East Africa is experiencing the worst desert locust outbreak in decades. Climate events have accelerated breeding of the pest across the region, and with a sudden rise in the locust population expected in coming weeks, urgent actions and funds are needed to prevent a human crisis.
Twenty million people in six of the eight East African countries are most affected by an ongoing desert locust outbreak at risk of serious food insecurity. Considered among the most destructive of moving pests, an adult locust can consume 2g of plants per day, affecting crops and grasslands. A group typically holds 20 to 150 million locusts per square kilometer and can move hundreds of kilometers per day, invading areas covering millions of square kilometers. An active group, therefore, can destroy crops and grasslands within a very short period of time.
That global warming could increase the risk of desert locust crisis was proposed over ten years ago, and in February, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that the current outbreak is linked to the effects of climate change: “warmer seas mean more perfect breeding ground for locusts”. The outbreak has its origins in 2018, when a series of windstorms in the Arabian Peninsula (阿拉伯半岛) enabled the warm and wet conditions the desert locust requires to breed and band undetected in remote regions. Though our focus here is migration west, dreadful outbreaks of the desert locust have been experienced to the east.
The situation is going out of control. A rescue operation and financial support admit no delay.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) can take out only US$138 million for rapid response and immediate action — controlling the spread of the desert locust and safeguarding livelihoods. They say the maths is clear: about half the funding (资助) is needed for supervision, ground and sky control, and uniting efforts; the other half is needed for livelihoods and food security of farmers. As for the huge gap, they have called on the international community to act now through funding. However, by the end of February, just US$69 million had been promised.
This most alarming crisis has developed and is worsening in East Africa. The funds needed to control the situation become very difficult to achieve and the gap is a big concern.
1.Why does the crisis happen in East Africa?
A.There is a big population there.
B.There are large deserts and grasslands.
C.Africa lies west of Arabian Peninsula.
D.Good climate for breeding plays a role.
2.Why does the writer list those figures in Para 2?
A.To warn of the terrible damage by locusts.
B.To help us understand how locusts live.
C.To show how many locusts there are now.
D.To draw a picture of the present Africa.
3.What can we infer from the text?
A.The crisis is not noticed until recently.
B.More fund is needed to prevent the crisis.
C.The crisis has been the focus of the world.
D.Locusts are all from the Arabian Peninsula.
4.Which is the best title for the text?
A.Killing locusts before too late
B.Global warming, a world problem
C.Funding Gap for Locust Crisis
D.Africa, a crisis-stricken place
Pinocchio may be just a children’s fairy tale, but Spanish scientists at the University of Granada recently investigated this so-called “Pinocchio effect” and found that our noses don’t grow when we tell a lie, but actually shrink a bit.
Dr. Gómez Milán and his team developed a lie detector test that used thermography（体温计）to tell if people were lying, and found that whenever participants in their research were being untruthful, the temperature of the tip of their nose dropped up to 1.2℃, while the temperature of their forehead increased up to 1.5℃. Scientist also found that drop in temperature at nose level actually caused it to slightly shrink, although the difference is undetected by the human eye.
“One has to think in order to lie, which rises the temperature of the forehead,” Dr. Gómez Milán explained the findings. “At the same time we feel anxious, which lowers the temperature of the nose.”
For this study, researchers asked a number of 60 students to perform various tasks while their temperature is scanned by technology. One of these tasks required making a 3 to 4 minutes call to their parents or a friend and telling a significant lie. Participants had to make up the lie themselves during the call. Interestingly, this lie detector picked up the “Pinocchio effect” temperature difference in 80 percent of the test subjects, which is a better rate of success than that of any modern lie detector.
“With this method we have achieved to increase accuracy”, said Dr. Gómez Milán, who added that law enforcement interviewers could one day combine other lie detection technology with thermal imaging to achieve better results.
1.Why does the writer talk about Pinocchio in the first paragraph?
A.To tell a fairy tale. B.To give an example.
C.To talk about a scientist. D.To introduce the topic.
2.What is “Pinocchio effect”?
A.Our noses will grow when we tell a lie.
B.Our noses will shrink when we tell a lie.
C.The temperature of the forehead falls if we lie.
D.The temperature of the student rises for anxiety.
3.How did Dr. Gómez Milán feel about the lie detector?
A.Doubtful. B.Surprised.
C.Confident. D.Puzzled.
4.What lesson can we learn from the text?
A.A lie will travel very hard. B.Many ways to bring a liar to light.
C.A lie never lives to be old. D.Once a liar always a liar.
Amanda Seyfried didn’t grow up with dogs. With her busy work schedule, she didn’t think she could take care of a dog. In fact, she wasn’t looking for a furry friend at all.
But then she met Finn. Today, the 34-year-old actress, who’s known for films Mamma Mia, is a dog owner and a spokeswoman at the welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society.
“I can’t imagine my life without him,” Seyfried says of 6.5-year-old Australian shepherd Finn, who is allowed on her U.S. set. If for some reason he can’t join Seyfried on location --- like on a recent trip when she traveled from France to China, Seyfried requests from her dog sitter twice — daily videos of him.
Now with a new video for Best Friends Animal Society, she calls herself Finn’s “stage mother.”
Seyfried and Finn shot an 80s-themed video for the 9000StepsChallenge, which asks animal owners to walk 9,000 steps with their pets on the ninth day of the month to raise awareness to the fact that more than 9,000 dogs and cats are euthanized (安乐死) in shelters each day because there’s not enough room.
As for the video shoot, in which Seyfried and Finn walked the 9,000 steps --- it was more exhausting than a long walk. Seyfried was Finn’s trainer on the shoot. She believes that instead of being Finn’s cp-star, she’ll go back to being BFFs.
1.Why did Seyfried originally refuse a pet dog?
A.She wasn’t not yet a spokeswoman.
B.She wasn’t used to being with a dog.
C.She was too busy to care for a dog.
D.She had not enough room for a dog.
2.Who does the underlined word “him” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A.Finn. B.Seyfried.
C.The dog sitter. D.Finn’s best friend.
3.Why did Seyfried shoot the video together with Finn?
A.To show how deep she loves Finn.
B.To train Finn to have a long walk.
C.To take part in an animal cp-star show.
D.To call on public attention to pets’ life.
4.Which section of a newspaper is this text most likely from?
A.News B.Life
C.Education D.Sports
Foods of the Future
We asked young scientists to write an advertisement that answers this question: How will food options, food availability, and individuals’ food choices change in the future? A selection of their suggested marketing campaigns is below. Read previous NextGen Voices survey results at http://science.sciencemag.org/collection/nextgen-voices. — Jennifer Sills
Personalized Meal Plans
Send us your DNA, and we will predict your food preferences! Receive your personalized food basket, with a day-by-day diet program. We will send you full meals and personalized smoothies (水果奶昔) based on your genetic taste tendency.
Ada Gabriela Blidner
Twitter:@adagbb
Fresh Fruit
If you miss sweet temperate fruits, welcome to our Moon Farm. Our fruit trees are planted in hybrid-soil and artificial air that reproduce Earth’s environment from 5000 years ago. Pick fruits with your family or ship to your doorstep with MoonEx. Freshness guaranteed.
Yongsheng Ji
Email: jiyongshengkey@hotmail.com
Meat
Our steaks are sourced from natural grasslands, where cattle now fill the ecological roles. With FoodFootprint feeding system, we enhance natural grazing (放牧) to improve animal growth effectively while minimizing methane production and water consumption. At only $219.00/kg (including carbon taxes and ecological taxes), our steaks are affordable for the whole family.
Falko Buschke
Email: falko. buschke@gmail. com
1.Which of the following needs you to provide the information of your genes?
A.Meat. B.Fresh Fruit.
C.NextGen Voices. D.Personalized Meal Plans.
2.Who should you contact if you want to have fun with your family?
A.Jennifer Sills. B.Yongsheng Ji.
C.Falko Buschke. D.Ada Gabriela Blidner.
3.Which of the following best describes the steaks in Meat?
A.Fresh. B.Green.
C.Expensive. D.Personalized.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式，并将答案填写在答题卡上。
Lasa Bailey took her gloves off when 1.（take）her dog for a long walk on a winter day and didn’t notice anything until that evening. She was shocked when she realized her beautiful anniversary ring was missing. She 2.（hurry）back to look for it but couldn’t find anything. Her husband kept going on a website where people sell jewelry, 3. never found it.
All that changed, however, thanks to a recent Facebook post 4.（write）on their local police department’s page. A woman police officer posted, “If anybody knows of anybody losing a diamond ring, please contact us.” One of her friends read it and wrote on it “Lisa Bailey”.
The police station happened to find some unidentified 5.（jewel）in a local pawn shop (当铺) and took them away. When Bailey learned from her friend that her ring might 6.(find), she couldn’t believe it.
The police called Bailey and asked her to describe it. She sent a picture of it to 7. and then they asked if she could come to the police station. When the police officer in the station 8. had written the Facebook post handed her the ring the next day, she was very thrilled and started to tear up. She could wear her anniversary ring home where it belongs 9. (final) after three years’ wait.
Bailey’s husband had offered to replace the ring after it went 10. (miss), but she refused because she thought it wouldn’t be the same.
单词拼写
1.The children’s mother was _______ (担心的) about their safety when they didn’t come back from school at the usual time.
2.The driveless cars will help ______(减少) traffic accidents caused by human drivers’ mistakes.
3.The green development means the development of the economy should be in _______ (和谐，融洽) with the protection of the environment.
4.Today, over half of the panda’s _______(栖息地) are under protection, and we feel confident that this species will have a bright future.
5.After discussing with her parents, she ____ (打算) to work as a volunteer in the earthquake-hit area last year.
6.The 5G technology is expected to make the _______(利润) of Huawei on the increase.
7.It is _______ (非法的) for anyone to be fired because of pregnancy.
8.Some couples see single women as a _______ (威胁) to their relationships.
9.Go to a part of the world you’re unfamiliar with and _______ (观察) how people live there.
10.He may break up under all this _______ (压力).
11.He got into the driving seat and started the _______ (发动机).
12.There was a small ______(溪流) at the end of the garden.
13.She had got something _______ (卡住) between her teeth.
14.The police soon established his true _______(身份) and he was quickly found.
15.Scientists have only recently been able to gain _______ (接近的机会) to the area.
16.It was a very _______(艰难的) decision but we feel we made the right one.
17.The _______ (会议) will be a celebration of women’s achievements.
18.They are often available at a _______ (折扣).
19.There was stuff in that _______ (文件) that was private between me and Dr.Denny.
20.We were still right on _______ (目标) for our deadline.
