1 . After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
1. What is the text mainly about?A.Wildlife research in the United States. |
B.Plant diversity in the Yellowstone area. |
C.The conflict between farmers and gray wolves. |
D.The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. |
A.Damage to local ecology. |
B.Preservation of vegetation. |
C.A decline in the park’s income. |
D.An increase in the variety of animals. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Uncaring. | C.Positive. | D.Disapproving. |
2 . Far, far below your feet lies a source of nearly endless energy. Earth's core is about as hot as the surface of the Sun, so hot that it melts the rocky layers above it into magma, or liquid rock. Wouldn't it be great if we could tap into all that energy? In some places, we do!
The Geysers is an area north of San Francisco in California where magma's heat turns a reservoir of underground water into steam. This region is home to 18 geothermal power plants. The steam rises up through spaces between the rocks underground, a bit like how steam pours from a teakettle boiling on a stove. The power plant has pipelines that send the steam into the turbines (涡轮机) where electricity flow is generated. Once the steam leaves the turbine, it goes into a cooling tower where it turns back into liquid. Then it's piped back into the reservoir to be reheated again. Other kinds of geothermal power plants pump hot groundwater into the power plant. Then the pressure is reduced, causing the liquid to flash into steam that turns the turbine and generates electricity flow. Once the steam cools and turns back into liquid, it's pumped back down into the reservoir to begin the cycle again.
So why don't we all heat our homes with free steam from the earth? First, the heat has to be close enough to the surface for us to reach it. Next, there has to be plenty of underground water to be heated. Finally, there has to be a layer of rock that water or steam can flow through. So in places where all three of those things come together, geothermal energy can be a powerful renewable energy source. Besides, when a geothermal plant returns water back into the hot rocks of a reservoir, it makes the rock crack a bit, which can cause small earthquakes. There's another danger that comes with drilling near magma-pipes and other equipment might melt if they hit a pocket of magma or are caught in an eruption. One geothermal plant in Hawaii was partially buried by lava in 2018. But engineers are hopeful that the repaired plant will generate even more power. Geothermal energy isn't the answer for everywhere, but it's a piece of the puzzle to help slow climate change.
1. In which part of power plants is the electricity made?A.The turbine. | B.The reservoir. | C.The pipeline. | D.The tower. |
A.Hard surface and possible earthquakes. |
B.Changeable climate and unqualified equipment. |
C.Limited underground water and thin layers of rock. |
D.Unsuitable geological conditions and potential dangers. |
A.To demonstrate the great effort that engineers made. |
B.To show the power that the repaired plant can generate. |
C.To illustrate the danger caused by drilling near magma. |
D.To praise the engineers who repaired the generate plant. |
A.Unconcerned. | B.Unclear. | C.Doubtful. | D.Approving. |
3 . Waterways are important for every country around the world. They provide not only water for everyday use but also routes for transport. However, due to industrial activity, many of them are now polluted.
Dakota Perry from the US has experienced water pollution firsthand. The 15-year-old high school girl told Alabama Local News that she spends a lot of time going on boat rides with her dad on the river behind their house. However, the river has become littered with plastic bags, bottles and cups.
Perry wanted to clean up the water so she could continue to enjoy the river. So, with the help of her father, she designed a system to collect and remove trash in waterways.
In May, Perry put forward her solution al the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held in Gcorgia, US, and received a Judge’s Award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for her project.
According to the Science News for Students website, her system was inspired by the Dutch Great Bubble Barrier in Amsterdam, which creates a flow of bubbles that trap waste and directs it to a catchment (集水) system. But Perry tried to challenge herself and make her system more environment-friendly.
She planned to create a curtain of bubbles that spanned the river diagonally (对角地).The curtain would stop the floating trash and then push it toward the shore. Once there, a conveying belt run by a solar-powered battery would carry the waste to trash bins.
In her backyard pool, Perry used an air compressor (压缩机) to send air through a pipe full of holes to create a stream of bubbles. She experimented with different amounts of pressure to make sure there would be enough bubbles to form a full curtain. “For the bubble system to actually work and actually collect the trash,” she explained to Science News for Students, “I have to know how much pressure the air compressor is supposed to push out.”
After she tested her system for collecting trash, Perry found that it worked better than expected. Next, she plans to work out how to use the power of the river to run the air compressor.
1. What drove Perry to design a trash-collecting system?A.Her father’s encouragement. | B.A science and engineering fair. |
C.Her desire to protect a nearby river. | D.A study ou waterway pollution. |
A.It was designed partly by Perry’s father. | B.It was inspired by a UK invention. |
C.It creates a bubble curtain to block the trash. | D.It uses water power to run the air compressor. |
A.The way Perry tested her system. | B.Difficulties Perry didn’t overcome. |
C.Perry’s view on her system. | D.Advantages of the system. |
A.Responsible and creative. | B.Easy-going and hardworking. |
C.Smart and honest. | D.Patient and modest. |
4 . Over the last two days, much of Spain has been coated with dust (灰尘) , and the skies have turned bright orange. A huge cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is causing the strange weather. The dust cloud is expected to spread to other parts of Europe.
Across much of Spain on Tuesday morning, a thin layer (层) of red dust coated everything outside. From streets to sidewalks to balconies, everything was covered with a layer of dust. As the sun rose, the dust in the air turned the skies in some cities a strange orange. The cause of the dust and unusual sky colour wasn’t a forest fire, but dust from the Sahara Desert.
Every year, a large cloud of dust rises from the Sahara Desert. It’s called the Saharan Air Layer. Usually, it crosses the Atlantic Ocean as part of a natural cycle that helps develop farmland and beaches in Central and South America.
But sometimes, depending on the weather, the layer of dust gets forced to the north. Large sandstorms in northern Africa lift sand and dust into the air, where it gets blown towards Spain. Though the particles (微粒) in the air come from sand, they’re much more like dust than sand at a beach.
These kinds of storms aren’t unknown in Spain. In fact, it has a special name. It’s called a “calima”. This calima is so large that it can be seen from space. A NASA scientist who studies weather in the atmosphere says it’s like a river of dust in the air. That river of dust has met with a river of wet air driven by strong winds.
Spain’s weather service described the dust storm as being “very intense (强烈) ”. At one point on Tuesday, the air quality in Madrid was the worst in the world. Government health experts warned people not to go outside without a mask, and to keep their windows and doors closed at home.
1. What turned Spain’s skies orange?A.A huge cloud. | B.Pollutant from Europe. |
C.Dust from Sahara. | D.Heavy rainfall. |
A.It’s helpful for farming. | B.It hits Spain every year. |
C.It’s from South America. | D.It leads to forest fires. |
A.Attractive. | B.Unbelievable. | C.Common. | D.Useful. |
A.Travel. | B.Nature. | C.Science. | D.Health. |
It’s
Iceland
6 . This summer we witnessed interview teams at the North Pole wearing short sleeve shirts due to the warm weather. A study published on Aug 29 revealed more concerning issues in the supposedly coldest area of the world. Zombie ice from a massive Greenland ice sheet was confirmed to be melting, which would eventually raise global sea levels by at least 10 inches (27 centimeters) on its own, reported Associated Press (AP).
Zombie ice is the kind of ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by larger glaciers. Since glaciers are getting less snow to make up for the amount of ice melted, once the zombie ice is melted, it cannot be re-formed.
Scientists decided to look at the balance of the ice. In perfect equilibrium (平衡),snow in the mountains of Greenland flows down and thickens the sides of glaciers, balancing out what’s melting on the edges, according to AP. But in the last few decades, there is less refill and more melting, creating an imbalance.
Study co-author William Colgan at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland told AP that 3. 3 percent of Greenland’s total ice volume will melt eventually. “Starving would be a good phrase” for what’s happening to the ice, Colgan added.
With a great number of natural resources buried under the earth, areas of melted ice revealed treasures that attracted the world’s richest men. According to CNN, in early August, there was a “treasure hunt” in Greenland. Billionaires, including Bill Gates and others, financially backed KoBold Metals, a US-based mineral exploration company, to explore the rare metals under the glaciers in Greenland. The company told CNN that since there were enough minerals to power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles, the critical resource is capable of powering the green energy transition (过渡).
While investors are taking advantage of global warming, experts express their concerns that the mineral exploration is likely to worsen the local environment, running out of the world’s resources at a faster rate.
1. What do we know about zombie ice?A.It’s made up by nearby glaciers. | B.It will melt away from the ice cap. |
C.It’s independent from large glaciers. | D.It has increased sea levels by 10 inches. |
A.How zombie ice was formed in the past. | B.Why more zombie ice can’t be created. |
C.What the melting of zombie ice can lead to. | D.How zombie ice functions in the ecosystem. |
A.Supportive. | B.Tolerant | C.Indifferent. | D.Worried. |
A.To report on the melting zombie ice. | B.To explain a natural phenomenon. |
C.To call for environmental protection. | D.To comment on the “treasure hunt”. |
7 . In the spring and summer months, thunderstorms are common.
It was reported that a man was struck by lightning when he was making a phone call under a tree. He died at once. You may not know it, but nearly 1,800 thunderstorms are happening at any moment around the world.
If you are indoors during a thunderstorm:
*Stay away from anything that is metal because lightning can come into the house through it.
*Don’t stand near the windows.
*Don’t take a shower or bath. Lightning can travel through water.
* Never use the phone.
If you are caught in a thunderstorm outdoors:
*
*Do not go under a tree because the lightning could hit the tree and travel through the tree to hit you.
* Never use a cell phone.
A.Try to get home as soon as possible. |
B.Go into a nearby building or car right away. |
C.But it is very important for us to learn about lightning. |
D.In fact, many people are killed by lightning every year. |
E.Lightning could travel through the phone line and hit you. |
F.Since they happen often, some people don’t take them seriously. |
G.But you can reduce those chances by following these safety rules. |
8 . When rains fell in the Atacama Desert for the first time in centuries, scientists had expected to see life blossom (繁盛). Instead, almost everything died. The shocking discovery was published in the journal Scientific Reports. Found in northern Chile, the dry core of the Atacama Desert hadn’t experienced rain for the past 500 years. But three years ago, rain started to fall once again in the region.
A changing climate in the Pacific Ocean resulted in the desert’s dry core experiencing rain on March 25 and August 9, 2015, and it rained again on June 7, 2017. There was no evidence of rain in this region for the past 500 years, although climate models suggested it should occur every century.
The international team of scientists who studied the region were hoping for deserts springing to life. “Instead, we learned the contrary, as we found that rain in the dry core of the Atacama Desert caused a massive extinction of most native microbe (微生物) species there, ”said study co-author Alberto Fairén.
Before the rain fell, this region of the Atacama had been home to 16 different ancient microbe species. But after the rain fell, just two to four species were still found to be surviving in the resultant pool of water. The cause of the extinction event, believed to have been about 85 percent of life in the soil, was caused by the sudden influx of water. In particular, these microbes were adapted to survive in extreme dryness. They were unable to adapt quickly enough to the unexpected rainfall.
But it’s not all bad news. The team also found nitrates (硝酸盐) in the Atacama Desert that were indicative of a lengthy dry period, while also acting as food for the microbes. And we’ve recently found nitrates on Mars, which could be indicating a similar process there.
1. How did the scientists find their discovery according to Alberto Fairén?A.Satisfying. | B.Astonishing. | C.Amusing. | D.Comforting. |
A.Shortage. | B.Need. | C.Arrival. | D.Test. |
A.The resultant pool of water was a wildlife habitat. |
B.The team plans to turn the desert into a green land. |
C.Scientists have observed lots of microbes on Mars. |
D.The finding brought some hope to relevant studies. |
A.Unexpected Rainfalls Hit a Desert Badly |
B.A Science Magazine Increased in Popularity |
C.Scientists Unlocked the Secret behind Drought |
D.A Breakthrough Occurred in Space Exploration |
Tonga has been battered (重创) by the worst natural disaster in history
The Chinese side pays close attention to the situation in Tonga, and has taken urgent action to help Tonga in disaster relief to the
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese government
During the crisis in
Whales have been facing serious danger for a long time.
First, due
Secondly, whaling activity is another killer. Historically, whaling has been popular in some overseas countries, such as England, Japan and Norway.
The fact that whales have become endangered animals is alarming us. Some