1 . The number of weather-related disasters has increased by five times over the past 50 years, the latest report by the World Meteorological (气象) Organization (WMO) said on September. However, thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of death from these hazards (危险) has been almost three times less.
According to the WMO, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters. Among the top 10 hazards that led to the largest loss of human life during this period were droughts, storms, floods and extreme temperatures. However, deaths fell from over 50, 000 in the 1970s to less than 20, 000 in the 2010s.
“Weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“That means more heat waves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is worsening extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms.”
“Economic losses are increasing as exposure increases. But behind the statistics lies a message of hope. Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in deaths. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” Taalas said.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?A.Disasters connected with weather have gone up. |
B.The number of weather-related disasters has decreased. |
C.The number of deaths from hazards has been increasing. |
D.Early warning systems have made disasters decline much. |
A.There will be more extreme weather. |
B.Extreme rainfall will no longer exist. |
C.Water vapor in the atmosphere will go down. |
D.Humans will defeat extreme weather in the end. |
A.Improved warning systems will save economic losses. |
B.Economic losses are going down as exposure increases. |
C.More lives will be saved thanks to early warning systems. |
D.Improved early warning systems will control extreme weather |
A.A novel. | B.A brochure. | C.A magazine. | D.A guideline. |
2 . A good conversation should proceed like a tennis match: players each take turns responding, knowing instinctively (本能) when to speak and when to listen. This kind of complicated and back-and-forth talk is often considered to be possessed only by humans. However, according to a recent study, animals also seem to know when to speak and when to listen.
The study involved over 300 animals including birds, mammals (哺乳动物), insects, and frogs which practice turn-taking behavior. These animals alternate their call and response in a similar way humans communicate. Monkeys, for example, often exchange calls to locate each other in the wild and figure out whether they know one another.
While forms of communication are mostly sound-based, several species have more creative forms of viewable communication. Baby monkeys let their parents know they want to be carried with arm gestures, while birds, insects and frogs can get their messages across through colorful displays.
Kobin Kendrick, the main co-author on the study, says that making comparisons among animals that take turns when communicating can give us a better understanding of how this feature evolved in humans and our ancestors. “We know very little about the evolution and origin of the human language, so any possibility of gaining insight into it is worth going after,” he says.
Additionally, while the idea of turn-taking might bring to mind a picture of orderly, well-mannered animals, Kendrick stresses that this isn’t always the case. Owl (猫头鹰) chicks may try to outdo each other by making louder sounds in an effort to attract favor from their mothers during feeding. “This can be seen as an exception to the rule, highlighting the importance of turn-taking in general,” says Kendrick.
One problem with the study is that researchers themselves don’t know how to communicate with others outside their particular species of interest. Kendrick stresses another goal of the study is to create a wider framework that can bring together all the different researches on turn-taking, allowing scientists to conduct more cross-species comparisons. “We all believe strongly these fields can benefit from each other, and we hope the study will drive more crosstalk between humans and animals in the future,” says Kendrick.
1. What can we learn about the turn-taking behavior?A.It is a unique human quality. |
B.It is an acquired athletic skill. |
C.It occurs between familiar relations. |
D.It features complexity and interaction. |
A.Frogs show skin colors. |
B.Bees release smells. |
C.Eagles scream in the sky. |
D.Monkeys exchange calls. |
A.To propose a definition. |
B.To give a contrast. |
C.To present an argument. |
D.To make a prediction. |
A.Research budget. |
B.Research range. |
C.Research frequency. |
D.Research background. |
China launched a Long March 3B carrier rocket on Thursday afternoon to transport an experimental satellite into space,
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation’s leading space contractor, said in
The satellite
China launched its first carrier rocket in April 1970
4 . In his new book The Journeys of Trees, science writer Zach St. George explores an extremely slow migration(迁 徙), as forests move inch by inch to more hospitable places. As old trees die and new ones grow up, the forest is—ever so slightly—moving, he writes. “Through the fossils(化石) that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movement. They move back and forth across continents, like migrating birds or whales.”
This has happened over thousands of years, and climate change tends to be the driving force—pushing and pulling forests around the globe. Of course, today, climate change is speeding up, and trees can’t keep pace. Take Califomnia: It’s getting hotter and drier and scientists estimate that before too long, Joshua Tree National Park may not be able to sustain Joshua trees. Zach St. George describes a similar threat to Sequoia National Park, during California’s long and severe drought a few years back.
Scientists worried that maybe Sequoia National Park would no longer be the place for giant sequoias. St. George thinks at some point we will lose these ancient trees and we will have to think about what we do with the places, and do we plant new ones somewhere else? This is known as “assisted migration”—humans planting trees in other places where they’re more likely to grow well. But this process carries risks—people can accidentally introduce insects and diseases to new places, where they may wipe out entire native populations. So, St. George writes, there’s a debate among conservationists and foresters today: Should humans help the trees escape?
“I think there are going to be instances where people are probably going to step in and help species move to places where they’ll be more suitable in the future,” St. George says. “And I met a lot of people in the process who have felt sorry about what has been lost and what will be lost—and are still continuing to try and do good and work in the moment for small things.”
1. What does the underlined word “They” in Paragraph 1 refer to?A.Animals. | B.Fossils. | C.Scientists. | D.Forests. |
A.To confirm the problem of the loss of tree species is serious. |
B.To argue humans should be responsible for the loss of trees. |
C.To explain climate change results in the migration of forests. |
D.To prove forests can slow down the process of climate change. |
A.It can prevent the trees escaping. |
B.It can promote biological diversity. |
C.It may help to protect the forests. |
D.It may affect species in new places. |
A.Supportive. | B.Doubtful. | C.Ambiguous. | D.Intolerant. |
5 . On September 7, 1991, the costliest hailstorm (雹暴) in Canadian history hit Calgary’s southern suburbs. As a result, since 1996 a group of insurance companies have spent about $2 million per year on the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. Airplanes seed threatening storm cells with a chemical to make small ice crystals fall as rain before they can grow into dangerous hailstones. But farmers in east-central Alberta — downwind of the hail project flights — worry that precious moisture (水分) is being stolen from their thirsty land by the cloud seeding.
Norman Stienwand, who farms in that area, has been addressing public meetings on this issue for years. “Basically, the provincial government is letting the insurance companies protect the Calgary-Edmonton urban area from hail,” Mr. Stienwand says, “but they’re increasing drought risk as far east as Saskatchewan.”
The Alberta hail project is managed by Terry Krauss, a cloud physicist who works for Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota. “We affect only a very small percentage of the total moisture in the air, so we cannot be causing drought.” Dr. Krauss says. “In fact, we may be helping increase the moisture downwind by creating wetter ground.”
One doubter about the safety of cloud seeding is Chuck Doswell, a research scientist who just retired from the University of Oklahoma. “In 1999, I personally saw significant tornadoes form from a seeded storm cell in Kansas,” Dr. Doswell says. “Does cloud seeding create killer storms or reduce moisture downwind? No one really knows, of course, but the seeding goes on.”
Given the degree of doubt, Mr. Stienwand suggests, “It would be wise to stop cloud seeding.” In practice, doubt has had the opposite effect. Due to the lack of scientific proof concerning their impacts, no one has succeeded in winning a lawsuit against cloud-seeding companies. Hence, private climate engineering can proceed in relative legal safety.
1. What does the project aim to do?A.Conserve moisture in the soil. | B.Forecast disastrous hailstorms. |
C.Prevent the formation of hailstones. | D.Investigate chemical use in farming. |
A.Managers of insurance companies. | B.Farmers in east-central Alberta. |
C.Provincial government officials. | D.Residents of Calgary and Edmonton. |
A.To compare different kinds of seeding methods. | B.To illustrate the development of big hailstorms. |
C.To show the link between storms and moisture. | D.To indicate a possible danger of cloud seeding. |
A.Scientific studies have proved Stienwand right. | B.Cloud-seeding companies will continue to exist. |
C.The doubt about cloud seeding has disappeared. | D.Private climate engineering is illegal in Canada. |
6 . The sperm whale is an astonishing creature. It’s longer than a semi-truck, weighs more than 90, 000 pounds and is the largest member of the toothed whale family. It’s known to dive 6, 500 feet in search of food, and to stay down there for longer than an hour at a time.
Perhaps most fantastically, the sperm whale’s brain weighs as much as 20 pounds-the biggest of any species on Earth. But when it comes to brains, is size all that matters? There’s a lot we don’t know about the sperm whale’s intelligence because it’s difficult to carry out neurological (神经的) testing on such a huge marine mammal. But some clues point to sperm whales being much smarter than we give them credit for.
A 2021 study published in Biology Letters, for example, looked back to 19th-century historical logbooks from whalers. Researchers found that sperm whales were at first easy to catch-but almost immediately, the whales learned how to evade hunters and whaling success dropped by 60 percent. The study suggests that the whales passed information to one another through soundwaves to avoid being caught.
Animals that have big brains usually have a few things in common. They usually live long lives; for example, sperm whales can live for 70 years or longer. Additionally, they’re capable of complex behaviors and they tend to be more socia1. Whales may work together to hunt or communicate in a language all their own.
What’s more, humans, whales and dolphins all have spindle neurons in their brains. These nerve cells make us capable of deeper thought, such as reasoning skills, memory, communication and adaptive thinking. And like humans, whales have emotional intelligence- meaning they're capable of empathy, grief and sadness. Still, in proportion to (与…成比例)our body size, the human brain is bigger than that of the sperm whale.
Yet there’s still so much we don’t know about how smart sperm whales really are. And just like the whalers of a century ago, we have likely been underestimating marine mammals, whether large or small, for as long as we’ve known of their existence.
1. Why do people know little about the sperm whale’s intelligence?A.Sperm whales’ big size makes research difficult. |
B.It didn’t attract scientists’ attention until recently. |
C.Whalers didn’t keep enough records of their hunting. |
D.Sperm whales usually stay deep down in the ocean. |
A.Track. | B.Avoid. | C.Locate. | D.Trick. |
A.The nerve cells distinguish humans from animals. |
B.Sperm whales have smaller brains than humans. |
C.Spindle neurons make higher intelligence possible. |
D.Emotional intelligence is unique to whales and humans. |
A.Sperm Whales Are Astonishingly Smart |
B.Sperm Whales Have the Biggest Brain |
C.Break the Code of Whale Language |
D.Unlock the Mystery of Sea Mammals |
When Mary entered the south Pole Penguin Research Lab, she saw her friend Tom gently stroking (轻抚) a penguin in his arms. As children of the lab scientists, Mary and Tom often observed the emperor penguins that were studied to understand how they adapted to extreme temperatures —insights that could aid human survival.
“We’re thirteen, Tom. It’s time to grow up and stop playing with the lab penguins,” said Mary as she started cleaning. “They’re research animals, not pets.”
“But the birds listen to me1” insisted Tom, his breath forming a cloud in the freezing air. “You’re just trying to be a penguin whisperer again,” Mary replied, shaking her head with a gentle smile. The penguins seemed playful as they walked, dove, swam and chased their live fish for sport before eating.
Suddenly , an alarm rang out and red lights flashed , signaling a problem. The kids rushed over to look into it. “It’s colder than before —there’s ice forming on the water,” noted Tom. Though always cold, Mary had never seen ice here before. She checked the habitat monitor and found that the temperature had gone down a lot. “The heater must be broken!”
Mary quickly sent a message to their parents’ research team, who were conducting outdoor studies. With the adults away, the kids would have to deal with the freezing conditions until help arrived.
Time dragged as Mary and Tom anxiously waited. The increasing cold caused them to shake. “I wonder what emperor penguins do in extreme cold, since they stay in the Pole all winter instead of going somewhere warmer,” asked Mary. “They huddle (挤作一团), ” Tom answered. “They huddle together tightly so that the birds in the middle will be warm enough.” “What about the ones on the edge?” Mary asked. “They push their way towards the center, and then move back out to the edge, and struggle back again. Scientists in the early 21st century recorded it.” He replied as he stared at the large crowd of the penguins in the lab.
注意:1.续写词数应为150 左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
”I have an idea to stay warm1" Tom shouted excitedly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Two and a half hours later , the parents returned with help.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he’s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein’s jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.
Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台). The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.
Among the bag makers’ argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.
The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.
Environmentalists don’t dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.
1. What has Steven Stein been hired to do?A.Help increase grocery sales. |
B.Recycle the waste material. |
C.Stop things falling off trucks. |
D.Argue for the use of plastic bags. |
A.Bans on plastic bags. |
B.Effects of city development. |
C.Headaches caused by garbage. |
D.Plastic bags hung in trees. |
A.They are quite expensive. |
B.Replacing them can be difficult. |
C.They are less strong than plastic bags. |
D.Producing them requires more energy. |
A.Plastic, Paper or Neither |
B.Industry, Pollution and Environment |
C.Recycle or Throw Away |
D.Garbage Collection and Waste Control |
9 . This fall, students at the University of Massachusetts found a new menu at their dining commons: the “diet for a cooler planet” menu. This meant herb-roasted lamb, raised with a carbon-friendly approach. It included sweet potatoes that had been picked from a local farm’s field post-harvest. The options were plant-heavy, locally grown, and involved little to no packaging.
“We wanted to let students participate in climate action by making choices about their food,” says Kathy Wicks, sustainability director for UMass Dining. The university is not alone in this effort. Increasingly, American consumers and institutions are thinking about how their food choices factor into climate change. For many, small choices at the grocery store, dining hall, and restaurant can feel more accessible than big-ticket options like buying a fuel-efficient car or installing home solar panels.
Small changes in dietary habits may make a big difference. Climate activists often target fossil fuels and transportation systems, but studies point to the food system as a significant contributor to global warming. According to Project Drawdown, a research organization that evaluates climate solutions, the way food is grown, transported, and consumed accounts for about a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Beef is a regular target. “If, on average, Americans cut a quarter pound of beef per week from their diet, it’s like taking 10 million cars off the road a year,” says Sujatha Bergen, director of health campaigns for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Food waste ranks third among climate solutions. While much waste occurs before consumers are involved — food left on the field or “chucked” because it does not fit appearance standards, Americans also throw out a lot of food they have purchased: about $ 1,600 worth a year per family of four.
“People are beginning to understand that their food choices make a big impact on climate,” says Megan Larmer, director of regional food at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming in New York. But, she cautions substantial change will need to come from the whole food system.
1. What is the purpose of the new menu at the University of Massachusetts?A.To market the cold dishes. | B.To reduce the cost of packaging. |
C.To popularize the plant-heavy diet. | D.To promote low carbon awareness. |
A.Food is a decisive factor for climate change. |
B.Food choices matter much to global warming. |
C.Universities are working together in climate action. |
D.Fuel-efficient cars are not affordable for consumers. |
A.It has great influence on carbon reduction. | B.It is popular among millions of car drivers. |
C.It has a close relationship with gas emission. | D.It plays a significant role in American’s diet. |
A.Food System Reform: A Successful Trial | B.Global Warming: An Approaching Danger |
C.Carbon Emission: A Killer, or Healer? | D.Low Carbon Diet: A Craze, or More? |
10 . By the end of the century, if not sooner, the world’s oceans will be bluer and greener thanks to a warming climate, according to a new study.
At the heart of the phenomenon lie tiny marine microorganisms(海洋微生物) called phytoplankton. Because of the way light reflects off the organisms, these phytoplankton create colourful patterns at the ocean surface. Ocean colour varies from green to blue, depending on the type and concentration of phytoplankton. Climate change will fuel the growth of phytoplankton in some areas, while reducing it in other spots, leading to changes in the ocean’s appearance.
Phytoplankton live at the ocean surface, where they pull carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) into the ocean while giving off oxygen. When these organisms die, they bury carbon in the deep ocean, an important process that helps to regulate the global climate. But phytoplankton are vulnerable to the ocean’s warming trend. Warming changes key characteristics of the ocean and can affect phytoplankton growth, since they need not only sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow, but also nutrients.
Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a scientist in MIT’s Center for Global Change Science, built a climate model that projects changes to the oceans throughout the century. In a world that warms up by 3℃, it found that multiple changes to the colour of the oceans would occur. The model projects that currently blue areas with little phytoplankton could become even bluer. But in some waters, such as those of the Arctic, a warming will make conditions riper for phytoplankton, and these areas will turn greener. “Not only are the quantities of phytoplankton in the ocean changing. ” she said, “but the type of phytoplankton is changing.”
And why does that matter? Phytoplankton are the base of the food web. If certain kinds begin to disappear from the ocean, Dutkiewicz said, “it will change the type of fish that will be able to survive.” Those kinds of changes could affect the food chain.
Whatever colour changes the ocean experiences in the coming decades will probably be too gradual and unnoticeable, but they could mean significant changes. “It’ll be a while before we can statistically show that the changes are happening because of climate change,” Dutkiewicz said, “but the change in the colour of the ocean will be one of the early warning signals that we really have changed our planet.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?A.The various patterns at the ocean surface. |
B.The cause of the changes in ocean colour. |
C.The way light reflects off marine organisms. |
D.The efforts to fuel the growth of phytoplankton. |
A.Sensitive. | B.Beneficial. | C.Significant. | D.Unnoticeable. |
A.Phytoplankton play a declining role in the marine ecosystem. |
B.Dutkiewicz’s model aims to project phytoplankton changes. |
C.Phytoplankton have been used to control global climate. |
D.Oceans with more phytoplankton may appear greener. |
A.To assess the consequences of ocean colour changes. |
B.To analyse the composition of the ocean food chain. |
C.To explain the effects of climate change on oceans. |
D.To introduce a new method to study phytoplankton. |