题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
云南省玉溪一中2018-2019学年高二上学期英语期末考试试卷
Over millions of years, African penguins have developed a keen sense of where to find food. Once they're old enough, they set off from the shores on which they were hatched(孵化) for the first time and swim long distances in search of tasty fish like anchovies and sardines. But they don't search directly for the fish themselves. When African penguins head out to sea, they look for areas with low surface temperatures and high chlorophyll(叶绿素). Because those conditions signal the presence of algae(藻类). And lots of algae means lots of plankton(浮游动物), which in turn means lots of their favorite fish. Well, that's what it used to mean.
Climate change plus overfishing have made the penguin feeding grounds a mirage(海市蜃楼). The habitat is indeed plankton﹣rich, but now it's fish﹣poor. Researchers call this an "ecological trap." "It's a situation where you have a signal that previously pointed an animal towards good﹣quality habitat. That habitat has been changed, usually by human pressures. The signal stays, but the quality in the environment gets worse."
Richard Sherley, a zoologist at the University of Exeter and his team used satellite imaging to track the African penguins from eight sites along southern Africa. Historically, the birds benefited from tons of fish off the coasts of Angola, Namibia and western South Africa, but now they're going hungry.
"I was really hoping we'd see them going east, and finding areas which the fish had moved to but it ends up being quite a sad story for the penguins." said Richard.
The researchers calculate that by falling into this ecological trap, African penguin populations on South Africa's Western Cape have declined by around 80 percent.
Some research groups are exploring the idea of moving them to a place where they can't get trapped, like the Eastern Cape. But Sherley thinks that a solution in the long run means making and carrying out rules to create more sustainable(可持续的) fishing industry, which needs public support.
A.apply B.broadly C.complicated D.downside E.hardly F.neighbors G.overburdened H.pills I.re-labeling J.turning K.worse |
Britain appears to be in a mental-health crisis. In the past decade no European country has seen a greater increase in the use of antidepressants(抗抑郁药); now only the Portuguese and Icelanders are popping more of the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Around 4.5m Britons were in contact with mental-health services in 2021-22, a rise of almost l m in five years.
There are a few reasons why Britons might be unhappier than their {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. One global poll found that teenagers in Britain were some of the loneliest in the world, with few supportive relationships and a low sense of purpose and meaning: all risk factors for poor mental health. Britain's poorest households are also {#blank#}3{#/blank#} off than their equivalents in France and Germany, for example, which makes them more vulnerable to conditions such as anxiety and depression. And Britain's health system can seem more {#blank#}4{#/blank#} than those in most other rich countries. In England alone, some 3.8 m are waiting for mental-health treatment.
Those factors might explain why more people are {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to medication. Another reason is increased awareness. Campaigns around depression and anxiety have been particularly successful in Britain. That is {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a good thing. A reduction in humiliation (蒙羞) has encouraged more people to seek help. Taking antidepressants – or using mental-health services — has become much more acceptable.
But there is a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to this, as The Economist recently reported. Surveys suggest that Britons are increasingly {#blank#}8{#/blank#} common human emotions, such as stress and grief, as mental illnesses. "You're going to lose any sense of what mental illness is if you start to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} it to 30%, 50% of the population," says Adrian Massey, author of a book called "Sick-Note Britain".
For all the focus on anxiety and depression in campaigns, severe mental illnesses still receive too little attention. This is a problem: according to the GBD, Britain has the highest rates of severe mental illness in Europe. The causes of such conditions are unclear, but seem to involve a {#blank#}10{#/blank#} interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Illegal drug misuse, for which Britain has among the highest rates in the region, also plays a role.
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