1 . The Chapramari Forest lies in the eastern area of India.
After a collision this past April in Odisha state that killed four elephants, Indian Railways lowered speed limits to as low as 18 mph in several areas in the country's east.
More permanent solutions include constructing overpasses or underpasses as safe crossing points for the elephants, elevating the railway track, or getting the track away from sensitive areas.
| A．because they are attracted by the green grass |
| B．Still, three elephants were killed in train accidents in that state since February |
| C．Many of the plants here dry up in winter |
| D．And the measures they take are working wonders |
| E．In India trains have killed 281 elephants from 1987 to July 2018 |
| F．when it can feel the train's movement |
| G．But train conductors often break speed regulations |
1变化（交通transportation,环境environment,……）；
2.原因；
3.欢迎他再来平谷。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
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Yours,
Li Hua
A new study reveals more answers about why Earth’s second largest ocean is expanding four centimetres.
That’s around the height of a golf tee. The width of a cracker. It’s also the amount that the Atlantic Ocean is expanding every year.
Now when you’re talking about an ocean that is 4,830 kilometres (3,000 miles) wide at its largest point, 4 centimetres (1.6 inches) is not much. But it is happening. So naturally, scientists want to know why.
Thanks to a new study, researchers think that they have the answer why. You could even call it a ‘hot take’. As in hot magma, or molten rock, deep under the ocean floor!
The study suggests that the expansion is being caused by magma(岩浆) bubbling up from under an underwater ‘mountain range’ called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Let’s start with what that ridge is.
Basically, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the seam between some very large tectonic plates. The ridge is also known as a plate boundary. As we’ve discussed before here, tectonic plates are essentially the platforms that our continents rest on. They are large pieces of the crust that are always moving in slow motion.
This movement is what causes earthquakes, for example. And the areas where the plates meet are where we tend to find things like mountains and volcanos, as well.
In this case, as the magma bubbles up from the mantle(地幔) below the crust, it is pushing the edges of both plates out of the way. As a result, the ocean is slowly getting wider.
This is a new finding. Before the study, scientists thought that the plates were being pulled apart—they were being dragged away from the ridge by forces occurring on either side of the ocean, not from in the middle.
Scientists still believe that this ‘pulling’ motion is happening. It is just that now, they feel that the bubbling magma is an important force as well. There is push and pull.
The scientists behind this study have been quick to point out that their research is only looking at a small cross-section of the ridge. It’s like a slice across it. What is happening right along this slice, may not be happening the same way up and down the entire ridge. But it is still really useful information—and how they got it is pretty cool.
Back in 2016, a research ship traveled to a very quiet spot directly over the ridge. Over five weeks, the crew dropped 39 seismometers on to the ocean floor. These devices allow them to ‘listen’ to the activity of the tectonic plates and what was beneath it. It’s like what a stethoscope does with your heartbeat, but for the planet. A year later, they retrieved the devices and looked at the data.
Then it was back to the lab to try and piece together what they learned. In the end, they have added to our understanding of how and why the Earth’s surface constantly moves. Even if it is only by about a little bit each year!
1. What is causing the expansion of Earth’s second largest ocean?2. What does the underlined phrase “This movement” refer to?
3. Please decide which part of the following statement is false, then underline it and explain why.
Scientists find that it is the magma below the crust that is pushing the edges of both plates out of the way to cause the ocean to slowly get wider, but not the forces occurring on either side of the ocean pulling the plates apart.
4. What do you think of the process of how the finding was got? (about 40 words)
Your writing should include the following three aspects:
| 1. description of the picture; 2. analysis of the picture; 3. lessons from the picture. |
The opening part of the writing is given below.
Save Us, Please!
As can be seen from the picture, ...
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5 . Social bond of animals
Friendship is an important part of human life. Friends can share our joys and our hardships. We aren’t alone.
Recently, a British research team finished an eight-year study of Indo-Pacific dolphins off the coast of-Western Australia. These dolphins can use different tools to search for food.
“It suggests that dolphins form social bonds based on shared interests,” UK biologist Simon Allen told Science Daily. “Using different tools is time-consuming for dolphins to cooperate.”
Apart from dolphins, elephants, horses and bats are also known to form friendships.
Of course not, The Atlantic reported. In 2015, a goat was originally left in a tiger’s enclosure (围场) as a meal.
Humans aren’t so different. “We do not work, play and live together with the same friends all the time,” Swiss zoologist Gerald Kerth explained. “But nevertheless, we are able to maintain long term relationships... despite our often highly dynamic social lives.”
| A．Many different animals also make friends. |
| B．Are friendships only limited to the same species? |
| C．Dolphins live on fish but they do not spend all their time looking for fish. |
| D．More interestingly, animals not only make friends but also try to keep lasting friendships. |
| E．The goat was frightened of the tiger, and pretended to make friends with it for the sake of its own safety. |
| F．The researchers found that these dolphins are more willing to hang out with partners that like the same tool. |
| G．But instead of eating the goat, the tiger likes to play with it and gets jealous when other animals are close to his friend. |
6 . Blood-Doping Champion
Blood doping (违规输血) to improve performance is forbidden in professional sports. Athletes can use this technique to fuel their muscles with more oxygen-carrying red blood cells—for example, by receiving a transfusion. But many animals dope naturally: sheep, fishes and horses can boost their blood’s capacity to carry oxygen by 16 to 74 percent in physically demanding situations. Now a study shows that an Antarctic fish called the bald notothen can increase its carrying capacity by more than 200 percent to pursue an active life in cold waters.
Like most fishes native to Antarctica, the bald notothen’s blood contains anti-freeze proteins that help it withstand extreme cold. But these proteins, along with red blood cells (RBCs), can make blood sticky and hard to circulate. Some Antarctic fishes adapt by removing RBCs altogether, absorbing oxygen directly from the water via skin as they passively await prey (猎物). Bald notothens, however, actively swim below surface ice to chase other active life when avoiding seals and penguins. For this behavior, “you need to supply more oxygen to the muscles,” says Michael Axelsson, a physiologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and co-author of the new study.
The scientists compared RBC levels in samples collected from bald notothens relaxing in glass tanks with those in samples drawn from fish they “chased” using a plastic tube. RBC levels were at 9 percent in the resting animals but 27 percent in the exercised ones, showing a 207 percent increase in the latter’s blood oxygen carrying capacity. “No other fish we’ve seen can more than double their RBCs or drop their numbers to such a low level when resting,” Axelsson says. The fish’s spleen (脾) stores RBCs, and the researcher found that to release more into the bloodstream, the organ shrinks to weigh 41 percent less.
The enormous changes in RBC levels initially surprised Gerald Kooyman, a biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who was not involved in the study. He notes, however, that these animals have fewer blood cells to begin with, so maintaining circulation with a tripled RBC count is less difficult. If a diving Weddell seal pushed its RBC levels from 40 to 90 percent, for instance, its blood would be dangerously hard to pump.
Yet bald notothens do face trade-offs for their ability. The scientists found blood pressure was 12 percent higher and the heart worked 30 percent harder in active individuals. Bald notothens can rest during quiet times, but when they need to use their abilities, Axelsson says, “these fish have to live with more RBCs because they need more oxygen.”
1. Compared with most fishes native to Antarctica, what is special about the bald notothen?| A．Its blood contains anti-freeze proteins. |
| B．It can absorb oxygen directly from water via is skin. |
| C．Its red blood cells can make blood sticky and hard to circulate. |
| D．It actively swims below surface ice when chasing other active life. |
| A．RBC levels. | B．Scientists. |
| C．Glass tanks. | D．Fishes. |
| A．the RBC levels in seals can increase from 40 to 90 percent |
| B．bald notothens’ blood pressure are 12 percent higher than other fishes |
| C．when bald notothens chase active life, there are more RBCs in their bodies |
| D．Gerald Kooyman, a marine biologist provided some suggestions on this study |
| A．To explain study methods on fishes. |
| B．To introduce some findings about a fish. |
| C．To present a way to improve athletes’ performance. |
| D．To raise people’s awareness to protect bald notothens. |
The Goose That Came Home
If you’ve ever witnessed the grand view of a Canada goose flock flying into the clouds, you know that these noble birds are a force to be reckoned with. Each group is composed of couples that mate for life, as well as their goslings and friends. Together, they are one large family. Apart, they are individuals with personalities. No one know this more than my family, who raised a little goose we named Peeper.
When I was around seven years old, my parents, sister and I were coming back from a T-ball game one late spring afternoon. But unlike other weekends, on this day a surprise was waiting in our driveway: two adult geese and a gosling. The adults were scared by us and flew away, but their baby was too young to fly. We are no strangers to the ways of wildlife, so we knew to avoid contact with the gosling in case it relied on us and got lost to its family forever.
Hours passed, and night fell. With it came a deep chill and a fear of watchful predators. It was clear that the gosling needed protection and warmth to make it to the morning, so we brought him onto our back porch and set up a wire fence to protect him. The young goose had clearly decided we were his new family. My sister, Joanna, called the little guy Peeper because he would follow us everywhere around the yard making a peeping noise, nonstop.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks tuned into months, until almost a year passed. We settled into a routine filled with feathery hugs. Part of this routine included Dad throwing Peeper up into the air so he could fly a loop around the house. However, Peeper flew off one day when performing the routine. We looked for him for days, calling his name, but he didn’t come back. Twenty years passed, and Peeper became a fond memory for my family.
Geese live to be around 25 years old and are very loyal. They never forget their first home. Even so, it came as a shock last year when an aging adult goose made his way back to my family home. At first, I assumed it was just another goose. Yet something about the lone male seemed oddly familiar to me. He did all the things Peeper used to, including responding to the name Peeper. My old best friend had returned, 20 years later. He doesn’t come back every single night. but he’s here a lot, making his presence known and giving me joy.
This experience has been as meaningful to me as anything in my life. People long for connection with the natural world. Through Peeper, I have learned so much about myself and about the love that lives in all of nature.
1. What was the surprise when the writer and his family came back home one day?2. Why did the writer’s family avoid contact with the gosling at first?
3. What’s the relationship between the writer and Peeper? Why do you think so?
4. What do you think the writer has learnt from this experience? (Around 40 words)
China's winter, from December to February, will be chiller than usual, according to a nationwide weather outlook
The forecast, made
It
Meanwhile, 20 percent to 50 percent more precipitation than normal will batter North China this winter, while in the south it will decrease by
9 . Plastic-eating worms
Humans produces more than 30 million tons of plastic each year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(填埋场) , and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests that an answer may lies in the stomachs of some hungry worms.
Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can breakdown polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100waxwormsona commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3%of it. To confirm that the worm's chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films . 14 hours later the films had lost 13%of their mass—apparently broken down by enzymes( 酶 ) from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017. Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food—beeswax—also allows them to breakdown plastic. “Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well,”she explains, “The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond.”
Jennifer Debruyn, a microbiologist at the University di Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can breakdown polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, Debruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物) ?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help employ the enzyme to breakdown plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process—not simply “millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic”.
1. What can we learn about the worms in the study?| A．They take plastics as their everyday food. |
| B．They are newly evolved creatures. |
| C．They can consume plastics. |
| D．They wind up in landfills. |
| A．help to raise worms | B．help make plastic bags |
| C．be used to clean the oceans | D．be produced in factories in future |
| A．To explain a study method on worms. |
| B．To introduce the diet of a special worm. |
| C．To present a way to breakdown plastics. |
| D．To propose new means to keep eco-balance. |
10 . Climate change is threatening our future as more and more greenhouse gases like CO2 are gathering in the atmosphere and heating up the planet. To fight the problem, both scientists and economists have suggested some good solutions. It turns out that whales, animals we’ve hunted to near extinction, are excellent at taking away CO2.
Whales remove CO2 from the air in two ways. First, they move nutrients(营养物) from their feeding areas deep in the ocean back to the surface, where they release them in their waste. Those nutrients aid the growth of phytoplankton(浮游植物), which, like other plants, takes away CO2 from the air. Second, whales themselves collect CO2 in their bodies when they eat other animals. The total amount of the gas adds up to about 33 tons over a whale’s lifetime. When whales die, they take away all that CO2 with them down to the ocean floor.
Saving the whales could also be more cost effective than planting trees. Financial experts say that one whale, taking away CO2 and tour value, would be worth about US$2 million over its lifetime. Compare this to the high costs needed to plant and keep forests for removing CO2, and you’ll see why whales might be an effective solution.
At one time, millions of whales swam the world’s oceans. Unluckily, commercial whaling between the 1600s and the mid-1900s brought many whale species close to extinction.
Starting in the 1970s, careful management of whaling began. Many species are recovering, but the giant animals still face major threats. One threat is continued hunting despite international regulation. For example, in Japan, “scientific” kills are carried out—often an excuse to get whale meat, which is considered delicious food. Public outcry has pressured many countries to limit or end whaling, and experts believe a new way to make money from whales—whale watching—will also be effective. However, another is more difficult to solve—pollution. Whales are affected by pollution from chemicals, noise, and the huge amounts of plastic and garbage that end up in the oceans.
These giants of the sea are important to the future health of our planet. If whale populations increased to where they were before commercial whaling, whales could remove an estimated 1.7 billion tons of CO2 per year. It might be an impossible dream, but it’s one definitely worth fighting for.
1. Which of the following is NOT true about how whales remove carbon from the air?| A．They move nutrients from deep in the ocean to the surface. |
| B．Many species of whales don’t release CO2. |
| C．Whales collect CO2 in their bodies through the food they eat. |
| D．When whales die, the collected CO2 remains in their bodies. |
| A．The commercial hunting of ocean animals. |
| B．The financial value of ocean tourism. |
| C．The high costs of tree planting and forest protecting. |
| D．The ability of phytoplankton to remove CO2 from the air. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Scientific kills. |
| C．Whale watching. | D．Continued hutting. |
| A．To analyse the benefits whales bring. |
| B．To explain why whales are endangered. |
| C．To evaluate the effect of commercial whaling. |
| D．To call on people to save whales so as to protect the world. |
