1 . I love animals. So when Dr. Vannini said his vet hospital needed help, I was
I volunteered to clean up and help in several medical procedures. But the moment I will never
A retriever (寻回犬)was in deep
Near the end of the surgery, something caught my eye. I thought I saw the
The experience was especially meaningful for me because a week earlier I had witnessed the
A.shocked | B.puzzled | C.delighted | D.depressed |
A.suspect | B.forget | C.encounter | D.seize |
A.confusion | B.thought | C.suffering | D.sorrow |
A.survived | B.jumped | C.barked | D.waked |
A.support | B.response | C.comfort | D.surgery |
A.homeless | B.lifeless | C.careless | D.faultless |
A.quickly | B.finally | C.softly | D.roughly |
A.ashamed | B.formal | C.bored | D.incredible |
A.event | B.growth | C.opposite | D.accident |
A.made | B.gave | C.lifted | D.held |
The Effects of a Warmer World Are Visible in Animals’ Bodies
For humans, adapting to climate change will mostly be a matter of technology. More air conditioning, better-designed houses and bigger flood defences may help mitigate the effects of a warm world.
Ryding, a phd candidate at Deakin University, in Australia, shows that is already happening. Climate change is already altering the bodies of many animal species, giving them bigger beaks, limbs and ears. In some species of Australian parrot, for instance, beak size has increased by between 4 % and 10 % since 1871.
All that dovetails (吻合)nicely with evolutionary theory. “Allen’s rule”, named for Joel Asaph Allen, who suggested it in 1877, holds that warm-blooded-animals in hot places tend to have larger appendages (附属物) than those in less hot regions.
Ms Ryding examined museum specimens, comparing their bodies to those of their modern counterparts. She is not the first researcher to take that approach.
Studying a broader range of animals will help firm up exactly what is happening. Much of Ms Ryding’s data concern birds, with less information available for other taxa (类群). But it seems clear that the world of the future is not just going to be hotter than humans are used to.
A.And there are other ways to adapt, too. |
B.The animals living in it will look different, too. |
C.Larger wings are heavier, and bigger legs cost more energy to grow. |
D.Animals will have to rely on changing their bodies or their behaviour. |
E.But it is hard to prove that climate change was the cause of an anatomical (结构上的) change. |
F.Since any evolutionary adaptation comes with trade-offs, it is unclear how far the process might go. |
G.Such adaptations boost an animal's surface area relative to its body volume, helping it to shed excess heat. |
3 . The Greenwood fire took its name from the nearby lake where lightning struck on Aug.15, causing a wildfire that burned for weeks. Fueled by drought and wind, its persistence dominated headlines for much of late summer and early fall in Minnesota. When the last flames were finally put out, the northern Minnesota fire had consumed nearly 27,000 acres, countless firefighting resources, and at its worst, the lives that some had built around nearby McDougal Lake. Vast areas of forest were left burned-out, with the black and bare remains of what were once massive pines.
But, despite the destruction left behind, Mother Nature is set to a comeback. When organic matter is burned from the forest floor, seeds dropped by plants and trees begin to take hold, with the sprouting species emerging first. The trees above have died, which sends a chemical signal to the root system that is actually more expansive than just under that tree, and that chemical response encourages those root systems to re-grow. Ten years ago, a fire ripped through 93,000 acres of Minnesota forest in and around the BWCA. Today, that burnt area's rebirth is well underway.
"Here in the Pagami Creek wildfire scar, we have Jack Pine, Red Pine, Black Spruce, Aspen and paper birch-those are our main species, those are the ones that are growing quickly. It's 10 years on, and these trees are 10 to 15 feet tall in many areas," said Kyle Stover from the U.S. Forest Service.
A wildfire kills most things in its path, but despite the flames and intense temperatures, rarely is everything reduced to ashes -and that plays a key role in a forest's regeneration. Just one year after the fire, the survivors dominate the forest, and grasses replace the burnt ground. Wildflowers are abundant bushes and small trees have started to grow, and Jack Pine returned. So, it's an amazing ecological system of creating new forest life when it appears that all is lost, one that has evolved throughout the ages, where fire has always played a vital role.
1. What can we learn about the Greenwood fire?A.It was a natural occurrence | B.It was caused by drought. |
C.it gained half-year fame. | D.It took many people's lives. |
A.Seeding growth is held up. | B.Burnt organic matter hardly functions. |
C.Root systems spread further and wider | D.Chemicals in the soil are in greater demand. |
A.They are flammable | B.They are fire-resistant |
C.They are fire-adapted. | D.They are overgrown. |
A.A fire. | B.A life | C.A time. | D.A system |
Microplastics, referring to plastic fragments and particles (碎片和微粒) less than 5 millimeters in diameter (直径), have been found on Mount Qomolangma as high as 8,440 meters above sea level, just 408.86 meters below the peak of the mountain, according to a recent study published in the journal One Earth. Scientists collected snow and water samples from 19 different
Tourists have been warned not to take sand and seashells from beaches in Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. More than 40 people,
The iceberg that was for a time the biggest in the world is no more. A68, as it was known, covered an area of nearly 6,000 km2
The last time Yunnan caught national attention was when some Asian elephants left their home and
8 . Stefani Shamrowicz lives in Colorado. The 24-year-old woman has spent 23 days picking up126 bags of rubbish across the country
Having over a month off from her job at a campus recreation center, Stefani Shamrowicz decided to take a trip to help clean up the environment.
She's now driven over 70 hours through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana Florida,Georgia,Tennessee,Kentucky,Ohio,Pennsylvania,and New York-cleaning up everything from pee-filled bottles to lawn ornaments. About 80 percent of the rubbish was drinking bottles. Stefani said she had found a few fast-food toys and a tire with a pair of cowboy boots in it and her aim wasn't to shame, but rather encourage people to do what they can
Collecting anywhere from one to 16 bags at a time, Stefani's been discouraged. She felt she wasn't doing enough. She said there was a place that had an ocean of rubbish and she pushed out four bags, but then she broke down because she realized how much rubbish there was and it felt like four bags didn't do anything. But she remembered to just do what she could, especially since she had gone beyond her goal. She said she dedicated that to her parents because they raised her to be an independent person and had been very supportive on the trip
People donated $10 a bag for Stefani to clean up in their name, which she uses for lodging and gas. The person's name is written on how many bags they've donated towards and Stefani posted a picture on her Instagram when they were filed, thanking them for helping clean up the cit she was in.
People online and in person have responded positively to the project. Stefani recalled people sent her pictures of bags of trash they picked up. Once, when she started doing a bag on the beach in Florida,two ladies saw her and started helping her fill the bag.
With her job resuming June 1, Stefani is now back home but she has so many good things to say about her unique U.S.road trip.There's litter everywhere, so I'm just happy to be able to make a little bit of an impact everywhere I go. Cleaning up this litter is a huge thank you for all the joy and good times national parks and nature in general has brought to my life,”she said.
1. Why did Stefani drive ower70 hours across the USA?A.To call on people to donate money |
B.To earn a living by classifying rubbish. |
C.To encourage people to protect the environment. |
D.To enjoy the scenery of the national parks and nature |
A.People offered their help along her journey |
B.Her parents make joint efforts to support her. |
C.People begin to donate their money for her project. |
D.Many people take action to clean up the environment |
A.Discouraged. | B.Anxious | C.Surprised. | D.Pleased. |
A.Cleaning up rubbish is a tough task. | B.A kind act can make a big difference |
C.Believing in oneself is the key to success. | D.One will realize his dream if he persists in it. |
strive for greatness wipe out die out be committed to be to blame in one's attempt to get ahead up to in short take action set so apart at risk of boil down to |
Human beings are no stranger to extinctions, where entire species
There is a long list of reasons why so many species
However, it's not too late to
World Pangolin (穿山甲) Day is on the
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), more than 1 million pangolins have been killed or sold in the last 10 years. The growing demand for their scales and meat is the main reason for their decline.