What Lies Beneath

“Earth” has always been an odd choice of name for the third planet from the Sun. After all, an alien (外星人) examining it through a telescope would note that two-thirds of its surface is     1     not of land but of oceans of water. Marine biologists think the oceans might host more than 2,000,000 species of marine animals, of which they have so far     2     perhaps a tenth.

A new     3     hopes to change this. Smoothly launched in London on April 27th, Ocean Census (海洋普查) aims to discover 100,000 new species of marine animal over the coming decade.

The attempt is happening now for two reasons. One is that, the longer scientists     4    , the fewer there will be to document. Climate change is heating the oceans, as well as making them more acidic as carbon dioxide is absorbed into the water.

The second one is technological. Marine biologists discover about 2,000 new species a year, a rate hardly changed since Darwin’s day. Ocean Census is     5     it can go faster. “Cyber taxonomy (网络分类学)”, for instance, involves feeding animal DNA information into computers, which can quickly decide whether it meets the     6     for a new species.

Exactly what the new effort might turn up, of course, is impossible to forecast. But history suggests it will be fruitful. Half a century ago scientists detected hot openings on the sea bed that were home to organisms living happily in conditions that, until then, had been thought     7     to life. These days, such openings are one credible     8     for the origin of all life on Earth.

More practical benefits can’t be ignored. Many drugs, for example, come originally from biological     9    . An ocean full of unrecorded life will almost certainly prove a rich seam (矿层) from which to     10     more.

To help make use of its data, Ocean Census plans to make it attainable to scientists and the public without charge, who will be able to search it for anything valuable or unexpected.

3 . Global surface temperatures last month were 2.25 degrees warmer than the 20th century average of 60.1 degrees, breaking previous records, from August 2016, by more than half a degree, according to NOAA researchers. “That to me is a really huge _________ from one record to the next,” said Ellen Bartow, a physical scientist with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

The report _________ what millions of people have experienced in recent months, including record-breaking heatwaves that have touched almost every corner of the globe. Asia, Africa, North America and South America had their warmest August on record, as did the Arctic, Europe and Oceania — a region that _________ Australia—had their second-warmest August on record, the report said.

It wasn’t just the land that _________: August set a record for the highest monthly sea surface temperature abnormally — 1.85 degrees above average. The warming oceans _________ shrinking sea ice, with Antarctica experiencing its fourth continuous month with the _________ sea ice extent on record. Globally, sea ice extent in August was about 550,000 square miles less than the previous record low, set in August 2019.

“We’ve seen unheard-of warmth in the global ocean, and that’s definitely alarming because its effects _________ beyond just the scope of the ocean,” Bartow-Gillies said. “Not only are you _________ marine habitats, but you are affecting storm creation, you’re creating more instability in some areas, and you’re creating flooding events in other areas. There’s a whole host of _________ that come along with these warmer ocean surface temperatures that we’re seeing.”

In fact, the report comes after a series of severe natural __________ that span the globe. This week, a Mediterranean storm caused serious flooding in Libya, killing more than 11,000 people. In Canada, wildfires burned through more than 42 million acres of forests this summer, and several are still burning. __________ global warming was not the singular cause of any of these disasters, heating of the Earth continues to __________ the likelihood of extreme weather events and wildfire worldwide.

“The scientific evidence is __________ — we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop __________ greenhouse gases,” read a statement from Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which also __________ that this summer was the hottest on record.

4 . Animal Rights

Every conscious being has interests that should be respected. No being who is conscious of being alive should be devalued to thinghood, dominated, and used as a resource or _________. The key point of the idea known as animal rights is a movement to extend moral consideration to all _________ beings. Nobody should have to demonstrate a specific level of intelligence or be judged beautiful to be given moral consideration. No being should have to be useful to humanity or capable of accepting “duties” in order to be extended moral consideration. _________, what other animals need from us is being free from duties to us.

Animal rights is about letting animals live on their own terms. It can be written into our laws, but is not an actual list or bill of rights as we have for human society. It begins with our promises not to act like _________ of others. Animal rights is about justice — treating animals fairly.

Why is animal rights _________? It is because we humans often act as though we are the only beings on the planet. Although we depend on other animals for our very survival, humans are the only animals that have upset the balance of nature. There are lots of ways that humans _________ animals. We domesticate them and use them for food, even though our nutritional needs can be completely supplied by a(n) _________ diet. Although other materials are available, we use animal’s skin and other body parts for clothing, furs, hats, boots, jewellery and even pet toys. Humans can talk about it but animals cannot. All animals wish to experience life in its fullness. Unlike many animals who have to kill to survive, humans do not. Why should humans cause _________ to other beings when it’s not necessary?

As we do, animals protect their children; they feel fear; they warn each other of dangers; they play. We might differ from other animals in some ways, but that doesn’t give us the right to _________ them down, take their lands, pollute their waters, or use them for our conveniences. Animals also experience pain and it’s not difficult to observe ____________ of pain in the way a conscious being reacts to it. We take advantage, cause distress, and act ____________ when we use animals for amusement. Lots of pets are ____________ on the streets when their owners no longer find it convenient or affordable to keep or care for them.

Whether we admit it or not, it’s a prejudice to think we are ____________ to animals and that it is our right to control them, which can only make people act mean, hateful or neglectful. However, each of us has within us the power to ____________. We can adopt a different attitude, one that reshape our destiny. This will have wonderful effects on the planet’s other communities, for life is ____________ avoiding suffering. It is interacting, singing, pursuing joy. We humans can learn to live responsibly, with respect, kindness and love.

5 . 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.”

10 . 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!