1 . The streets, sidewalks and roofs of cities all absorb heat during the day, making some urban areas across the United States up to 6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than rural ones during the day—and 22 degrees F hotter at night. These “urban heat islands”   can also develop underground as the city heat spreads downward, beneath the surface. And basements, subway tunnels and other underground infrastructure also constantly bleed heat into the surrounding earth, creating hotspots. Now the underground heat is building up as the planet warms.

According to a new study of downtown Chicago, underground hotspots may threaten the very same structures that emit the heat in the first place. Such temperature changes make the ground around them expand and contract (收缩) enough to cause potential damage. “Without anyone realizing it, the city of Chicago’s downtown was deforming,” says the study’s author Alessandro F. Rotta Loria, a civil and environmental engineer at Northwestern University.

The findings, published in Communications Engineering, expose a “silent hazard (危险)” to civil infrastructure in cities with soft er ground — especially those near water — Rotta Loria says. “There might have been structural issues caused by this underground climate change that happened, and we didn’t even realize,” he adds. While not an immediate or direct danger to human lives, this previously unknown effect highlights the impacts of a lesser-known component of climate change.

Similar to climate change above the surface, these underground changes occur over long periods of time. “These effects took decades, a century, to develop,” Rotta Loria says, adding that elevated underground temperatures would likewise take a long time to dissipate (逐渐消失) on their own.

But other researchers interviewed for this story all say this wasted energy could also be recycled, presenting an opportunity to both cool the subsurface and save on energy costs. Subway tunnels and basements could be updated with technologies to recapture the heat. For example, water pipes could be installed to run through underground hotspots and pick up some of the heat energy.

4 . Joseph Dituri hasn’t seen the sun for days. The biomedical engineer has been underwater, with the goal of spending 100 days there in the name of ________. Dituri is living in Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Florida. The100-square-foot hotel is his intended home until the mission finishes, where he’ll ________ his research.

The submerged stay, if ________, will also break the previous record of 73 days set by two Tennessee educators in 2014.

During the project, Dituri is attempting to ________ the effects of living in a high-pressure environment for a(n)________ period. The human body has-never been underwater that long, so he will be ________ closely. For example, he’ll be ________ to electrocardiograms, which measure the heart’s function. “I ________ there will be improvements to my health,” Dituri said. His assumption is not made ________—a previous study indicated potential ________ of pressure exposure to cell growth. Dituri hopes this journey could ________ the treatment for age-related diseases.

Beyond research, the project is also a chance to promote ocean ________ “The ocean is in a bit of trouble,” Dituri said in a video. “We also want to use the attention that the 100-day mission would draw to________ young people’s curiosity and passion.” Dituri will invite about 40 children to stay with him for 24 hours at a time.

“________ I only stayed 60 days, I eventually would turn a whole bunch of kids on to the exploration of the sea. That would be a ________,” he said in an interview.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a shocking finding about the air we breathe. It has found that almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. The WHO made     1    (it) air quality update ahead of World Health Day on April 7. The update reported that 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes air     2     goes beyond WHO air quality limits. It looked at data from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries. People     3    (live) in lower- and middle-income countries breathe the poorest-quality air. Millions of people die in these countries because of pollution-related diseases. The WHO said: “After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths due     4     air pollution.”

The WHO said its report highlighted the need to move away from fossil fuels. It asked governments to do more     5     (reduce) levels of air pollution. It said: “Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner and     6    (healthy) energy systems.” It added that high gas prices, energy     7    (secure), the dangers of air pollution, and climate change mean the world must be less dependent on fossil fuels. The WHO report     8    (include) many recommendations for change. One of these is     9     use of clean energy for cooking, heating and lighting. Another is to “build safe and affordable public transport systems and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly     10    (network)”.

8 . From the world’s last seven to a global population of more than 5,000, China spent nearly 40 years bringing back crested ibises(朱鹗)from the edge of extinction.

With its typical red crest and face, as well as a long black mouth and snow-white feathers, the crested ibis is known as “the oriental gem” in China. They were once widespread in East Asia and Siberia until the 20th century when hunting, ecological damage and increased human activities drove the birds to near extinction.

In 1981, the entire species around the world was down to the seven crested ibises which were found only in Yangxian County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and deep in the Qinling Mountains, making Qinling, a natural boundary between China's north and south,the last shelter of the wild birds.

Since 1981, the local government of Yangxian County has put forward four bans for the protection of the species, prohibiting activities including hunting in the birds' living areas,cutting down trees where they nest, using chemicals in their food-finding areas, and firing guns in their breeding(繁殖)areas. The Chinese government arranged special funds to protect the habitat of crested ibises, sealing off mountains to plant trees in the birds' living areas.China started the artificial breeding of crested ibises in 1991 and had bred more than 400 birds in Shaanxi as of last year.

Years of constant effort have brought promising results. It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 crested ibises in the world now, and a majority of them live in Shaanxi. The bird's habitat in China has risen from less than 5 square km in 1981 to the current 15,000 square km.

“It is lucky that the crested ibis, an ancient bird, is still flying around,” said Zan Linsen, head of the Shaanxi Academy of Forestry. “The conservation story of crested ibises not only shows us the power of ancient life, but also the necessity and urgency of ecological environment protection.”

Years ago, the authors conducted human-wildlife conflict surveys in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s counties,     1     (locate) in the TAR’s remote Chang Tang region. These surveys showed     2     previously undocumented and growing problem of human-snow leopard conflict. Next, snow leopard telephone interviews were conducted with Tibet Forestry Bureau staff,     3     (result) in an additional new conflict and sighting location records. This new location information, together with records provided by other observers,     4     (collect) to make a snow leopard distribution (分布) map.

This effort greatly expanded knowledge of the snow leopard’s distribution in this region,     5     remains one of the least understood of the snow leopard’s key range areas. New knowledge on snow leopard in the Chang Tang will help identify human-snow leopard conflict hot spots and influence design of human-snow leopard conflict relief and conservation strategies for northwest Tibet. Nevertheless, much field work will also be required     6     (describe) snow leopard distribution in the Chang Tang.

Importantly, in the past few years, a number of major transportation infrastructure (基础设施) projects     7     (make) the Chang Tang more accessible. This has led to a     8     (great) increased number of tourists visiting western Tibet, Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar     9     particular. All these developments have a large potential to cause disturbance to snow leopards and their prey species, including influencing their movements     10     destroying their habitat.