1 . Light pollution is a significant but overlooked driver of the rapid decline of insect populations, according to the most comprehensive review of the scientific evidence to date.
Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects' lives, the researchers said. "We strongly believe artificial light at night — in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution.invasive (入侵的) species, and climate change — is driving insect declines, " the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies.
Insect population collapses have been reported around the world, and the first global scientific review published in February, said widespread declines threatened to cause a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems".
There are thought to be millions of insect species, most still unknown to science, and about half are active at night. Those active in the day may also be disturbed by light at night when they are at rest.
The most familiar impact of light pollution is moths (飞蛾) flapping around a bulb, mistaking it for the moon. Some insects use the polarisation of light to find the water they need to breed, as light waves line up after reflecting from a smooth surface. But artificial light can scupper (使泡汤) this. Insects are important prey (猎物) for many species, but light pollution can tip the balance in favour of the predator if it traps insects around lights. Such increases in predation risk were likely to cause the rapid extinction of affected species, the researchers said.
The researchers said most human-caused threats to insects have analogues in nature, such as climate change and invasive species. But light pollution is particularly hard for insects to deal with.
However, unlike other drivers of decline, light pollution is relatively easy to prevent. Simply turning off lights that are not needed is the most obvious action, he said, while making lights motion-activated also cuts light pollution. Shading lights so only the area needed is lit up is important. It is the same with avoiding blue-white lights, which interfere with daily rhythms. LED lights also offer hope as they can be easily tuned to avoid harmful colours and flicker rates.
1. What is discussed in the passage?| A．Causes of declining insect populations. |
| B．Consequences of insect population collapses. |
| C．Light pollution: the key bringer of insect declines. |
| D．Insect declines: the driver of the collapsed ecosystem. |
| A．How light travels in space. |
| B．How light helps insects find food. |
| C．How the food chain is interrelated. |
| D．How light pollution affects insects. |
| A．Selective things. | B．Similar things. | C．Variations. | D．Limitations. |
| A．To offer solutions. |
| B．To give examples. |
| C．To make comparisons. |
| D．To present arguments. |
2 . As COVID-19 hit and the world went into varying levels of lockdown (封锁), it became difficult for researchers to know what was happening in the ocean. But now, you can join the eOceans platform to help researchers gather data on oceans and ocean ecosystems in real-time.
Downloading the eOceans app on your smartphone and logging what you see when you are on the coast or in the ocean, including any animals, people, pollution or even an empty beach, you can help researchers monitor the world’s oceans. The app lets you note your observations as well as upload photos. This information is then linked to your geographical location and is made accessible to scientists studying that region. Using eOceans data, researchers can remotely monitor how oceans and coastal communities worldwide are happening, including in the context of the pandemic (疫情).
In reality, observations recorded through eOceans are already providing valuable insights. During Australia’s lockdown, for example, the largest group of turtles in the country’s history was spotted by researchers using eOceans data. And in Hawaii, data from the app suggests that clearer waters are associated with a reduction in tourists during the pandemic.
Negative impacts of the pandemic on the ocean have also been picked up through the app, including an increase in pollution from personal protective equipment, as well as pandemic-related interruptions to marine (海洋的) recovery following a 2019 oil leak in Brazilian waters. In future, data from eOceans could help enable early detection of hazards (危害), such as oil leaks, so that they can be dealt with sooner, says Christine Ward-Paige, founder and chief scientist at eOceans.
“Till now, more than 1,000 people have already joined the eOceans platform,” says Ward-Paige. “But more data on wild life spotted along coastlines, as well as information on how people are using these spaces, are still needed.”
1. How can people help researchers monitor the ocean through the eOceans platform?| A．By downloading and observing some data of hazards. |
| B．By spotting and marking the previous marine recovery. |
| C．By collecting and uploading timely oceanic information. |
| D．By detecting and reporting your present geographical location. |
| A．An oil leak occurring in Australian waters. |
| B．The largest turtle found in Australia’s history. |
| C．A factor contributing to clearer waters in Hawaii. |
| D．A boom of tourism appearing during the pandemic. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Anxious. |
| A．Keeping an eye on the ocean. | B．Caring about the ocean pollution. |
| C．Showing love to coastal creatures. | D．Monitoring the quality of seawater. |
3 . The traditional working day doesn't benefit night owls(夜猫子),with people who prefer to stay up late twice as likely to underperform at work as early birds ;a new study from Finland has6uggested.
Early risers tend to work better early in the morning, while evening types are the opposite. The researchers asked 5,881 individuals born in 1966 in northern Finland about their working life and health and questioned them about their sleep patterns in 2012 when they were 46 years old. The study participants were monitored over a period of four years.
Ten percent of the men and 12% of the women were "evening types", 72% of whom worked in day jobs,the researchers found. A quarter of people classified as evening types rated their own performance at work as poor. This was a significantly higher proportion(比例) than among early birds.
"If evening types have to work in the early morning, they won't rate their work ability as high as morning types. The opposite would be true as well. If normal business hours were 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., the early morning types would feel worse than evening types," said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor at Northwestern University.
Suzanne Hood, an associate professor at Bishop's University in Qucbec, Canada, said that night owls shouldn't be alarmed by the findings.
"Rating job performance doesn't necessarily tell you about the quality of the work in real terms," noted Hood. "Also, the study was observational—it doesn't mean that being a night owl makes you less able to work."
"For example, the employee who seems like a slow starter in the morning might be the person who's most able to work effectively into the evening to meet an important deadline," said Hood. "If there is some opportunity for flexibility in scheduling, allowing employees some control over what time of day they complete their work may help to optimize(优化) performance and productivity."
1. What do we learn about the study from Finland?| A．It lasted from 1966 to 2012. |
| B．It was conducted mainly in the lab. |
| C．72% of participants were early birds. |
| D．A minority of participants were night owls. |
| A．Objective. | B．Worried. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Starting early in the morning. |
| B．Choosing different work schedules. |
| C．Following normal business hours. |
| D．Finishing one's work later than usual. |
| A．Night Owls Tend To Perform Badly At Work |
| B．Early Birds Are More Likely To Gain Advantages |
| C．Are You A Night Owl? Blame It On Your Genes |
| D．Which Do You Prefer, Morning Type Or Evening Type? |
