4 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出 提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

A new study shows rapid decline in insect populations. A growing number of the Earth’s insect population now can     1     (see) only in collections on exhibitions. Nobody’s seen those for 400 years. A new review of over 70 studies of insect populations     2       (suggest) that human pressures are causing insect populations to decrease by as much as a quarter every decade. The loss of species is inevitable (不可避免的) because often we don’t know     3     those species are doing or how other species are depending on them.

Scientists are utilizing (利用) new technology that allows them     1     (study) millions of small earthquakes in the hope    2     being able to predict (预测) the next big one.

The study comes out of the Los Alamous National Laboratory. It shows how advancing computer technology is now able to read 10 times the number of earthquakes previously       3     (record), as local experts of geology, Patrick Abbott explained.

“We     4     (know) since the 1800s that earthquakes come in swarms (群) — you get smaller ones, and a lot of aftershocks as well; but we have never been able to tell the difference between a foreshock     5     a big shock until afterwards, you look back over it,” explained Abbott. “you start with: here is the shaking from one earthquake, here is the shaking from another one, and try to sort     6     (they) all out and it turns out there is almost     7     (exact) 10 times as many earthquakes as we had thought.” The new technology showed some small earthquakes     8     had never been picked up before; like a magnitude (震级) of negative 2.0. Those earthquakes are considered invisible (看不见的) but by     9     (see) them collectively now, scientists can see where those happened before a 4.0 magnitude quake.

He said the study does not solve the problem of predicting earthquakes, but seeing when smaller ones are shaking gives     10     (researcher) a better shot at predicting a bigger one.

6 . A lot of health care are connected with being around trees.     1     According to one 2015 study, a walk in the woods can make you feel seven years younger.

They also do a great deal of good for the environment by reducing air pollution and taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.     2     A new study by researchers at University College London found that the trees in the London Borough (自治市) of Camden store as much carbon per hectare (公顷) as rainforests.

A tree’s ability to take in carbon dioxide is especially useful when the tree.is in cities or towns, where there are too many industrial activities. For the study, the researchers used laser scanning methods to take their own carbon readings of trees from the ground as well as the air.     3     They were able to know there are about 85,000 trees in Camden, where the university is based.

They determined that Camden had a median carton density (浓度) of around 55 tons of carbon per hectare (t/ha). Greener areas of the borough, like Highgate Cemetery, had a carbon density of 380 t/ha — levels that are typically seen in rainforests.     4    

So what exactly does this mean? Trees could help cool the atmosphere by removing carbon dioxide from the air. However, some climate scientists argue that it’s more complicated (复杂的) than that.     5     Still, with all of the other benefits trees offer, planting a seed or two couldn’t hurt.

7 . After a month of fires that gave off record-breaking amounts of polluting gas, smoke from Siberian wildfires is now making its way to the west coast of the United States.

The New York Times’ Somini Sengupta reports that Arctic wildfires in June 2020 caused more pollution than the data (数据) that had been collected in the previous 18 years. Seasonal wildfires are common in Siberia, but this year’s fires are unusually widespread in part because of a climate change-driven heatwave. The Arctic is experiencing climate change-driven warming faster than the rest of the earth, which sets up the dry conditions that make fires spread.

“I was surprised to see a fire burning 10 kilometers south of a bay of the Laptev Sea, which is like, the sea ice factory of the world,” said fire researcher Jessica McCarty from Miami University in Ohio. “When I went into fire science as an undergraduate student, if someone had told me I’d be studying fire regimes (管强体制) in Greenland and the Arctic, I would have laughed at them.”

This June’s Arctic fires beat the pollution record set in 2019, said Mark Parrington, who works with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service tracking worldwide wildfires. Some of the fires may have spent the winter months smoldering (闷燃) only to grow again in warmer weather. And the weather has certainly gotten warmer. In June, a Russian town above the Arctic circle called Verkhoyansk hit a high temperature of 100,4 degrees Fahrenheit.

The current situation in the Arctic circle shows that previous predictions (预测) “underestimate what is going on in reality,” earth scientist Vladmir Romanovsky sold. He added that temperature observation in the High Arctic made in the last 15 years weren’t expected for another seventy years.

Millions of acres of land are on fire this wildfire season. Most of the wildfires are located in Siberia’s Sakha Republic, which sees wildfires frequently, but fires are also spreading further north and into unusual ecosystems, like those that are characterized by permafrost (永冻土).

8 . As a marine ecologist (海洋生态学家), Charlotte Young can often see unforgettable sights. But nothing has touched her quite like an experience she had while she was doing wildlife research with her partner, George Chislett. The British couple was searching for turtle hatchlings (刚孵化的小海龟) on a beach in Oman when they came across a creature who really needed their help.

Hopelessly stuck in n rocky crevice (裂缝) was a large green sea turtle. The turtle had been on her way back to the water after laying eggs when she fell between the rocks. While she tried to escape, her efforts only made her get more deeply stuck in the crevice. Without help, she would have died, but instead she fell into the perfect pair’s hands.

But freeing her was no easy task Green sea turtles can weigh up to 350 pounds, which meant Charlotte wasn’t strong enough to lift her out. Even with George’s help, she wasn’t able to move the helpless creature. They fruitlessly pushed and pulled for some time before realizing they would have to try something else. Meanwhile, the poor turtle was experiencing more and more anguish.

That’s when they had a bright idea. They saw a piece of wood nearby and wondered if it would make good leverage (杠杆作用). It did! With the board wedged (楔入) under the turtle, they finally began making progress. Using all their remaining strength, Charlotte and George lifted her up and out of her prison!

“We did it!” Charlotte cried as she and George celebrated with a high five.

Thank goodness Charlotte and George were in the right place at the right time — and had the determination and creativity needed to save the turtle.