Since the sex of a sea turtle(海龟)is determined by the heat of sand hatching the eggs, scientists had suspected they might see slightly more females. Climate change, after all, has driven sea temperatures higher, which, in these creatures, favors female children. They found female sea turtles from Raine Island, the Pacific Ocean's largest and most important green sea turtle living area, now outnumber males by at least 116 to 1. "This is extreme," says turtle scientist Camryn Allen.
Biologist Michael Jensen wanted to know if climate change had already changed turtles' sexes. By using genetic(基因的) tests, he'd figured out that he could follow turtles of all ages. Still, his research data would lack an important detail: sex. Only after a turtle matures is it possible to tell its sex from the outside -- mature males have slightly longer tails. By then turtles can be decades old, so scientists often use Iaparoscopy(腹腔镜检查)，sending a thin tube into each animal, but that's not so practical if you're hoping to examine hundreds of creatures. Fortunately, at a turtle conference, he met Allen, and all she needed was a little blood.
They compared their results with temperature data for nesting beaches. What worries them is that Raine Island has been producing almost female turtles for at least 20 years. This is no small thing. More than 200,000 turtles come to nest there. During high season, 18,000 turtles may settle in at once. "But what happens in 20 years when there are no more males coming up as adults? Are there enough to maintain the population?" says Allen. They also found cooler beaches in the south are still producing males, but that in the north, it's almost entirely females hatching. These findings clearly point to the fact that climate change is changing many aspects of wildlife biology.
But how widespread is this phenomenon -- and what is the consequence?
1. How might the scientists feel if there were slightly more female turtles?| A．It's normal. | B．It's unique. | C．It's extreme. | D．It's doubtful. |
| A．Testing its blood. | B．Doing genetic tests. |
| C．Using laparoscopy. | D．Watching its tail. |
| A．Too many females gather near Raine Island. | B．Sea turtles may end up dying out. |
| C．Turtle populations are in decline. | D．Female turtles cause temperatures to rise. |
| A．People should stop the phenomenon. |
| B．People have to test the consequence. |
| C．Climate change has changed sea turtles' sexes. |
| D．More work needs doing about the phenomenon. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Ever wondered if dogs can learn new words? Yes, say researchers as they have found that talented dogs may have the ability to learn new words after hearing them only four times.
While previous evidence（以前的证据）seems to show that most dogs do not learn words, unless very well trained, a few individuals（个体） have shown some extraordinary（不一般的） abilities, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“We wanted to know under which conditions the talented dogs may learn new words,” said researcher xuekw Claudia Fugazza from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary（匈牙利）. For the study, the team involved（包含）two gifted dogs, Whisky and Vicky Nina. The team exposed（暴露）the dogs to the new words in two different conditions.
In the exclusion-based（基于排除的）task, presented with seven known toys and one new toy, the dogs were able to select（选择）the new toy when presented with a new name. Researchers say this proves that dogs can choose by exclusion（排除）when faced with a new word, they selected the only toy which did not have a known name.
However, this was not the way they would learn the name of the toy. In fact, when they were presented with one more equally（同等地）new name to test their ability to recognize the toy by its name, the dogs got totally confused and failed.
The other condition, the social one, where the dogs played with their owners who pronounced the name of the toy while playing with the dog, proved to be the successful way to learn the name of the toy, even after hearing it only 4 times. “The rapid learning that we observed seems to equal children’s ability to learn many new words at a fast velocity around the age of 18 months,” Fugazza says. “But we do not know whether the learning mechanisms（机制）behind this learning are the same for humans and dogs. ”
To test whether most dogs would learn words this way, 20 other dogs were tested in the same condition, but none of them showed any evidence of learning the toy names, confirming（确认）that the ability to learn words rapidly in the absence（缺乏）of formal training is very rare（少） and is only present in a few talented dogs.
1. What was the purpose of the study published in Scientific Reports?| A．To better train dogs’ ability to learn new words. |
| B．To further make sure of previous evidence about dogs. |
| C．To confirm the dogs can learn words. |
| D．To find out suitable conditions for gifted dogs’ new-word learning. |
| A．Slow to understand. | B．Quick to learn. |
| C．In puzzlement. | D．In surprise. |
| A．Learning through playing applied to most dogs. |
| B．The social condition helped dogs learn new words. |
| C．Dogs’ new-word learning turned out to be less effective. |
| D．Dogs shared similar learning mechanisms with children. |
| A．speed | B．quality |
| C．time | D．journey |
【推荐2】They are called “sea parrots”, and sometimes “clowns (小丑) of the sea”!
Atlantic puffins (海鹦) are small seabirds which are around 25 cm in length. They have black and white feathers and a large parrot-like beak (鸟喙). The beak changes color during the year. In winter, the beak has a dull gray color, but it turns orange in spring!
Puffins spend most of their lives out at sea, resting on the waves when not swimming. They live on the eastern coast of Canada and the United States, and the western coast of Europe.
Puffins live off small fish such as herring, hake and sand eels. Puffins flap (拍) their wings up to 400 times a minute and speeding through the air at up to 88 km an hour. Wow! What’s more, puffins can dive down 60m under water in search of their favorite fish.
In spring and summer, thousands of puffins stay together on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic Ocean to start a puffin family. They usually pair up with the same partner as before some may have been together for 20 years! Puffins dig out a hole usually in a grassy bank. Both parents take it in turn to incubate (孵化) the egg for the next 36-45 days!
Although puffins are not classed as an endangered animal, their population in some places is becoming smaller. The main reasons are overfishing, which can lead to a shortage of food for puffins, and pollution---especially oil spills (溢出). Not only does the oil make these beautiful birds sick, it harms their feathers.
1. Where do puffins live?| A．On the western coast of Canada and the United States. |
| B．On the eastern coast of Europe. |
| C．On the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean. |
| D．On the islands of the Pacific Ocean. |
| A．great flyers | B．large birds on land |
| C．grass-eating animals | D．bad swimmers |
| A．They mainly breed in early autumn. |
| B．They pair up with different partners every year. |
| C．Mother puffins lay eggs on the grass or sand. |
| D．Father puffins also take part in incubating the eggs. |
① the bad weather along the coast
② the process of taking too many fish from the sea
③ the harm from water pollution
④ humans’ habits of eating the eggs of puffins
| A．①② | B．②③ |
| C．③④ | D．①④ |
【推荐3】In early February 2019, 51-year-old Rainer Schimpf and his team set out to film South Africa’s Sardine Run off the coast of Point Elizabeth Sardine Run, the annual migration(迁徙)of billions of sardines (a small sea fish), is a big draw for large predators, especially the dolphin and whale. Predators are animals that kill and eat other animals. In an attempt to obtain the best images of the incredible natural phenomenon, Rainer dived into the middle of a spinning ball of fish. Suddenly the sea moved around violently, and the experienced diver and his photographer Heinz Toperczer, who was filming from the boat, instantly realized something strange was going on Suddenly dolphins shot out of the water, a white spray came out and then a whale appeared and grasped Rainer
While Toperczer was filming the terrifying turn of events with his video camera, Rainer, who was trapped had first and engulfed(吞噬)in darkness inside the whales mouth, was trying to survive. Nothing can actually prepare you for the event when you end up inside the pure instinct(本能), "the diver told Barcroft TV. “Knowing in the whale’s mouth, I tried to control my fear. But I was convinced that it was going to dive down and release me much deeper in the ocean.”
The whale quickly realized he was no sardine! As the whale turned sideways, he opened his mouth slightly to release me, and I was washed out, together with what felt like tons of water, of his mouth, " recalled Rainer. Though the entire incident lasted just 1. 8 seconds, it felt like a year to Rainer.
Still holding his underwater camera in his hand. the diver swam to his boat, where he was quickly rescued by the members of the team. The terrible adventure did not disturb Rainer for too long. After checking to ensure he had no injuries, the diver returned to the water to seek out more
1. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?| A．A Diver's Narrow Escape From A Whales Mouth |
| B．The Annual Migration Of Billions Of Sea sardines |
| C．A Frightening And Fantastic Experience Under Sea |
| D．An Adventurous Trip Off Coast Of Point Elizabeth |
| A．seagull | B．Seals | C．Dolphins | D．tortoises. |
| A．He dived aimlessly | B．He cried desperately. |
| C．He panicked immediately. | D．He struggled violently. |
| A．intelligent | B．generous | C．flexible | D．fortunate |
【推荐1】Escaping predators (食肉动物), digestion and other animal activities—including those of humans—require oxygen. But that essential ingredient is no longer so easy for marine life to obtain, several new studies reveal.
In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. “We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are,” he says. It is no surprise to scientists that warming oceans are losing oxygen, but the scale of the drop calls for urgent attention. Oxygen levels in some tropical (热带的) regions have dropped by an astonishing 40 percent in the last 50 years, some recent studies reveal. Levels have dropped less significantly elsewhere, with an average loss of 2 percent globally.
A warming ocean loses oxygen for two reasons: First, the warmer a liquid becomes, the less gas it can hold. That is why carbonated drinks go flat faster when left in the sun. Second, as polar sea ice melts, it forms a layer of water above colder, more salty sea waters. This process creates a sort of lid that can keep currents from mixing surface water down to deeper depths. And because all oxygen enters the surface, less mixing means less of it at depth.
Ocean animals large and small, however, respond to even slight changes in oxygen by seeking refuge in higher oxygen zones or by adjusting behavior, Oschlies and others in his field have found. These adjustments can expose animals to new predators or force them into food-scarce regions. Climate change already poses serious problems for marine life, such as ocean acidification, but deoxygenation is the most pressing issue facing sea animals today, Oschlies says. After all, he says, “they all have to breathe.”
Aside from food web problems, animals face various other physiological challenges as their bodies adjust to lower oxygen levels. Chinese shrimp (虾) move their tails less vigorously to preserve energy in lower oxygen environments. Some creatures, such as jellyfishes, are more tolerant of low oxygen than others are. But all animals will feel the impact of deoxygenation because they all have evolved their oxygen capacity for a reason, says Oschlies. “Any drop in oxygen is going to damage survivability and performance,” he says.
1. According to the first two paragraphs, what worries scientists the most?| A．The worsening deoxygenation in the warming ocean. |
| B．The survival of predators and various marine animals. |
| C．The alarmingly changeable oxygen levels in the ocean. |
| D．The lack of attention to the warming of tropical oceans. |
| A．Polar ice melting consumes much oxygen in the ocean. |
| B．Global warming reduces the amount of oxygen in the air. |
| C．The surface polar ice water prevents oxygen going down. |
| D．Salty water holds less gas in the increasingly warmer ocean. |
| A．Ocean deoxygenation changes some animals’ natural territories. |
| B．Ocean acidification is more serious a problem than deoxygenation. |
| C．Not all ocean animals are bothered by the decreasing oxygen levels. |
| D．Some animals reduce their movements in order to absorb more oxygen. |
| A．The Oxygen Levels of Marine Life | B．Ocean Warming Affects Food Web |
| C．The Survivability of Ocean Animals | D．The Ocean Is Running Out of Breath |
【推荐2】These days everyone is worried about the size of their carbon footprint. In order to reduce global warming, we need to make our carbon footprints smaller. But how much CO are we responsible for?
A new book by Mike Berners-Lee (a leading expert in carbon foot-printing) might be able to help. The Carbon Foot print of Everything looks at the different things we do and buy, and calculates the amount of CO2 they produce, including the ingredients, the electricity, the equipment, the transport and the packaging. And it’s frightening how much carbon dioxide everything produces.
But all of this can help us decide which beer to drink. From Berners-Lee’s calculations, it’s clear that a pint (568 ml) of locally-brewed (酿制的) beer has a smaller carbon footprint than a bottle of imported beer. This is because the imported beer has been transported from far away, and it uses more packaging. The local beer only produces 300 g of CO2-but the imported beer produces 900 g! So, one pint of local beer is better for the environment than three cans of cheap foreign beer from the supermarket.
Berners-Lee has even calculated the carbon footprint of cycling to work. Nothing is more environmentally - friendly than riding a bike, surely? Well, it depends on what you’ve had to eat before. To ride a bike we need energy and for energy we need food. So, if we eat a banana and then ride a kilometer and a half, our footprint is 65 g of CO2. However, if we eat bacon before the bike ride, it’s 200 g. In fact, bananas are good in general because they don’t need packaging. They can be transported by boat and they grow in natural sunlight.
So, does this mean that cycling is bad for the environment? Absolutely not. If you cycle, you don t use your car; and the fewer cars on the road, the fewer traffic jams. And cars in traffic jams produce three times more CO2 than cars travelling at speed. Cycling also makes you healthy and less likely to go to a hospital. And hospitals have very big carbon footprints!
So, maybe it’s time for us all to start making some changes. Pass me a banana and a pint of local beer, please.
1. Which of the followings produces the smallest carbon footprints?| A．A pint of local beer. |
| B．A bottle of imported beer. |
| C．A banana before a 1.5 km bike ride. |
| D．Bacon before a 1.5 km bike ride. |
| A．more tasty | B．easier to buy |
| C．better packaged | D．more energy-saving |
| A．promote a new book |
| B．advertise the imported beer |
| C．instruct how to measure the carbon footprint |
| D．encourage people to reduce the production of CO2 |
【推荐3】The streets, sidewalks and roofs of cities all absorb heat during the day, making some urban areas across the United States up to 6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than rural ones during the day—and 22 degrees F hotter at night. These “urban heat islands” can also develop underground as the city heat spreads downward, beneath the surface. And basements, subway tunnels and other underground infrastructure also constantly bleed heat into the surrounding earth, creating hotspots. Now the underground heat is building up as the planet warms.
According to a new study of downtown Chicago, underground hotspots may threaten the very same structures that emit the heat in the first place. Such temperature changes make the ground around them expand and contract (收缩) enough to cause potential damage. “Without anyone realizing it, the city of Chicago’s downtown was deforming,” says the study’s author Alessandro F. Rotta Loria, a civil and environmental engineer at Northwestern University.
The findings, published in Communications Engineering, expose a “silent hazard (危险)” to civil infrastructure in cities with soft er ground — especially those near water — Rotta Loria says. “There might have been structural issues caused by this underground climate change that happened, and we didn’t even realize,” he adds. While not an immediate or direct danger to human lives, this previously unknown effect highlights the impacts of a lesser-known component of climate change.
Similar to climate change above the surface, these underground changes occur over long periods of time. “These effects took decades, a century, to develop,” Rotta Loria says, adding that elevated underground temperatures would likewise take a long time to dissipate (逐渐消失) on their own.
But other researchers interviewed for this story all say this wasted energy could also be recycled, presenting an opportunity to both cool the subsurface and save on energy costs. Subway tunnels and basements could be updated with technologies to recapture the heat. For example, water pipes could be installed to run through underground hotspots and pick up some of the heat energy.
1. What can we learn about the “urban heat islands”?| A．They can develop underground structures. |
| B．They are impacted by global warming. |
| C．They can destroy the ground around. |
| D．They only exist in the United States. |
| A．To discuss structural issues. |
| B．To categorize climate change. |
| C．To explain underground heat. |
| D．To emphasize the neglected reality. |
| A．The future of tunnels and basements. |
| B．The reusing approaches of heat energy. |
| C．The cost of maintaining structures. |
| D．The evolution of underground environment. |
| A．Warming Underground, Weakening Surface |
| B．A Silver Lining of Global Warming |
| C．Urban Silent Islands in the Making |
| D．A Silent Crisis in Downtown Chicago |
