. | B．They consumed a bit more calories. |
| C．They burned more fat on average. | D．They displayed higher insulin levels. |
| A．A workout after breakfast improves gene performances. |
| B．Too much workout often slows metabolic rates. |
| C．Lifestyle is not as important as morning exercise. |
| D．Physical exercise before breakfast is better for health. |
【推荐1】The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown, Ohio, for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another, employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse, even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. “We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,” explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants grow(发光)in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light, about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by, is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn tree into self-powered street lamps.
In the future, the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off “switch” where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source(电源)-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission(传输).
Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．A new study of different plants. |
| B．A big fall in crime rates. |
| C．Employees from various workplaces. |
| D．Benefits from green plants. |
| A．To detect plants’ lack of water |
| B．To change compositions of plants |
| C．To make the life of plants longer. |
| D．To test chemicals in plants. |
| A．They will speed up energy production. |
| B．They may transmit electricity to the home. |
| C．They might help reduce energy consumption. |
| D．They could take the place of power plants. |
| A．Whether we can grow more glowing plants. |
| B．How we live with glowing plants. |
| C．Whether glowing plants can replace lamps. |
| D．How glowing plants are made pollution-free. |
【推荐2】The health of millions could be at risk because supplies of medicinal plants are being used up. These plants are used to make traditional medicine, including drugs to fight cancer. “The loss of medicinal plants is a quiet disaster,” says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
Most people worldwide rely on herbal (药草的) medicines which are got mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of the 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of dying out, according to a report from the international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.
Over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution and competition from invasive species (入侵物种) and habitat destruction all contribute. “Businessmen generally harvest medicinal plants, not caring about sustainability (可持续性),” the Plantlife report says, “Damage is serious partly because they have no idea about it, but it is mainly because such collection is unorganized.” Medicinal trees at risk include the Himalayan yew and the African cherry, which are used to treat some cancers.
The solution, says the report’s author, Alan Hamilton, is to encourage local people to protect these plants. Ten projects ran by Plantlife in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya showed this method can succeed. In Uganda, the project has kept a sustainable supply of low-cost cancer treatments, and in China a public-run medicinal plant project has been created for the first time.
“Improving health, earning an income and keeping cultural traditions are important in encouraging people to protect medicinal plants,” says Hamilton, “You have to pay attention to what people are interested in.”
Ghillean Prance, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, agrees that medicinal plants are in need of protection. “Not nearly enough is being done. We are destroying the very plants that are of most use to us.”
1. From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.| A．millions of people are threatened with cancer |
| B．most countries see a shortage of herbal medicines |
| C．about two thirds of medicinal species will disappear |
| D．a number of medicinal species are in danger of extinction |
| A．pollution | B．sustainability |
| C．over-harvesting | D．other species’ invasion |
| A．Protecting medicinal plants has a long way to go. |
| B．Local people don’t know how to protect medicinal plants. |
| C．Ghillean Prance is optimistic about medicinal plants’ future. |
| D．China has made great progress in protecting medicinal plants. |
| A．Low-cost Cancer Treatment |
| B．The Importance of Sustainability |
| C．Medicinal Plants Facing Extinction |
| D．Sustainable Development of the Environment |
【推荐3】Mushrooms on a log may each seem like quiet, separate organisms, but they are actually the above-ground fruit belonging to a fungus (真菌)，connected to the large organism by a root network called mycelium (菌丝). Although mushrooms may not seem very talkative either, a new study shows electrical signals travelling through their mycelium network could help the organism communicate.
According to the research, some mushrooms can use electrical impulse (脉冲) to share and process information in their body. When signal activity increases, it creates complicated patterns that may function like words in human speech.
Previous research has found that mushrooms can send electrical signals underground through long, thread-like structures, which expand to form a network of mycelium. It works like nerve cells that send signals to other parts of the human body. Some studies have shown that electrical activity will increase when the mycelium of wood-digesting mushrooms touches blocks, which may indicate that mushrooms can use these impulses to share information about food or injury.
In the new study, four species were analyzed. Researchers listened to the mushrooms’ chat using tiny electrodes (电极) connected to mycelium to measure the power in signal activity. Each result in the activity was organized into several groups and given a linguistic (语言的) and information complexity analysis. The power varied in duration and length, with some lasting up to 21 hours. The electrical points resembled a human vocabulary of up to 50 words. However, only 15 to 20 mushrooms’ words are used frequently.
Mushrooms’ words are also similar in length to human words. The mushroom’s word length averaged over the four species is 5.97, which is of the same range as an average word length in some human languages. For instance, it is 4.8 in English and 6 in Russian.
While the research shows mushrooms can produce patterns of electrical signals, there’s no way to tell what they are talking about, if they are at all. Though comparing the mushroom’s electrical signals to human speech is interesting and notable, some researchers are doubtful. “Though interesting, the interpretation as language seems somewhat overenthusiastic and requires more research,” says Dan Bebber from the University of Exeter.
1. How do mushrooms communicate according to the research?| A．Through their mycelium. |
| B．Through their nerve cells. |
| C．Through electrical signals. |
| D．Through the root network. |
| A．It is similar to human speech in several aspects. |
| B．It is far too complicated to understand anything. |
| C．It is not impulses that they use to communicate. |
| D．It is easy to tell the exact information they share. |
| A．It is simply unquestionable. |
| B．It is definitely contradictory. |
| C．It is absolutely groundless. |
| D．It is not convincing enough. |
| A．Health Guide. | B．Science World. |
| C．Travel Journal. | D．Business Week. |
