What We Should Know about Honey
The process that produces honey may have helped form humans too. Scientists believe that wild hives full of honey provided the calories that early humans such as Homo erectus (直立人), walking in Africa , needed to develop their brains into those of modern humans. That puts honey in a class with fire, tool use, and hunting as a key ingredient in the evolution of human beings.
With time, those evolved brains learned to domesticate bees to produce honey in a farmed setting. Today’s beekeepers support large-scale industrial farms, which would be unable to grow their crops without hiring traveling groups of bees to come pollinate (授粉) their vast, single-species fields. The bees will endlessly fill the towers of combs put onto their hives by the beekeeper, who then collects the extra honey for human consumption while still leaving the bees all they need to eat.
Today, the average American consumes nearly a pound and a half of honey every year, in tea, on toast, and beyond. Honey is a timeless treasure. Literally—it never goes bad. Samples nearly 3,000 years old found in the Egyptian pyramids are as eatable as the day they were entombed. Its anti-microbial nature also makes honey an excellent cure for wounds, keeping infection out while holding in the moisture that skin needs to heal.
However, bees’ good health is not guaranteed. U.S. beekeepers lose about 40 percent of their hives annually to colony collapse disorder. The problem lies in the growth of industrial agriculture and pesticide use, as well as changes in weather patterns, all of which reduce the number of flowers bees have to visit. If bees continue to die, apples and peaches (along with any crop that relies on their pollination) will become scarcer and pricier. As will honey.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Get outdoors with us this summer and experience the excitement and peace within our unique programs. Research suggests that being physically active within green spaces helps reduce stress, anxiety and anger, and improves moods and overall health and wellbeing. Our Department combines experiential activities for your enjoyment.
All fitness levels are welcome; we can accommodate most accessible needs. Please contact Laurie Wright at wright@utsc.utoronto.ca with any questions. Trips are offered to registered U of T students first and then if there is space to staff, non-registered students and guests of the participants. Register at recreg.utoronto.ca or in person at the TPASC Registration Desk.
Please check our website for all updated trip dates, prices, registration details and more!Refunds are only available up to 5 business days prior to the trip.
Upcoming Adventures
TBD: Treetop Trekking and Mountain Biking
Participants will travel by bus up to the Horseshoe Valley Resort. You may choose between a 3-hour Treetop Trekking adventure or 2 hours of x-country mountain biking through the region’s forest trails. Treetop Trekking involves zip-lining (moving quickly with the rider suspended from a cable) and climbing through obstacle courses in a peaceful forest setting. Both adventures will be instructor-led and all equipment will be provided. No experience necessary. Beginner to advanced courses will be available.
Tuesday, June 13th : Outdoor Rock Climbing or Hiking TrailsA bus will transport students to Milton to either hike the area or rock climb. The rock climbing will take place at Rattlesnake Point and there is an opportunity for students to challenge themselves by climbing up to 80ft on some of the best rocks in Southern Ontario. All instructors are fully certified and all equipment will be provided. A custom course will be set up to meet the needs of climbers. The hike will take place through some of the Bruce Peninsula trails and Halton Parks. Participants will have over 20kms of trails to choose from. You may hike with a group or follow the map trails with some friends.
Friday, June 30th (indefinite date): Warsaw CavesThe Warsaw Caves Conservation Area and Campground takes its name from a series of seven caves found in the park. Join us as we explore the multiple courses through the caves have a picnic lunch. Come enjoy this natural underground jungle gym.
1. John, a U of T teaching staff member, would like to take part in some of these programs, what problem may he encounter?| A．He can’t get his fees for a Tuesday trip back if he cancels it the previous Monday. |
| B．These outdoor adventures will exhaust him and leave him in low spirits. |
| C．There may be no space for him because registered students enjoy priority. |
| D．The program that explores the Warsaw Caves underground is sure to change its date. |
| A．bird watching | B．zip-lining | C．hiking | D．cave exploring |
| A．Money can be refunded within five business days after the trip starts. |
| B．Adventurers should have some basic trekking and biking skills. |
| C．Students must bring some climbing equipment required by the programs. |
| D．The name Warsaw Caves originated from the seven caves found in the park. |
4 . The last few months had brought to my attention an important incompatibility between us — one that I’d never noticed before. Despite being a pair of lifelong travelers, Felipe and I seldom travel in a similar way. The reality about Felipe is that he’s both the best traveler I’ve ever met and by far the worst. He hates strange bathrooms and dirty restaurants and uncomfortable trains and foreign beds. Given a choice, he will always select a lifestyle of routine, familiarity, and reassuringly boring everyday practices. All of which might make you assume that the man is not fit to be a traveler at all. But you would be wrong to assume that, for here is Felipe’s traveling gift, his superpower, the secret weapon that makes him peerless. He can create a familiar habitat of boring everyday practices for himself anyplace, if you just let him stay in one spot. He can assimilate absolutely anywhere on the planet in about three days, and then he’s capable of staying put in that place for the next decade or so without complaint. This is why Felipe has been able to live all over the world. Not merely travel, but live. Over the year he has folded himself into societies from South America to Europe, from the Middle East to the South Pacific. He arrives somewhere totally new, decides he likes the place, moves right in, learns the language, and instantly becomes a local.
While Felipe can find a corner anywhere in the world and settle down for good, I can’t. I am infinitely curious and almost infinitely patient with minor disasters, which makes me a far better day-to-day traveler than he will ever be. So I can go anywhere on the planet—that’s not a problem. The problem is I just can’t live anywhere on the planet. I’d realized this only a few weeks earlier, back in northern Laos, when Felipe had woken up one lovely morning in Luang Prabang and said, “Darling, let’s stay here.”
“Sure,” I’d said. “We can stay here for a few more days if you want.”
“No, I mean let’s move here. Let’s forget about me immigrating to America. It’s too much trouble. This is a wonderful town. I like the feeling of it. It reminds me of Brazil thirty years ago. It wouldn’t take much money or effort for us to run a little hotel or shop here, rent an apartment, settle in ….” He was serious. He would just do that. But I can’t.
1. The word “incompatibility” (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to “_____”.| A．harmony | B．negotiation | C．difference | D．tension |
| A．He can speak dozens of languages. |
| B．He can make himself at home anywhere. |
| C．He can decide at first sight if he likes the place. |
| D．He can find interesting activities in boring places. |
| A．She is much more restless than he is. |
| B．She can travel for a longer time than he can. |
| C．She is more curious about local life than he is. |
| D．She can live better in poor places than he can. |
| A．remember the trip to Brazil | B．move to Luang Prabang |
| C．immigrate to America as planned | D．run a little hotel or shop well |
5 . A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory
As we age, our memory declines. This is a fixed
Ultimately, “we are what we can remember,” he said. Here are some of Dr. Restak’s tips for developing and
Some memory lapses are actually attention problems, not memory problems.
One way to pay attention when you learn new information is to
There are many memory exercises that you can
Once in a while, get in the car without turning on your GPS, and try to
Dr. Restak’s “favorite working memory game” is 20 Questions — in which a group thinks of a person, place or object, and the other person, the questioner, asks 20 questions with a yes-or-no answer. Because to succeed, he said, the questioner must hold all of the
The point is to
One early indicator of memory issues, according to Dr. Restak, is
Storing everything on your phone means that “you don’t know it,” Dr. Restak said, which can
| A．accomplishment | B．assumption | C．regulation | D．observation |
| A．inevitable | B．dispensable | C．reverse | D．doubtful |
| A．striking | B．enduring | C．arousing | D．maintaining |
| A．Nevertheless | B．Moreover | C．For instance | D．Instead |
| A．demonstrate | B．trace | C．discover | D．visualize |
| A．recall | B．sight | C．target | D．instinct |
| A．enclose | B．integrate | C．evolve | D．impose |
| A．steadily | B．actively | C．gradually | D．automatically |
| A．adjust | B．rush | C．gesture | D．navigate |
| A．performance | B．decline | C．awareness | D．increase |
| A．modest | B．original | C．previous | D．personal |
| A．engage | B．drain | C．insert | D．fulfill |
| A．devoting to | B．concentrating on | C．giving in to | D．giving up on |
| A．Beware of | B．Stick to | C．Long for | D．Differ from |
| A．counter | B．stock | C．erode | D．strengthen |
| A. evidenced B. outlined C. span D. confirmed E. generalizable F. walking G. charges H. clearly I. well-protected J. originally K. caution |
A man deliberately got 217 Covid shots. Here’s what happened
One German man has redefined “man on a mission.” A 62-year-old from Magdeburg deliberately got 217 Covid-19 vaccine shots in the
The man, who is not named in the correspondence in compliance with German privacy rules, reported receiving 217 Covid shots between June 2021 and November 2023. Of those, 134 were
“This is a really unusual case of someone receiving that many Covid vaccines,
The man did not report any vaccine-related side effects and has not had a Covid infection to date, as
“Perhaps he didn’t get Covid because he was
The researchers also say they do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance immunity. “The benefit is not much bigger if you get vaccinated three times or 200 times,” Schober said.
The public prosecutor in Magdeburg opened an investigation into the man for the unauthorized issuing of vaccination cards and forgery of documents but did not end up filing criminal
OpenAI publishes Elon Musk’s emails. ‘We’re sad that it’s come to this’
OpenAI fired back at Elon Musk, who sued the ChatGPT company last week for chasing profit and
In the emails, parts of
In a November 22, 2015, email to CEO Sam Altman, Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, said the company needed to raise much more than $100 million to “avoid sounding hopeless.” Musk suggested a $1 billion funding commitment and promised that he would cover
OpenAI in a blog post Tuesday night said Musk never followed through on his promise,
Musk, in a February 1, 2018, email, told company executives that the only path forward for OpenAI was for Tesla, his electric car company, to buy it. The company refused, and Musk left OpenAI later that year.
In December 2018, Musk emailed Altman and other executives that OpenAI would not be relevant “
“This needs billions per year immediately or forget it,” Musk emailed. “I really hope I’m wrong.”
OpenAI executives agreed. In 2019, they formed OpenAI LP, a for-profit entity that exists within the larger company’s structure. That for-profit company took OpenAI from effectively worthless to a valuation of $90 billion in just a few years — and Altman
Microsoft has since committed $13 billion in a close partnership with OpenAI.
Musk’s complaint,
8 . The life of a journalist can be exciting. To be in constant pursuit of the latest news demands a curiosity that can only be rewarded by getting to “where it is happening” as soon as possible. The goal, of course, is to relate what is happening to the public as clearly as possible.
However, every journalist must be careful to report not only a vivid picture of what is happening, but a true picture. Each journalist reports his or her own version of what has taken place. Still, this version must be an actual account if the reporter is to maintain a reliable reputation.
In order to get to the truth in some new stories, a reporter must rely on the statements of someone who is on the inside of the situation. Often this insider will only talk to a reporter if the reporter promises never to reveal the insider’s name. The insider usually threatens never to admit meeting with the reporter if his or her name is revealed.
Because stories of this nature often involve criminal activity, reporting them becomes a dangerous job. This kind of work involved in obtaining news in this summer serves as an inviting situation for the underworld as well as the legal world. Members of the underworld want to find out who the insider is so that they can keep him or her quiet. Members of the legal world claim that the reporter will disturb justice if he or she fails to disclose the insider’s name.
Rather than be unaccountable to a trusted informant, most reporters will go to jail if need be. Freedom of the press is provided by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Impure interpretations of this portion of the constitution cause a small number of reporters to be jailed every year. However, as yet, no amount of legal maneuvering (操纵) has been able to put out this light of freedom set up by our forefathers. All of the reporters refusing to reveal the names of their informants have eventually been released.
Devotion of this kind has given journalism its reputation for reliability — a reliability that each journalist is expected to uphold in his or her search for truth. Supplying a truthful account of each day’s occurrence is the serious contract made between reporter and the public.
1. According to the passage, those who give inside information ________.| A．are usually under police protection |
| B．do not want their names made public |
| C．are on rare occasions on good terms with reliable reporter |
| D．often have difficulty in protecting their lives |
| A．scheming | B．unknowing | C．stirring | D．tempting |
| A．the courts sometimes misinterpret the First Amendment of the Constitution |
| B．they get inside stories by dishonest means |
| C．they are against the First Amendment of the Constitution |
| D．there is no law in the United States to protect freedom of the press |
| A．seldom follows the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States |
| B．should be diligent, clever and inventive |
| C．must provide the public with a truthful account as clearly as possible |
| D．must try every means to satisfy the public’s curiosity |
9 . The coast of the State of Maine is one of the most irregular in the world. A straight line running from the southernmost coastal city to the northernmost coastal city would measure about 225 miles. If you followed the coastline between these points, you would travel more than ten times as far. This irregularity is the result of what is called a drowned coastline. The term comes from the glacial (冰川的) activity of the Ice Age. At that time, the whole area that is now Maine was part of a mountain range that towered above the sea. As the glacier declined, however, it applied enormous force on those mountains, and they sank into the sea.
As the mountains sank, ocean water charged over the lowest parts of the remaining land. And the highest parts of the former mountain range, nearest the shore, remained as islands. Marine fossils found here are 225 feet above sea level indicating the level of the shoreline prior to the glacier.
The 2,500-mile-long rocky and jagged (锯齿状的) coastline of Maine keeps watching over nearly 2,000 islands. Many of these islands are tiny and uninhabited, but many are home to blooming communities. Mt. Desert Island is one of the largest, most beautiful of the Maine coast islands left behind by the glacier. Measuring 16 miles by 12 miles, Mt. Desert was very nearly formed as two distinct islands. It is split almost in half by Somes Sound, a very deep and very narrow stretch of water seven miles long.
For years, Mt. Desert Island, particularly its major settlement, Bar Harbor, has afforded summer homes for the wealthy. Recently, though, Bar Harbor has become a new arts community as well. But the best part of the island is the unspoiled forest land known as Acadia National Park. Since the island sits on the border between two different geographical zones, the park supports the plants and animals of both zones. It also lies in a major bird migration lane and is a resting spot for many birds.
1. The large number of small islands along the coast of Maine is the result of ______.| A．the drowning of the Maine coastline | B．glacier’s forcing mountains into the sea |
| C．the irregularity of the Maine coastline | D．ocean water’s flooding the mountain range |
| A．To ask an amount of money. |
| B．To accuse someone publicly of doing something wrong. |
| C．To rush in a particular direction. |
| D．To pass electricity through something. |
| A．The wealthy residents of Mt. Desert Island selfishly kept it to themselves. |
| B．Acadia National Park is one of the best national parks. |
| C．On Mt. Desert Island, there is great tension between the residents and tourists. |
| D．Mt. Desert Island supports an incredibly diverse animal and plant life. |
| A．the coastline of Maine is ten times longer after the Ice Age |
| B．there are more than 2,500 islands along the Maine coastline |
| C．Mt. Desert Island has been broken apart by a 7-mile-long water stretch |
| D．an arts community gave way to the summer homes on Mt. Desert Island |
| To the Editors: I am surprised to read that Dr. Strojnik (“Direct Detection of Exoplanets,” September-October2023) states that we have not yet and cannot directly image exoplanets (外部行星). This is incorrect. NASA/IPAC has a list at exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/imaging.html. One example is an image of 51 Eridani b. The planet is 2.6 times as massive as Jupiter and has the same radius (半径). Gerard Kriss Space Telescope Science Institute |
| Dr. Gerard: I am pleased that my article brought a response. The phrase “planet detection” arouses in people’s imaginations beautiful images of planets that are creative artistic representations of novel worlds. But a blur of brightness is not an image. Exoplanet researchers routinely call videos such as the one below of 51 Eridani b “direct images” because the planet’s light has been separated from that of its star. “Directly imaged” is the standard language of exoplanet astronomy. But to an optical (光学的) scientist such as myself, there is a strong distinction between direct detection (the planet’s light separated from the light of its star) and direct imaging (a proven picture of the exoplanet). From an optical researcher’s perspective, a single bright spot simply is not an image. Indeed, even the word “direct” in direct detection is debatable from an optical researcher’s point of view. The detection of the light of the exoplanet requires significant processing, adding multiple images and removing starlight based on theoretical models of the source signal. But the interpretation of a bright spot as a planet is only possible upon visual inspection and optimistic thinking. As an optical scientist, I cannot look at a single spot and call it an image of exoplanets. A trajectory (轨迹), or a series of bright points, is not an image of a planet, although it very likely represents something that nowadays is described as an exoplanet. Marija Strojnik |
1. ________ is the main disagreement between Marija Strojnik and Gerard Kriss.
| A．The definition of a planet | B．The importance of detecting exoplanets |
| C．The artistic representation of exoplanets | D．The use of the term “direct imaging” |
| A．She supports it, as it is a common practice in exoplanet astronomy. |
| B．She approves of it, although it does not provide a clear picture of the exoplanet. |
| C．She believes it is only possible through visual observation and positive assumption. |
| D．She considers the interpretation to be debatable, as it requires significant processing. |
| A．In the textbook. | B．In a local newspaper. |
| C．In a published essay. | D．In a science journal. |
