1 . During those barren winter months, with windows overlooking long-dead gardens, leafless trees, and lawns that seem to have an ashy look about them, nothing calms the uneasy nerves more than the vibrant green of plants surrounding the living spaces of one’s home. People browse through garden stores just to get a smell of chlorophyll (叶绿素) and to choose a plant or two to bring spring back into their winter-gray lives.

Now there is even more of a need for “the green,” in light of recent articles warning us of the dangers of chemicals that we, ourselves, introduce into our homes. Each time we bring clothes home from the cleaners, we release those chemicals into the closed-in air of our homes. Every cleanser releases its own kind of fumes.

Some of the chemicals are formaldehyde (甲醛), chlorine, benzene, styrene, etc. Read the labels on many home products, the ingredients aren’t even listed! During the winter, when those same windows are shut tight, we breathe in these chemicals—causing symptoms much like allergies (过敏). In fact, most people probably dismiss the effects of these chemicals simply as some allergy or other. The truth is that we are experiencing a syndrome that is called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Now, what has this got to do with green plants? Everything healthy! Research has been conducted with two types of plants that have actually removed much of these harmful chemicals from the air.

The two plants that seem to be the best bet for ridding one’s home of such chemicals are ferns (蕨类植物) and palms. These plants release moisture as part of photosynthesis and, as they do, pull chemicals from the air into their leaves. Even NASA has conducted some greenhouse experiments for long-term space exploration. Within hours, their plants [palms] had removed almost all traces of formaldehyde in the room. Both species of plants are ancient, dating back more than a hundred million years. Another trait they share is that they both live long lives, 100 years or more. This we expect from trees, but ferns and palms are plants; plants that can grow to 65 feet in the proper setting! Even their individual leaves live for one to two years [ferns] and one to nine years [palms]. Perhaps it is their primary qualities that have contributed to their ability to purify their environment.

We Must Act Now to Protect Our Threatened Oceans

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     1     very well feel a need to step up their demands upon hearing the awful findings of the special report on the ocean and cryosphere（低温层）in a changing climate, released on Wednesday by the International Panel on Climate Change. The report highlighted the intimate connections which exist between our climate, our oceans and our very existence. It presented the scientific evidence     2     our warming climate is placing marine and frozen areas of our planet in grave danger, with some changes happening at a much larger scale and faster rate than previously     3     (predict).

Urgent action is needed     4     we are to keep our planet and our oceans safe and habitable. This requires     5     (ambition) targets to reduce our carbon emissions and to shift our energy system away from polluting fossil fuels towards 100% renewable energies. Change is also needed in international cooperation around     6     our oceans are protected.

It is hoped that early next year UN member states     7     (sign) a strong global ocean treaty that could pave the way for the creation of marine sanctuaries（禁猎区）,     8     (place) at least 30% of oceans off limits to human activities such as commercial fishing and oil and gas exploration. This is a crucial step towards restoring marine ecosystems and securing a sustainable future for those     9     livelihoods depend on our oceans.

The government has been a vocal champion for ocean conservation. Now is the time for Britain     10     (turn) political will into decisive action by leading the way with a new global ocean treaty. The prime minster’s direct involvement could make the difference between a watered-down agreement or a powerful one.

3 . 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.

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.”

7 . Marmoset monkeys exist on a branch of the evolutionary tree that is distinct from the one that led to humans. But they constantly _______ researchers with social behavior that seems pretty highly evolved. Their social organization and _______ practices could have been the model for the phrase “It takes a village.” A dominant male and female breed, and their babies are carefully looked after by _______ family members who then aren’t free to breed themselves.

A new study further _______ the marmoset’s reputation for admirable community values. Researchers report that these caregivers share their food more generously with little ones _______ than when they’re surrounded by the watchful eyes of other community members. In complex societies where individuals band together for mutual protection, researchers have come up with a few widely accepted explanations for _______ behavior. But specific acts, like sharing a delicious cricket (蟋蟀) with a begging baby marmoset, seem to need more specific explanation.

One possibility is that an individual practices _______ as a means of enhancing his status among peers. By presenting that he is so well gifted with material goods that he can give some away, this do-gooder enhances his power within the group. That, in turn, may _______ prospective mates.

The other explanation for charitable behavior _______ that kindnesses extended to others are simply the fees of group membership, which offers some future promise of a chance to mate.__________ to share would result in exclusion from the group and a loss of potential partners.   

Scientists call this the “pay to stay” model. Importantly, for both of these models to work, acts of kindness must have a(n) __________. That suggests you would see more sharing in group settings; away from judging eyes, a caregiver might be more likely to keep food for himself or herself. And yet, in 2,581 tests conducted with 31 adult and 14 baby marmosets, the __________ appeared to be true.

Anthropologists (人类学家) from the University of Zurich carefully documented how often, in groups and in conditions that found caregiver and baby separated from the crowd, an adult would share his or her cricket. When alone with a baby __________ for a taste, adult marmosets shared their cricket 85% of the time. When in a group, caregivers offered up their cricket 67% of the time.” Our results show that helping in common marmosets is not driven by__________management or punishment avoidance, “the study authors reported. Rather, it is driven by a deep-down ____________ to help that is more strongly expressed when individuals are alone with young.”

8 . The World Needs Zoos

ZOOS play an important role in the world for conservation and education. They are particularly important for endangered species. Many animals are critically endangered and may go extinct in the wild, but in zoos, they are going strong. Many others are already extinct in the wild and only survive thanks to populations kept in captivity (圈养). Even those critical of zoos often recognize that it is better to have species preserved somewhere than lose them altogether.       1    

Take the ring-tailed lemur (环尾狐猴) of Madagascar for example. This animal is almost ubiquitous in zoos as they breed well in captivity and the public are fond of them. However, despite their high numbers in collections around the world, they are the most threatened mammalian group on the planet. A recent survey suggests that up to 95 percent of the wild populations have been lost since 2000.     2     One bad year or a new disease could wipe out those that are left.

Such trends are not isolated. The giraffe is another very common species in zoos. Unlike the lemurs, giraffes are widespread in the countries across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet giraffe populations have gone down by a third in the last thirty years. While less dramatic than the drop in lemur numbers, this is obviously a major loss and again, whole populations (which some scientists think are of unique subspecies) are on the verge of extinction.

    3     Ongoing and future issues from climate change can have unexpected effects on wildlife. It will become more difficult for conservationists to predict which species might be at risk. As it is, experts are struggling to continue monitoring the species that are already known to be vulnerable, so it is easy to see why common species might be overlooked. People might not take a great local loss seriously on the assumption that these animals are heavily populated elsewhere.

There will, I suspect, always be resistance to the argument for keeping animals in captivity and I will not defend the zoos that are bad and in desperate need of improvement or closure.     4     If even common species can lose a huge percentage of their populations in a few years, it may be too late to save them with even the best breeding programs or conservation efforts in the wild.