3 . Sounds from human activity flood across the oceans, causing trouble to ocean creatures. And climate (气候) change may make some places even louder.

Researchers have expected the oceans to get noisier because of increasing human activity. “The more goods you buy, the more shipping you have, so the more noise you have.” says Luca Possenti, a scientist studying sound in the ocean at the Royal Netherlands Institute. But Possenti and his co-worker realized that climate change might also influence how sound travels through the water.

Human-caused climate change is changing ocean temperatures, salt levels and acidity (酸度). So Possenti’s team used computers to model how those factors (因素) influence noise levels across the world’s oceans.

When waters become more acidic, they can’t take in sound at some wavelengths as well, so those sounds can travel further, adding to the noise in some areas. This effect is relatively small. Other changes impact the sound level more, the researchers found. Changes to temperature and salt levels can change how well different layers (层) of the ocean mix, which, in turn, impacts how sound travels.

The team predicted (预测) models of the world in about 70 years if climate change continues. And then they compared them with models of the world now. In the North Atlantic, they saw an increase in sound levels in the upper 125 meters of the ocean. This was caused mostly by ice melting (融化) off of Greenland, forming a cold layer of water near the ocean’s surface. Sound traveling through water tends to go toward the coldest area. As a result, sound waves tended to get stuck in the cold top layer-spreading further out across the water, instead of traveling deeper. That increased the noisiness at this depth in the North Atlantic. The models suggested that a single ship could sound about five times as loud underwater because of this. Considering all the ship traffic between Europe and North America, that may stress animals, many of which communicate, and catch food with sound.

    1     moment I stepped out of school, I saw a dark blue­gray cloud approaching. But I didn’t know what a huge tornado was. I heard my mother yell my name. She asked me to get in her car. I ran to the car and got in. She     2     (immediate) started the car and headed for our house.

When I looked back at the cloud, it had a small funnel­looking (漏斗状的) cloud inside. We finally got to our house and then we heard a loud siren (警笛). My dad looked scared in the     3     (emergent). He brought the radio and a flashlight, while my mom    4     (grab) some batteries. My mom attempted     5     (shelter) me from the disaster. We turned on the radio and heard that an EF­2 tornado had touched down just east of my school. Then I heard a long deep sound that began to shake the house. That was the most horrible moment of my life and I hoped nothing like that     6     (occur) again.

About 75 percent of the city’s factories and buildings, 90 percent of its homes, and all of its hospitals were gone.     1     covered the ground like red autumn     2    .

8 . Jeannette Frescas was not concerned about the Thomas Fire until the fire reached her neighborhood in Ventura, California. “At midnight, I woke up with a flashlight in my face,“ Frescas told CNN.“I looked out of my window and there were flames, a hundred feet, all around us.”

Like many residents, Frescas was caught off guard by the fire that had roared across Southern California for 13 days. She’s one of tens of thousands of residents who got into cars and fled as winds drove the third-largest fire in modern state history through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“What was once a paradise (天堂) was like a war zone (地带),” Frescas said of her apartment, which was destroyed by the fire. “It’s the scariest thing I’ve been through in my entire life.” Ventura resident Patricia Rye woke up to her son-in-law pounding on her door. She didn’t get a chance to pack any valuables. “I didn’t have time to take anything,” Rye said. “My wallet, or any of my personal things.”

The fire was so terrible that more than 8,400 firefighters were working around the clock to save lives and contain (控制) it. Twelve thousand people were evacuated (撤离) in Santa Barbara County, with animals at the local zoo threatened as well. Santa Barbara Zoo closed and many animals were placed into cages in case of possible evacuations. The zoo had kept most animals indoors, away from smoke.

Meanwhile, residents who had evacuated their homes in Ventura County-where the fire began-were allowed to return on Saturday. Jim Holden considered himself lucky that firefighters saved his home and items. “They put a water screen between my house and the house next door that was burning in an attempt to save it,“ he said. “They broke in and they saved my family photos and my computer, and things that they thought would be important to me.”

As students, what can we do to prevent natural disasters     1     happening and reduce the loss to the minimum? First of all, we should do our part to protect the environment. At the same time, measures must be taken     2     (raise) the public’s environmental awareness. We can give lectures, hand out booklets specially     3     (design) for the public or hold photo exhibitions of natural disasters. Secondly, in view of our     4     (limit) knowledge, it’s very practical and helpful to have more knowledge about natural disasters. Having some basic first­aid knowledge and survival skills, which will be     5     (benefit) to us all, is also essential. Last but not least, we hope the government should pay more attention to forecasting technology and allocate more funds for related research. I am convinced that if everyone does his best, we can live in harmony     6     nature.