Off the coast of northeastern Queensland, Australia, near Magnetic Island in Florence Bay, the Great Barrier Reef corals (大堡礁珊瑚) are having a baby boom (激增).
“Every year there are more anrd more coral babies,” says Hillary Smith, an ecologist at ames Cook University in Australia.
That’s thanks to a simple but effective strategy for cleaning the region’s coral reefs: “seaweeding”. Like weeding (给……除杂草) a garden, seaweeding involves pulling big handfuls of large algae (水藻) off reefs and taking them away.
Experts say getting climate change under control is key to keeping the world’s reefs healthy. But meanwhile, local efforts such as seaweeding can help corals grow and reduce the effects of climate change.
The health of coral reefs around the world is dire: By 2050, 95 percent of the world’s coral could experience heat stress, according to a 2020 report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. Algae is a big problem: Already, algae cover has increased on two-thirds of reefs around the world, and one study published in 2021 showed that half the world’s coral reefs have died since the 1950s. Removing seaweed from reefs requires a great deal of work but is not complex, making it a good project for citizen scientists eager to help restore (恢复) reefs.
When the project first began in 2018, Smith says researchers weren’t sure if removing seaweed would benefit the reef or if removal might have the opposite effect in some way. But now, “It’s all looking really positive for the reef,” she says.
Volunteers are ready and waiting to help near Townsville and at other affected Australian reefs, says the Earthwatch Institute’s Fiona Wilson.“We need lots of willing hands to remove seaweed. It takes weeks of time,”she says. “But obviously recovery of the Great Barrier Reef is a passion for many people, so we draw volunteers.”
【小题1】What contributed to the growth of the Great Barrier Reef corals in Florence Bay?| A．Local efforts to remove seaweed. | B．Reduced effects of climate change. |
| C．Fewer human activities in the region. | D．The use of new restoration technologies. |
| A．Strange. | B．Acceptable. | C．Excellent. | D．Terrible. |
| A．They were hopeful of it. | B．They were excited about it. |
| C．They were uncertain about it. | D．They were uninterested in it. |
| A．It is still a long way off. | B．It is less difficult than thought. |
| C．It will take hard work and skill. | D．It attracts and needs volunteers. |
“Big boys don’t cry.” “Don’t be a baby.” Have you ever heard any of these phrases?
We all cried when we were babies. But now that we’re adults, many of us often try to hold back our tears particularly at work or in public.
According to a science report, it can be good for our health to cry tears, especially in the right situation. Having a good cry might exactly be what is needed. Some experts even suggest that we may harm ourselves in some way by not tearing up regularly.
The health benefits of crying are so strongly believed by the Japanese that they have taken it to the next level. There are now some “crying clubs” in some cities in Japan.
| A．So tears, come as you wish. |
| B．Research is backing up that theory. |
| C．They watch emotional movies there. |
| D．Everyone should realize their bad habits. |
| E．Public crying should be carefully studied. |
| F．We believe that crying is a sign of weakness. |
| G．Letting down our guard to cry is a very healthy thing. |
All living things need clean, fresh water to survive. Ninety-seven percent of the water on Earth is in the ocean. The salt in the ocean water makes it unusable for drinking. Another two percent is frozen in the ice caps and glaciers on the Earth. This leaves one percent of the water on Earth available for us to use.
One factor that we can’t change is where it will rain. The amount of rain an area receives affects the amount of water available for use. Some major cities are located in areas where they can get water from the ground. Other areas use surface water from lakes, rivers, or streams.
According to a study done by the state of California, the average person uses over one hundred gallons of water per day. Water is used for drinking, taking a shower or bath, brushing teeth, washing hands, cleaning dishes, doing laundry, and flushing toilets. Using water wisely is important.
There are many other ways you can help. Don’t leave the water running when you brush your teeth. Take a shower rather than a bath.
| A．It’s also important to fix leaky faucets. |
| B．Water is an important natural resource. |
| C．All of these will help to conserve water. |
| D．There are many factors that affect the amount of water available for you. |
| E．No matter where you live, there are many ways you can help conserve water. |
| F．Those places with no water readily available must pipe water in from far away. |
| G．No matter where we live, we must be careful with the water we have in our part of the world. |
How many things can you see in the night sky? A lot! On a clear night you can see the moon, some planets, and thousands of sparking stars.
You can see even more with a telescope. You might see that many stars look larger than others. You might see that some stars that look white are really red or blue. With bigger and bigger telescopes you can see more and more objects in the sky. And you can see those objects in more and more detail.But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won’t see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That’s because they’re invisible. They’re the mysterious dead stars called black holes.
You might find it hard to imagine that stars die. After all, our sun is a star. Year after year we see it up in the sky, burning brightly and giving us heat and light. The Sun certainly doesn’t seem to be getting old or weak. But stars do burn out and die after billions of years.
As a star’s gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gases run out, the star stops burning and begins to die.
As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center.The star squashes into a smaller and smaller ball.If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf.If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it’s packed together tighter than anything in the universe.
Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble.That’s how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed.What pulls the star in toward its center with such power? It’s the same force that pulls you down when you jump-the force called gravity.A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything — even light.The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes.That’s why you see nothing but blackness.
So next time you stare up at the night sky, remember: there’s more in the sky than we can see! Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes-the great mystery of space.
【小题1】According to the article, how will a star begin to die?
| A．As it gets hotter and hotter, it explodes. |
| B．It collides with other stars. |
| C．It can only live for about a million years. |
| D．As its gases run out, it cools down. |
| A．It is packed most tightly. | B．It is dark. |
| C．It is smaller in size than a common star. | D．It is cold. |
| A．Because most black holes are so far away. |
| B．As the star’s gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light. |
| C．As a star cools, its outer layers pull in towards its center. |
| D．The gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks the light inward. |
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