Dream job in the Antarctic includes counting penguins
Always wanted to count penguins in Antarctica? Well now you can, with the Penguin Watch project, launched today by Oxford University.
Penguins-globally loved, but under threat. Research shows that in some regions, penguin populations are in decline; but why? Click "get started" to begin monitoring penguins, and help us answer this question. With over 100 sites to explore, we need your help now more than ever！
Workers have to count penguins and other wildlife for the British Antarctic Survey, and a report is due by the end of employment. Other duties include managing the gift shop and the post office on behalf of the British Antarctic Territory Government. The post office says it gets about 80, 000 pieces of mail a season.
According to the application, the successful candidate "will need to be physically and medically able to do the job. "Living conditions are "basic but comfortable, "but there is limited power and no running water or Internet access, which means "very minimal communication" to the outside world.
It's not just for fun, though; the project has some important implications. With their findings, the researchers hope to detail the effects of climate change by analyzing data on timing of breeding, survival rate of chicks, and rate of predation on chicks.
For those interested below 35 years old, the application can be found here, with a deadline at 7: 59 p. m. on August 25. International candidates can apply, but they must have the right to work in the United Kingdom and fluent in English, and those selected will have a week of training in Cambridge in October.
If you would like to support our work, we would be extremely grateful. Here are some ways you can get involved:
£50-Become a Penguin Pen Pal, and we will send you a postcard from our next field season in Antarctica.
£150-Sponsor a Penguinologist, and receive a little pack of Penguin Watch goodies.
When Su Bingtian was first added to the track and field team of his junior high school, what he did most was not training or competing, but carrying bags for his senior teammates and watching them running.
Nobody, including Su himself, would believe the small boy could one day become the first Asian man to reach the 100m final at the World Championships, running side-to-side with the fastest sprinters in the world.
Born in a rural area in China's southeastern province of Guangdong, Su started training in athletics in 2003. After 12 years of fast progress, Su emerged from a bag-carrier to the fastest man in the world most populous country, breaking the national record after he clocked 9. 99 seconds at the IAAF Diamond League Eugene leg on May 30. He is the first and only Chinese that have ever dipped under the 10-second barrier. He attributed such progress to a revolutionary technique change starting from last winter.
When Su first began to train in sprinting, he had been using his right foot to start off. But he always found his third step a little bit weak and unsteady which would affect his intermediate running and the whole rhythm. After consulting with his coach Yuan Guoqiang, China's first nation- al record holder, Su has changed his way to start with his left foot going forward first.
"It was like a desperate gamble, a brand new start for me. I knew if it works I would find some room to improve, otherwise it could lead to the end of my career, "Su said.
"To be honest, I am not fully prepared for such pressure and intensive media coverage. I will learn to deal with it as soon as possible. But training and competing will always be my priority," said a determined Su. "I hope my story can encourage those young people to believe that Chinese can also run fast. I do not think I am a hero. I am just a step-stone, like my coach Yuan, a step-stone to pave the way for more youngsters to push the speed limit for China. "
In some parts of the world, COVID-19 is not the only plague that 2020 has brought. In parts of Asia and east Africa, swarms (成群) of locusts have ruined fields. The UN figures the swarms in India and Pakistan are the largest for a quarter of a century, and that the numbers in Kenya are the highest for 70 years. One swarm in northern Kenya was estimated to be 25 miles long and 37 miles wide.
Locusts are usually inoffensive, solitary creatures that live alone and do not stay far from the place that they were born. But under the right circumstances-namely heavy rain, and plant harvests-they can become "gregarious". When that happens, the insects gather in hungry swarms which can fly more than 100km in a day.
In a paper published in Nature, Xiaojiao Guo, of the Institute of Zoology in Beijing, and a group of other researchers, shed light on the factor that drives that transformation. They think they have identified the specific pheromone (信息素) that attracts the insects to each other, and thus causes them to swarm.
Dr Guo and her colleagues collected 35 chemicals collected from the bodies and faeces (排 泄物) of the most widespread locust. When tested, gregarious locusts were strongly attracted to just one, a chemical called 4-vinylanisole (4VA). That attraction was strong for immature and mature locusts alike, and for both males and females.
Dr Guo's results could be of more than academic interest. Humans have tried everything from insecticides to flame-throwers to deal with locust swarms. If a chemical could be developed that blocks the receptor (接收器), the insects might be made deaf to its call. If 4VA turns out to be a language that all locusts understand, then it may help humans persuade them to abandon their gregarious ways, and return to a solitary life.
Sleeping with a dim light like a television or nightlight is enough to the raise blood sugar and heart rates of healthy people, according to a new study. Light helps our body maintain an internal clock, but artificial light at night can interrupt the rest and repair that should happen during the sleep. New research suggests that even when our eyes are closed, a small amount of light can disrupt the way our bodies normally keep our blood sugar within a healthy range.
In the study published in Sciences on Monday, scientists asked 20 participants ages 19 to 36 to spend two nights in their lab. On the first night of sleep, the volunteers slept in a very dark room. For their second night of sleep, half of the group snoozed with a small light like the glow of television at night, or streetlights through a window-and half spent their second night in a dark room.
During the trial, all participants were connected to devices that measured different markers of their sleep quality. They were each connected via a special tube, allowing researchers to collect samples without waking the individual. Researchers also recorded participants' heart rates and brain waves.
When the volunteers awoke in the morning, the team tested their blood sugar and found that participants that slept in rooms with a dim light spent less time in deep sleep. In addition to having slightly worse blood sugar control, the group exposed to dim light had a higher heart rate on average. "By comparison, those that spend two nights in the dark room had little difference in their blood sugar control. They thought they slept well, but your brain knows that the lights are on, "says Zee, "you should clearly pay attention to the light in your bedroom. If you can't give up your night light, keep it dim and at floor level. "
Earlier work has linked exposure to light during sleep to an increased risk of obesity in women. Zee recommends, "make sure that you start dimming your lights at least an hour or two before you go to bed to prepare your environment for sleep."
How often do you eat chocolate? If you answered "every day", you may be addicted to choco- late.
Eating too much chocolate is often thought to be the cause of tooth decay, weight gain, head- aches, and skin problems such as acne (粉刺). Eating chocolate releases a distinctive flavor that gives us a pleasant, positive feeling. What is it that causes this feeling?
Chocolate contains over three hundred known chemicals. Like a drug, these chemicals stimulate areas of the brain that enables us to feel pleasure. The most well known chemical is caffeine, which is also found in coffee, tea, and some types of soda.
The popular opinion of chocolate is that it is a fattening food that gives you spots, and contains no nutritional qualities. The fact is, chocolate does contain saturated fat. . On the other hand, scientists at the university of California have discovered that chocolate also contains high level of chemicals called phenolics (酚化物), also found in red wine, coffee, and tea. Some phenolics, if consumed in small amounts, are believed to lower the risk of heart disease.
Consumption of cocoa around the world now amounts to almost three million tons a year. That is equivalent to 500 grams of cocoa for every person on earth! .
A. However, does eating too much chocolate cause any real health risks?
B. No one has ever died of eating too much chocolate, so this is one addiction that might be okay to have.
C. This type of fat can contribute to heart disease by increasing levels of bad cholesterol (胆固醇) in the blood.
D. But is this addiction damaging your health?
E. On the other hand, chocolate is known to make people feel happier.
F. Chocolate contains chemicals that slow the brain.
G. The cocoa butter in chocolate forms a coating over teeth that may help to protect our teeth.
William Kamkwamba lives in Malawi, Africa, where most people have no electricity or running water. Only two percent of Malawians can1electricity. Life there is difficult. In 2001, when William was 14 years old, life in Malawi became even2.
Because of the3, William's family couldn't afford to send him to school any more. So one day William went to the4near his home and found a science book called Using Energy. It included5 for building a windmill. Windmills can be very 6sources of electricity, and they can bring water7from underground.
William didn't know much English, but most of the book was full of8. Looking at them, William thought he could9 a windmill for his family. When William went home and started to do it, a lot of people 10 him, including his mother. They didn't think he could do it, but William was confident. William was also11. He looked for parts in junkyards to build the machine.
William changed and improved his design little by little. First, the windmill powered only one lightbulb. Then there was12electricity for four lights and a radio. No one laughed at William. Later, William built13second windmill. This one brought water up from underground. Because of his success with the windmills, William was able to go back to school.14, he uses his website, movingwindmills.org, to educate and give hope to people. Trust yourself and believe. 15happens, don't give up.
Vesuvius, also called Mount Vesuvius, is on the plain of Campania in southern Italy. the afternoon of August 24, AD 79 Mount Vesuvius on the island of Sicily erupted, (send) out a huge cloud of glowing ash and barraging (倾泻)the surrounding country with showers of rock. For 28 hours the volcano continued to pour out rock and ash until the city of Pompeii andunfortunate inhabitants were buried under seven metres of rock and ash. Two thousand people died in the catastrophe.
The town of Pompeii (lie) hidden and forgotten until 1631 when Vesuvius erupted again and workers discovered some Roman coins. Over the course of the next 200 years or so various artefacts (收藏品)(dig)up. The site was cleared and slowly more and more uncovered. The importance of the discoveries was(eventual) realized and efforts were made(preserve) the site. (science) study of the volcano did not begin until late in the 18th century. An observatory was opened in 1845 at 1, 995 feet, and in the 20th century people set up numerous stations at various(high) for making volcanologic measurements. Today it is possible to visit Pompeii and walk down the streets and still see the figures in the same positionsthey were when the ash enveloped them over 1, 900 years ago.
1）端午节的活动安排;
2）就地过节的好处;
3）发出倡议。
注意：
1）写作词数应为80左右;
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
参考词汇：就地过节 celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in place
My dear fellow students,
When it comes to the dragon Boat Festival,
……
Li Hua
Flying now has become a necessary routine these days, what once seemed to be a marvel that changed how we travel and what distances we can cover in a matter of hours. Our family shared this mood when we were boarding our flight early Thursday morning.
My mother, elder brother and I planned to fly to Hawaii and spent a few sunny days there. We took our seats in rear emergency isle of the Airbus A321 plane, while people on board were busy packing their belongings and getting ready for the flight. Soon after taking off, there was a troubling sound in the plane. People in the front seats started screaming and someone shouted "birds! birds!". The plane began rocking from side to side in an unusual pattern. I saw one of the flight attendants terrified, while restrained, the expression on face who seat in the same emergency isle as we did. My mother grabbed my hand and my brother became stiff and unresponsive. It was unusual to see so many people being scared and confused at once, everybody looking around in search of what might be going on. A moment later I felt a strong smell of something burning, and apparently somebody even started to cough. People at the front rows screamed that they see fire coming out of the left engine.
Suddenly, the chaos in the cabin was interrupted by the captain informing the passengers that a flock of birds collided with the plane during the take-off. Apparently, the damage was severe and the plane would not be able to turn around and land at the airport. My mother grabbed my hand and reached for brother's hand as well. A deep sense of fear and realization of a potential disaster descended on everyone on board. Flight attendants rushed to check if everyone was still buckled up and in a proper position.
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右;
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The captain addressed us once again telling that an emergency landing would be in a few minutes and that they would try to land on the field.
……
Luckily, all of us were safe.
