A. selected B. distinctive C. signature D. odds AB. domestication AC. decided AD. individuals BC. tamest BD. conflicted CD. mixed ABC. develop |
If you see a house cat, the
As it turns out, this story started about 10,000 years ago, when humans and cats
This
“As humans became farmers and started staying in one place, they had grain stores and waste piles” that attracted rodents, Lyons said. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: the humans had fewer rodents to deal with and the cats got an easy meal.
The wild, undomesticated ancestor species of house cats, Felis silvestris, lives in Africa and Eurasia. These felines are tasty snacks as kittens and stealthy predators as adults, so
But not every F. silvestiis is born with a coat that blends into its habitat.
“Genetic mutations are occurring all the time.” Lyons said.
There isn’t much evidence to indicate why early cat people chose the individuals they did, but Lyons said the range of coats seen on modern domestic cats shows that our agrarian ancestors favored cats with markings that would have
In its native mixed forest or scrub desert environment, a cat with stark white paws would have stood out to predators and prey.
When humans started taking an interest in cats, these white paws would have stood out to them, too. “There were probably people saying, ‘I particularly like that kitten because it has white feet . Let’s make sure it survives’”, Lyons said.
Humans probably also
These
Then, those cells slowly migrate down and around the body. If those waves of cells move far enough to meet each other on the cat’s front side, the embryo will be born a solid-colored kitten, such as an all-black or all-orange cat. Felines
So, the next time you see a kitty wearing white socks, you’ll know that this
2 . Why we should spare parasites
Growing up, Chelsea Wood dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and studying large, exciting animals like sharks. Instead, she later found herself peering through a microscope at the organs of a snail. She had often plucked snails off rocks and collected them in buckets, but she had never looked inside of one. Seen through the microscope, they are surprisingly charming. “I couldn’t believe that I’d been looking at snails for as long as I had and missing all the cool stuff,” says wood. “I just totally fell in love with them.”
Nearly half of all known animals are parasites. One study projects that a tenth of them may be doomed to extinction because of climate change, loss of their hosts, and deliberate attempts at eradication. Though it seems few people care — or even notice.
Scientists warn of dire consequences if we continue to ignore the dangerous situation of parasites. Not only are some of them useful to humans [such as medicinal leeches, still employed in some surgeries], but they also play crucial roles in ecosystems, keeping some populations in check while helping to feed others.
Some experts say there’s an aesthetic argument for saving them.
We’ve barely begun to identify all the parasites. “That’s just not something that we’ve prioritized,” says Skylar Hopkins, an ecologist at North Carolina State University. So, Hopkins pulled together a group of scientists interested in parasites, and they started sharing what they knew.
Since parasites rely on other species, they can be easily hurt, Take, for example, the endangered pygmy hog-sucking louse. It only lives on another species that is itself endangered, the pygmy hog, which is disappearing fast. Then there’s the California condor louse. In the 1970s, desperate to save the California condor, biologists began raising them in captivity. Part of the protocol was to delouse every bird, on the assumption that parasites were bad for condors, though it’s not clear that they actually were.
While the death of parasites might seem like no big deal, ecologists caution that wiping them out could end up dooming the planet.
Even human health wouldn’t entirely benefit from wiping out parasites. The human immune system evolved alongside a group of parasites, and if we were to kill them off, our immune systems would then began attacking ourselves.
However, scientists aren’t out to save all parasites. The Guinea worm, for instance, should not be spared. It grows inside a person’s abdomen, causing harm to one’s health.
If anyone would want to get rid of all parasites, you’d think it would be Bobbi Pritt. As medical director for the Mayo Clinic’s human parasitology lab, Pritt identifies harmful parasites found all over the country and in every body part. Yet even Pritt has a soft spot for parasites. As a physician, she favors wiping out parasites that cause disease and suffering.
Ultimately, we do not want a war against all of them, because there’s still so much we don’t understand.
A.Without parasites keeping them in check, the populations of certain animals would explode. |
B.Beyond their aesthetic or scientific importance, parasites are an integral part of the biosphere. |
C.Parasites are sometimes rejected by the scientific communities that study the animal world because they rely on a host. |
D.“But as a biologist,” she says, “purposefully trying to make something extinct just doesn’t sit well with me.” |
E.Therefore, she has committed herself to finding more effective approaches to eliminate all harmful parasites. |
F.If you get past their “gross” appearance, you may find parasites’ way of living strangely charming. |
A.efficiency B.employ C.effective D.chemicals E.accelerating F.existing G.projected H.trapped I.power J.simultaneously K.artificially |
This past July was the hottest recorded month in human history. Heat waves smashed temperature records worldwide and even brought summer temperatures to Chile and Argentina during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. It’s more than just a matter of sweaty discomfort. In the U.S. alone, it kills more people each year than floods, tornadoes and hurricanes combined. As climate change worsens, access to
Yet standard air-conditioning systems have
It’s becoming increasingly clear that humans cannot outrun climate change with the same air-conditioning technology we’ve been using. One well-known problem with current AC systems is their reliance on refrigerant
Standard air-conditioning systems
Even with some of the best technologies available, the gains in
4 . Each year, backed up by a growing anti-consumerist movement, people are using the holiday season to call on us all to shop less.
Driven by concerns about resource exhaustion, over recent years environmentalists have increasingly turned their sights on our “consumer culture”. Groups such as The Story of Stuff and Buy Nothing New Day are growing as a movement that increasingly blames all our ills on our desire to shop.
We clearly have a growing resource problem. The produces we make, buy, and use are often linked to the destruction of our waterways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live. But to blame these issues on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and puts us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem.
While we complain about environmental destruction over Christmas, environmentalists often forget what the holiday season actually means for many people. For most, Christmas isn’t an add-on to an already heavy shopping year. In fact, it is likely the only time of year many have the opportunity to spend on friends and family, or even just to buy the necessities needed for modern life.
This is particularly, true for Boxing Day, often the target of the strongest derision(嘲弄) by anti-consumerists. While we may laugh at the queues in front of the shops, for many, those sales provide the one chance to buy items they’ve needed all year. As Leigh Phillips argues, “this is one of the few times of the year that people can even hope to afford such ‘luxuries’, the Christmas presents their kids are asking for, or just an appliance that works.”
Indeed, the richest 7% of people are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes particularly harmful when you take into account that those shopping on Boxing Day are only a small part of our consumption “problem” anyway. Why are environmentalists attacking these individuals, while ignoring such people as Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has his own£1.5bn yacht with a missile defence system?
Anyway, anti-consumerism has become a movement of wealthy people talking down to the working class about their life choices, while ignoring the real cause of our environmental problems. It is no wonder one is changing their behaviours—or that environmental destruction continues without any reduction in intensity.
1. It is indicated in the 1st paragraph that during the holiday season, many consumers .A.ignore resource problems |
B.are fascinated with presents |
C.are encouraged to spend less |
D.show great interest in the movement. |
A.has targeted the wrong persons |
B.has achieved its intended purposes |
C.has taken environment-friendly measures |
D.has benefited both consumers and producers |
A.madness about life choices |
B.discontent with rich lifestyle |
C.ignorance about the real cause |
D.disrespect for holiday shoppers |
A.anything less than a responsibility | B.nothing more than a bias |
C.indicative of environmental awareness | D.unacceptable to ordinary people |
5 . For millions of years, Arctic sea ice has expanded and shrunk in a rhythmic dance with the summer sun. Humans evolved in this icy world, and civilization relied on it for climatic, ecological and political stability. But now the world comes ever closer to a future without ice. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that 2019’s minimum arctic sea ice extent was the second lowest on record. Arctic summers could become mostly ice-free in 30 years, and possibly sooner if current trends continue. As the northern sea ice declines, the world must unite to preserve what remains of the Arctic.
Although most people have never seen the sea ice, its effects are never far away. By reflecting sunlight, Arctic ice acts as Earth’s air conditioner. Once dark water replaces brilliant ice, Earth could warm substantially, equivalent to the warming caused by the additional release of a trillion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and declining sea ice threatens wildlife, from the polar bear to algae that grow beneath the sea ice, supporting the large amount of marine life.
To avoid the consequences the scientific community should advocate not just for lowering greenhouse gas emissions, but also for protecting the Arctic from exploitation. The Antarctic shows the way. In the 1950s, countries raced to claim the Antarctic continent for resources and military installations. Enter the scientists. The 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year brought together scientists from competing countries to study Antarctica, and countries temporarily suspended their territorial disputes (争议). In 1959, 12 countries signed the Antarctic Treaty to preserve the continent for peaceful scientific discovery rather than territorial and military gain.
Sixty years later, we must now save the Arctic. A new Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS) Treaty would protect the Arctic Ocean as a scientific preserve for peaceful purposes only. Similar to Antarctica, MAPS would prohibit resource exploitation, commercial fishing and shipping, and military exercises. So far, only 2 non-Arctic countries have signed MAPS; 97 more need to sign on to enact it into law. Scientists can help—just as they did for the Antarctic—by giving statements of support, asking scientific organizations to endorse (支持) the treaty, communicating the importance of protecting the arctic to the public and policy-makers, and above all, by convincing national leaders to sign the treaty. In particular, Arctic nations must agree that recognizing the arctic as an international preserve is better than fighting over it. In 2018, these countries successfully negotiated a 16-year moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic high seas, demonstrating that such agreements are possible.
Humans have only ever lived in a world topped by ice. Can we now work together to protect Arctic ecosystems, keep the northern peace, and allow the sea ice to return?
1. What can be inferred from the passage?A.wildlife relies on sea ice for food and water. |
B.The Arctic would be ice-free in 30 years. |
C.Sea ice slows down the global warming. |
D.The melting of sea ice releases CO2. |
A.remind readers of the past of the Antarctic |
B.propose a feasible approach for the Arctic |
C.stress the importance of preserving sea ice |
D.recall how the Antarctic Treaty came into being |
A.battle | B.ban |
C.memo | D.protection |
A.Antarctic: a Successful Comeback? | B.Sea Ice and Global Warming |
C.Arctic: the Earth’s Future | D.Life Without Ice? |
A rare hole has opened up in the ozone layer above the Arctic, in
The hole has reached record dimensions, but is not expected to pose any danger to humans
Low temperatures in the northern polar regions led to an unusual stable polar vortex (极地漩涡), and the presence of ozone-destroying chemicals such as chlorine (氯) in the atmosphere - from human activities-caused the hole
It is now too early to say
New sources of ozone-destroying chemicals were not a factor in the hole
7 . Identifying the chemical makeup of pigment (色素) used in ancient documents, paintings, and watercolors is critical to restoring and conserving the precious artworks. However, despite numerous efforts, scientists had been unable to determine the source of folium, a popular blue dye used to color manuscripts (手稿) in Europe during the middle ages — from the 5th to the 15th century. Now, a team of researchers from Portugal has finally uncovered the mysterious ingredient responsible for the gorgeous blueish-purple color that helped bring ancient illustrations and texts to life.
The research team began by poring over instructions penned by European dye makers from the 12th, 14th, and 15th centuries. They found what they were seeking in a 15th-century text entitled The Book on How to Make All the Color Paints for Illuminating Books. However, translating the instructions was no easy task. It was written in the now extinct Judaeo-Portuguese language, and though the source of the dye was traced back to a plant, no name was mentioned.
However, by piecing together suggestions from the text, the scientists were able to determine that the dye was made from the bluish-green berries of the chrozophora tinctoria plant. After an extensive search, the team found a few varieties of the plant growing along the roadside near the town of Monsaraz in south Portugal.
The detailed instructions gave the researchers critical clues — including the best time to pick the berries. “You need to squeeze the fruits, being careful not to break the seeds, and then to put them on linen (亚麻).” The scientist says the detail was important since broken seeds polluted the pigment, producing an inferior quality ink. The dyed linen, which was left to dry, was an efficient way to store and transport the pigment during ancient times. When needed, the artist would simply cut off a piece of the cloth and dip it with water to squeeze out the blue color.
Once the key ingredient had been identified, the researchers began to determine the dye’s molecular structure. To their surprise, they found that folium was not like any other known permanent blue dyes — it was an entirely new class of color, one they named chrozophoridin. “Chrozophoridin was used in ancient times to make a beautiful blue dye for painting.” the team wrote in the study. “Thus, we believe that this will not be our final word on this amazing plant and its story and that further discoveries will follow soon.”
1. The primary purpose of the study is to ________.A.restore and conserve ancient precious artworks |
B.determine the substance making up the folium |
C.prove the ancient dye-making technique was organic |
D.identify which class of color folium belongs to |
A.discussing publicly | B.testing repeatedly |
C.passing directly | D.reading carefully |
A.It was essentially an inferior type of ink. |
B.It was the only kind made from wild berries. |
C.It could be carried and used easily. |
D.It was carefully squeezed from broken seeds. |
A.how the mystery of a thousand-year-old blue dye was solved |
B.why the researchers took the trouble to recreate the dye |
C.what needs to be done to make an organic dye from a plant |
D.when and where the discovery of the dye was made |
Last week, climate strikers young and old came out in force to call upon the government to act with greater urgency in tackling the global climate emergency.
They
Urgent action is needed
It is hoped that UN member states
The government has been a vocal champion for ocean conservation. Now is the time for Britain to turn political will into decisive action by leading the way with the forging of a new global ocean treaty. The prime minister’s direct involvement could make the difference
9 . Become an Atlantis Jr. Aquarist and spend 3 days working with marine life! Food prepping to feeding the animals to snorkeling (浮潜) and learning about coral reefs, it’s a week of marine adventure!
Marine Adventure Camp | |
June 24--28; Monday--Friday | |
July 8--12; Monday--Friday | |
July 29--August 2; Monday--Friday | |
August 12--16; Monday--Friday | |
5 days/4 nights Ages: 10 to 14 Price: $595 (not inclusive of room cost) | Camp Hours |
Monday: 5:45 p. m. to 7:30 p. m. Tuesday: 8:00 a. m. to 3:00 p. m. Wednesday: 9:00 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. Thursday: 9:00 a. m. to 4:00 p. m. Friday: Check out (or you may extend your stay on your own). *Please note: Programming subject to change based on weather conditions. | |
Package Components | Dress Code |
1. Amenity(便利设施)Package —Camp Name Badge —Mask and Snorkel —Messenger Bag —Cap —Towel —Marine Life Guide —Water Bottle 2. Welcome Dinner 3. Lunch for 3 days (venue to be determined) 4. Behind the Scenes with our Sea Keeper Team 5. Behind the Scenes with our Marine Mammal Team 6. Fish food preparation and hand feeding 7. Ruins Snorkel 8. Stingray Snorkel 9. Blue Adventure Snorkel Trip 10. Shark Walk with Stuart Cove | T-Shirts Shorts Swimsuits Water Shoes (Since most water shoes are uncomfortable for the amount of walking they do, especially when wet, you are not allowed to change into water shoes when you prepare to swim.) Sun Block |
Important Notes | |
All attendees must be able to swim without assistance. All attendees must speak fluent English. Camp name badge must be worn daily. Attendees must be at least 10 years of age. |
A.camp hours | B.camp price | C.things to bring | D.daily schedules |
A.Tom, who has just graduated from high school |
B.Jerry, who has saved up 600 dollars for summer holiday |
C.Mary, a local 6 grader who likes swimming |
D.Edward, who has been offered a position in an aquarium |
A.Attendees don’t wear water shoes when they go swimming. |
B.All attendees must check out on the last day of the camp. |
C.The programs are fixed and no minor changes will be made. |
D.Attendees will have a 5-day experience working with marine life in the camp. |
10 . What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
PLASTIC
It is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each year from rivers. More than half of this plastic is less
The strong and floating plastics show resiliency(韧性) in the marine environment, allowing them to be transported over
Once these plastics enter the gyre(环流), they are unlikely to leave the area until they
LOCATION
Due to seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents, the GPGP’s location and shape are constantly changing. Only floating objects that are
By simulating concentration levels in the North Pacific, the researchers were able to follow the location of the patch and found on average it orbits around 32°N and 145°W. However, the team observed seasonal
IMPACT ON WILDLIFE
Plastic has increasingly become a very common substance in the ocean. Due to its size and color, animals
Studies have shown that about 700 species have encountered marine debris, and 92% of these
IMPACT ON HUMANS AND SOCIETY
Once plastic enters the marine food web, there is a possibility that it will contaminate the human food chain as well. Through a process called bioaccumulation, chemicals in plastics will enter the body of the animal
A.ACCUMULATION | B.DRIFT | C.FLOATING | D.PROMOTION |
A.light | B.thick | C.tiny | D.dense |
A.adjusted | B.overdone | C.deposited | D.extended |
A.upgrade | B.degrade | C.assemble | D.disassemble |
A.transportation | B.estimation | C.concentration | D.location |
A.predominantly | B.rarely | C.previously | D.slightly |
A.similarity | B.shift | C.boost | D.figure |
A.exchange | B.substitute | C.leave | D.confuse |
A.implications | B.interactions | C.interferences | D.influences |
A.resting | B.feeding | C.risking | D.waiting |
A.mariner | B.prey | C.tracker | D.predator |
A.present | B.absent | C.current | D.reliable |
A.Likewise | B.However | C.Moreover | D.Therefore |
A.result in | B.remove from | C.stem from | D.bring about |
A.insufficient | B.adequate | C.insignificant | D.substantial |