2025年高考英语一轮复习强化训练 专题12 阅读理解

When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.

After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.

The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.

He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.

Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse-like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.

"Ecological design" is the name John gives to what he does. "Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor," he says. "You put organisms in new relationships and observe what's happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair."

We all know fresh is best when it comes to food. However, most produce at the store went through weeks of travel and covered hundreds of miles before reaching the table. While farmer's markets are a solid choice to reduce the journey, Babylon Micro-Farm（BMF）shortens it even more. 

BMF is an indoor garden system. It can be set up for a family. Additionally, it could serve a larger audience such as a hospital, restaurant or school. The innovative design requires little effort to achieve a reliable weekly supply of fresh greens. 

Specifically, it's a farm that relies on new technology. By connecting through the Cloud, BMF is remotely monitored. Also, there is a convenient app that provides growing data in real time. Because the system is automated, it significantly reduces the amount of water needed to grow plants. Rather than watering rows of soil, the system provides just the right amount to each plant. After harvest, users simply replace the plants with a new pre-seeded pod（容器）to get the next growth cycle started. 

Moreover, having a system in the same building where it's eaten means zero emissions（排放）from transporting plants from soil to salad. In addition, there's no need for pesticides and other chemicals that pollute traditional farms and the surrounding environment. 

BMF employees live out sustainability in their everyday lives. About half of them walk or bike to work. Inside the office, they encourage recycling and waste reduction by limiting garbage cans and avoiding single-use plastic. "We are passionate about reducing waste, carbon and chemicals in our environment," said a BMF employee. 

Bike Rental & Guided Tours

Welcome to Amsterdam, welcome to MacBike. You see much more from the seat of a bike! Cycling is the most economical, sustainable and fun way to explore the city, with its beautiful canals, parks, squares and countless lights. You can also bike along lovely landscapes outside of Amsterdam.

Why MacBike

MacBike has been around for almost 30 years and is the biggest bicycle rental company in Amsterdam. With over 2,500 bikes stored in our five rental shops at strategic locations, we make sure there is always a bike available for you. We offer the newest bicycles in a wide variety, including basic bikes with foot brake (刹车), bikes with hand brake and gears (排挡), bikes with child seats, and children's bikes.

Prices

Guided City Tours

The 2.5-hour tour covers the Gooyer Windmill, the Skinny Bridge, the Rijksmuseum, Heineken Brewery and much more. The tour departs from Dam Square every hour on the hour, starting at 1:00 pm every day. You can buy your ticket in a MacBike shop or book online.

Animals can express their needs using a lot of ways. For instance, almost all animals have distinct vocals (声音) that they rely on to either ask for help, scare away any dangerous animals or look for shelter. But cats are special creatures who possess amazing vocalization skills. They are able to have entire conversations with humans using meows and you're able to interpret it. If a pet cat is hungry, it will keep meowing to attract attention and find food. However, when a cat is looking for affection, they tend to produce stretched and soft meows. Meowing starts as soon as a baby cat is brought to life and uses it to get the mother's attention and be fed.

Cats have many heightened senses, but their sense of smell is quite impressive. They use their noses to assess their environment and look out for any signs of danger. They will sniff out specific areas before they choose a place to relax. However, another way the cats are able to distinguish between situations is by looking for familiar smells. Your cat will likely smell your face and store the smell in its memory and use it to recognize you in the future. That's why most pet cats are able to tell immediately if their owners were around any other cats, which they don't usually like.

Dogs are known for their impressive fetching habit, but cats take this behavior up a notch. Many cats will find random objects outside and bring them to their owners. This is a very old habit that's been present in all kinds of predators(食肉动物). Cats bring gifts for their owners to show they love you. These adorable little hunters are just doing something that it's been in their nature since the beginning of time. So just go along with it!

If you want to tell the history of the whole world, a history that does not privilege one part of humanity, you cannot do it through texts alone, because only some of the world has ever had texts, while most of the world, for most of the time, has not. Writing is one of humanity's later achievements, and until fairly recently even many literate (有文字的) societies recorded their concerns not only in writing but in things.

Ideally a history would bring together texts and objects, and some chapters of this book are able to do just that, but in many cases we simply can't. The clearest example of this between literate and non-literate history is perhaps the first conflict, at Botany Bay, between Captain Cook's voyage and the Australian Aboriginals. From the English side, we have scientific reports and the captain's record of that terrible day. From the Australian side, we have only a wooden shield (盾) dropped by a man in flight after his first experience of gunshot. If we want to reconstruct what was actually going on that day, the shield must be questioned and interpreted as deeply and strictly as the written reports.

In addition to the problem of miscomprehension from both sides, there are victories accidentally or deliberately twisted, especially when only the victors know how to write. Those who are on the losing side often have only their things to tell their stories. The Caribbean Taino, the Australian Aboriginals, the African people of Benin and the Incas, all of whom appear in this book, can speak to us now of their past achievements most powerfully through the objects they made: a history told through things gives them back a voice. When we consider contact (联系) between literate and non-literate societies such as these, all our first-hand accounts are necessarily twisted, only one half of a dialogue. If we are to find the other half of that conversation, we have to read not just the texts, but the objects.

"I didn't like the ending," I said to my favorite college professor. It was my junior year of undergraduate, and I was doing an independent study on Victorian literature. I had just finished reading The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, and I was heartbroken with the ending. Prof. Gracie, with all his patience, asked me to think about it beyond whether I liked it or not. He suggested I think about the difference between endings that I wanted for the characters and endings that were right for the characters, endings that satisfied the story even if they didn't have a traditionally positive outcome. Of course, I would have preferred a different ending for Tom and Maggie Tulliver, but the ending they got did make the most sense for them.

This was an aha moment for me, and I never thought about endings the same way again. From then on, if I wanted to read an ending guaranteed to be happy, I'd pick up a love romance. If I wanted an ending I couldn't guess, I'd pick up a mystery (悬疑小说). One where I kind of knew what was going to happen, historical fiction. Choosing what to read became easier.

But writing the end - that's hard. It's hard for writers because endings carry so much weight with readers. You have to balance creating an ending that's        unpredictable, but doesn't seem to come from nowhere, one that fits what's right for the characters.

That's why this issue (期)of Writer's Digest aims to help you figure out how to write the best ending for whatever kind of writing you're doing. If it's short stories, Peter Mountford breaks down six techniques you can try to see which one helps you stick the landing. Elizabeth Sims analyzes the final chapters of five great novels to see what key points they include and how you can adapt them for your work.

This issue won't tell you what your ending should be - that's up to you and the story you're telling - but it might provide what you need to get there.

The Saint Lukas train doesn't accept passengers -it accepts only the sick. The Saint Lukas is one of five government-sponsored medical trains that travel to remote towns in central and eastern Russia. Each stop lasts an average of two days, and during that time the doctors and nurses on board provide rural(乡村)populations with basic medical care, X-ray scans and prescriptions.

"People started queuing to make an appointment early in the morning," says Emile Ducke, a German photographer who traveled with the staff of the Saint Lukas for a two-week trip in November through the vast regions(区域) of Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia.

Russia's public health care service has been in serious need of modernization. The government has struggled to come up with measures to address the problem, particularly in the poorer, rural areas east of the Volga River, including arranging doctor's appointments by video chat and expanding financial aid programs to motivate doctors to practice medicine in remote parts of the country like Krasnoyarsk.

The annual arrival of the Saint Lukas is another attempt to improve the situation. For 10 months every year, the train stops at about eight stations over two weeks, before returning to the regional capital to refuel and restock (补给). Then it starts all over again the next month. Most stations wait about a year between visits.

Doctors see up to 150 patients every day. The train's equipment allows for basic checkups. "I was very impressed by the doctors and their assistants working and living in such little space but still staying focused and very concerned," says Ducke. " They were the best chance for many rural people to get the treatment they want. "

Each ARTS FIRST festival is a unique annual celebration of the Harvard community's artistic creativity. We invite you to join us for the coming ARTS FIRST. We look forward to welcoming you as we showcase the creativity of the Harvard arts community through performances, art exhibitions and art-making activities. The festival is a public event for Harvard and community members of all ages.

Light Awash in Watercolor

Learn about the materials and qualities of watercolor paint with experts from the Harvard Art Museums Materials Lab. Try your hand at some of the painting tricks used by artists whose works will be in the upcoming exhibition of American Watercolors, 1880 -1990: Into the Light.

Spineless Artists:Invertebrate Creativity

From webs to cocoons, invertebrates(无脊椎动物) create some of nature's most delicate and beautiful designs. Join Javier Marin from the Harvard Museum of Natural History to learn how insects and other invertebrates dance,inspire fashion and create art, while making your own spineless artists out of craft(手工艺)materials. 

Wheel Throwing

Join instructors from the Ceramics Program and great potters from Quincy, Cabot and Mather Houses for demonstrations using the potter's wheel. Then create your own masterpiece!

Knitting and Pom-PomMaking

Join the Harvard Undergraduate Knitting Circle to make pom-poms and tassels out of thread, or pick up a pair of needles and learn to knit(编织).

Given the astonishing potential of AI to transform our lives, we all need to take action to deal with our AI-powered future, and this is where AI by Design: A Plan for Living with Artificial Intelligence comes in. This absorbing new book by Catriona Campbell is a practical roadmap addressing the challenges posed by the forthcoming AI revolution（变革）. 

In the wrong hands, such a book could prove as complicated to process as the computer code（代码）that powers AI but, thankfully, Campbell has more than two decades' professional experience translating the heady into the understandable. She writes from the practical angle of a business person rather than as an academic, making for a guide which is highly accessible and informative and which, by the close, will make you feel almost as smart as AI. 

As we soon come to learn from AI by Design, AI is already super-smart and will become more capable, moving from the current generation of "narrow-AI" to Artificial General Intelligence. From there, Campbell says, will come Artificial Dominant Intelligence. This is why Campbell has set out to raise awareness of AI and its future now-several decades before these developments are expected to take place. She says it is essential that we keep control of artificial intelligence, or risk being sidelined and perhaps even worse. 

Campbell's point is to wake up those responsible for AI-the technology companies and world leaders-so they are on the same page as all the experts currently developing it. She explains we are at a "tipping point" in history and must act now to prevent an extinction-level event for humanity. We need to consider how we want our future with Al to pan out. Such structured thinking, followed by global regulation, will enable us to achieve greatness rather than our downfall. 

AI will affect us all, and if you only read one book on the subject, this is it. 

Do you ever get to the train station and realize you forgot to bring something to read? Yes, we all have our phones, but many of us still like to go old school and read something printed. 

Well, there's a kiosk（小亭）for that. In the San Francisco Bay Area, at least. 

"You enter the fare gates（检票口）and you'll see a kiosk that is lit up and it tells you can get a one-minute, a three-minute, or a five-minute story," says Alicia Trost, the chief communications officer for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit - known as BART. "You choose which length you want and it gives you a receipt-like short story."

It's that simple. Riders have printed nearly 20,000 short stories and poems since the program was launched last March. Some are classic short stories, and some are new original works. 

Trost also wants to introduce local writers to local riders. "We wanted to do something where we do a call to artists in the Bay Area to submit stories for a contest," Trost says. "And as of right now, we've received about 120 submissions. The winning stories would go into our kiosk and then you would be a published artist."

Ridership on transit（交通）systems across the country has been down the past half century, so could short stories save transit? 

Trost thinks so. 

"At the end of the day all transit agencies right now are doing everything they can to improve the rider experience. So I absolutely think we will get more riders just because of short stories," she says. 

And you'll never be without something to read. 

Choice of Walks for Beginner and Experienced Walkers

The Carlow Autumn Walking Festival is a great opportunity for the beginner, experienced or advanced walker to enjoy the challenges of Carlow's mountain hikes or the peace of its woodland walks. 

Walk 1-The Natural World

With environmentalist Éanna Lamhna as the guide, this walk promises to be an informative tour. Walkers are sure to learn lots about the habitats and natural world of the Blackstairs. 

Date and Time: Saturday, 1st October, at 09: 00

Start Point: Scratoes Bridge

Walk Duration: 6 hours

Walk 2-Introduction to Hillwalking

Emmanuel Chappard, an experienced guide, has a passion for making the great outdoors accessible to all. This mountain walk provides an insight into the skills required for hillwalking to ensure you get the most from future walking trips. 

Date and Time: Sunday, 2nd October, at 09: 00

Start Point: Deerpark Car Park

Walk Duration: 5 hours

Walk 3-MoonlightUnder the Stars

Walking at night-time is a great way to step out of your comfort zone. Breathtaking views of the lowlands of Carlow can be enjoyed in the presence of welcoming guides from local walking clubs. A torch（手电筒）along with suitable clothing is essential for walking in the dark. Those who are dressed inappropriately will be refused permission to participate. 

Date and Time: Saturday, 1st October, at 18: 30

Start Point: The Town Hall

Walk Duration: 3 hours

Walk 4-Photographic Walk inKilbrannish Forest

This informative walk led by Richard Smyth introduces you to the basic principles of photography in the wild. Bring along your camera and enjoy the wonderful views along this well-surfaced forest path. 

Date and Time: Sunday, 2nd October, at 11: 45

Start Point: Kilbrannish Forest Recreation Area

Walk Duration: 1.5 hours

In the race to document the species on Earth before they go extinct, researchers and citizen scientists have collected billions of records. Today, most records of biodiversity are often in the form of photos, videos, and other digital records. Though they are useful for detecting shifts in the number and variety of species in an area, a new Stanford study has found that this type of record is not perfect. 

"With the rise of technology it is easy for people to make observations of different species with the aid of a mobile application, "said Barnabas Daru, who is lead author of the study and assistant professor of biology in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. "These observations now outnumber the primary data that comes from physical specimens(标本), and since we are increasingly using observational data to investigate how species are responding to global change, I wanted to know: Are they usable?"

Using a global dataset of 1. 9 billion records of plants, insects, birds, and animals, Daru and his team tested how well these data represent actual global biodiversity patterns. 

"We were particularly interested in exploring the aspects of sampling that tend to bias(使有偏差)data, like the greater likelihood of a citizen scientist to take a picture of af lowering plant instead of the grass right next to it, "said Daru. 

Their study revealed that the large number of observation-only records did not lead to better global coverage. Moreover, these data are biased and favor certain regions, time periods, and species. This makes sense because the people who get observational biodiversity data on mobile devices are often citizen scientists recording their encounters with species in areas nearby. These data are also biased toward certain species with attractive or eye-catching features. 

What can we do with the imperfect datasets of biodiversity?

"Quite a lot, "Daru explained." Biodiversity apps can use our study results to inform users of oversampled areas and lead them to places -and even species -that are not well-sampled. To improve the quality of observational data, biodiversity apps can also encourage users to have an expert confirm the identification of their uploaded image. "

Is comprehension the same whether a person reads a text onscreen or on paper? And are listening to and viewing content as effective as reading the written word when covering the same material? The answers to both questions are often "no. " The reasons relate to a variety of factors, including reduced concentration, an entertainment mindset(心态)and a tendency to multitask while consuming digital content. 

When reading texts of several hundred words or more, learning is generally more successful when it's on paper than onscreen. A large amount of research confirms this finding. The benefits of print reading particularly shine through when experimenters move from posing simple tasks-like identifying the main idea in a reading passage-to ones that require mental abstraction-such as drawing inferences from a text. 

The differences between print and digital reading results are partly related to paper's physical properties. With paper, there is a literal laying on of hands, along with the visual geography of distinct pages. People often link their memory of what they've read to how far into the book it was or where it was on the page. 

But equally important is the mental aspect. Reading researchers have proposed a theory called "shallowing hypothesis(假说). " According to this theory, people approach digital texts with a mindset suited to social media, which are often not so serious, and devote less mental effort than when they are reading print

Audio(音频)and video can feel more engaging than text, and so university teachers increasingly tum to these technologies -say, assigning an online talk instead of an article by the same person. However, psychologists have demonstrated that when adults read news stories, they remember more of the content than if they listen to or view identical pieces

Digital texts, audio and video all have educational roles, especially when providing resources not available in print. However, for maximizing leaning where mental focus and reflection are called for, educators shouldn't assume all media are the same, even when they contain identical words.

"I am not crazy, "says Dr. William Farber, shortly after performing acupuncture (针灸) on a rabbit. "I am ahead of my time. "If he seems a little defensive, it might be because even some of his coworkers occasionally laugh at his unusual methods, But Farber is certain he'll have the last laugh. He's one of a small but growing number of American veterinarians(兽医)now practicing "holistic" medicine-combining traditional Western treatments with acupuncture, chiropractic(按摩疗法)and herbal medicine

Farber, a graduate of Colorado State University, started out as a more conventional veterinarian. He became interested in alternative treatments 20 years ago when he suffered from terrible back pain. He tried muscle-relaxing drugs but found little relief. Then he tried acupuncture, an ancient Chinese practice, and was amazed that he improved after two or three treatments. What worked on a veterinarian seemed likely to work on his patients. So, after studying the techniques for a couple of years, he began offering them to pets

Leigh Tindale's dog Charlie had a serious heart condition. After Charlie had a heart attack, Tindale says, she was prepared to put him to sleep, but Farber's treatments eased her dog's suffering so much that she was able to keep him alive for an additional five months And Priscilla Dewing reports that her horse, Nappy, "moves more easily and rides more comfortably" after a chiropractic adjustment. 

Farber is certain that the holistic approach will grow more popular with time, and if the past is any indication, he may be right: Since 1982, membership in the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association has grown from 30 to over 700. "Sometimes it surprises me that it works so well, "he says. "I will do anything to help an animal. That's my job. "

HABITAT RESTORATIONTEAM

Help restore and protect Marin's natural areas from the Marin Headlands to Bolinas Ridge. We'll explore beautiful park sites while conducting invasive(侵入的)plant removal, winter planting, and seed collection. Habitat Restoration Team volunteers play a vital role in restoring sensitive resources and protecting endangered species across the ridges and valleys. 

GROUPS

Groups of five or more require special arrangements and must be confirmed in advance. Please review the List of Available Projects and fill out the Group Project Request Form. 

AGE, SKILLS, WHAT TO BRING

Volunteers aged 10 and over are welcome. Read our Youth Policy Guidelines for youth under the age of 15. 

Bring your completed Volunteer Agreement Form. Volunteers under the age of18 must have the parent /guardian approval section signed. 

We'll be working rain or shine. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Bring layers for changing weather and a raincoat if necessary.

Bring a personal water bottle, sunscreen, and lunch. 

No experience necessary. Training and tools will be provided. Fulfills(满足)community service requirements. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Michael Jackson was on the road of performing when he was five years old. As is known to all, the road to fame and fortune is a long, hard one.

Michael remembered those early years when he was young. "My father was a machine operator," he explained, "and he worked at a steel plant. My mother worked at Sears, a big department store. But they were both musicians."

Michael's father Joe Jackson realized his sons had a lot of talent, and he knew he could train them to become fine musicians. In those days there were plenty of music groups and some of them were very good. He knew if his sons were to stand out, they would have to be the best.

Practice makes perfect. And they practised! Gradually the group took shape. Then word of this group began to get around. Thus Michael got a chance to do some solo（独唱） songs. In the following years, Michael was always on the top. One million records of his were sold in New Zealand, which has only a total population of three million!

When Michael was eighteen, he entered another field of his career（生涯） — acting. "I plan to star in movies," he told his friends, "but of course, my first love is music."

Michael wrote a lot of his own songs. "Songs came about in the strangest ways," he said. "I'll just wake up from sleeping and there is a whole song coming into my head. And then I put it down on the paper."

Still, with all his success, Michael managed to keep his head calm. "I just do a different job from other people," he said, "but it doesn't make me think I'm better than other people."

To be quite honest, his fans just love to hear and watch him!

Undersea restaurant Ithaa

    Ithaa is the very first undersea restaurant in the world located 5 meters below sea level in the Republic of Maldives. The 5-by-9-metre restaurant can hold 14 people at a time and has a transparent(透明的) roof offering a 270 panoramic (全景的) underwater view. The restaurant was designed and constructed by M. J. Murphy Ltd., a design consultancy based in New Zealand. It was opened on April 15, 2005. Food served in the restaurant can be described as contemporary （当代的） European with Asian influence.

    Tip: Work on technical designs and drawings for Ithaa started in March 2004. Once constructed, Ithaa would be put into the water. Because of technical challenges, limited resources, and quality control problems in building something underwater, the restaurant can only exist for about 20 years.

Skyline Queenstown Restaurant

    The famous New Zealand restaurant offers delightful fresh seafood, salads, roast meats and delicious desserts, while the panoramic view from the windows will attract you day or night. It' s the ideal place for that special night out and the best place in Queenstown to watch the sun go down! With live music creating a relaxing atmosphere and never ending scenery to admire, you will be entertained as you eat in the restaurant.

    Tip: Unlike other restaurants, the Skyline Queenstown Restaurant has tiered (分层的) seating to guarantee（确保） beautiful lake and mountain views from every table.

Revolving(旋转的) Restaurant Allalin

    Located in the Allalinhom mountain, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, Revolving Allalin is the highest revolving restaurant in the world at about 3,500 m. The restaurant offers a rich selection. Valaisian platter, pasta and pizza ... all this and much more is on the menu of the world-famous restaurant. Enjoy the eating delights offered in the world's highest revolving restaurant, while some mountain tops slowly pass by.

    Tip: Known as the ‘Pearl of the Alps', Saas-Fee offers many sports and activities: The popular holiday village features the Metro Alpine, the highest underground railway in the world up to the skiing area and the highest revolving restaurant at 3,500 m.

     Joe is interested in getting exercise and competing (竞争) on a team. He reads about the events at the local pools and finds the perfect activity.

                                                                           Swimming Programs

     Summer Swim Team

     Join a Summer Swim Team and compete with other swimmers! The program is offered at eight different local pools for youths to 17 years old. The season runs June 21-August 21. Practices are daily (Monday through Friday) throughout the summer. Cost: $50.00.

     Junior Swim Instructor (少年游泳教练)

     Two weeks, 20 hours of instruction, two hours per day for children 11-14 years old. Pre-training for youths interested in becoming swim instructors ($45 per child).

     Junior Lifeguard (救生员)

     Two weeks, 30 hours of instruction, three hours per day for children 11-14 years old. Pre-training in lifeguarding, and customer (消费者) service ($45 per child).

     Junior Swim Instructor & Junior Lifeguard Training Dates

     Special Offer

     Anyone who takes part in both junior swim instructor and junior lifeguard programs at the same time need only spend $75 instead of $90 for 50 hours of training.

     Register(注册) Online

     You can now register online! Visit our website at //www.example.com. You can choose an area of town, a specific local center, a program, or search for classes which can meet the needs of students of different ages. Just visit our website, and you're on your way!

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Teenagers who talk on the cell phone a lot, and hold their phones up to their right ears, score worse on one type of memory test. That's the finding of a new study. That memory impairment might be one side effect of the radiation(放射线) that phones use to keep us connected while we're on the go.

The teens took memory tests twice, one year apart. Nearly 700 Swiss teens took part in a test of figural memory. This type helps us remember abstract(抽象的) symbols and shapes, explains Milena Foerster. Each time, they had one minute to remember 13 pairs of abstract shapes. Then they were shown one item from each pair and asked to match it with one of the five choices. The study volunteers also took a test of verbal memory. That's the ability to remember words. The two memory tests are part of an intelligence test.

The researchers also surveyed the teens on how they use cell phones. And they got call records from phone companies. The researchers used those records to figure out how long the teens were using their phones.

This allowed the researchers to work out how big radiation exposure(接触) each person could have got while talking.

A phone user's exposure to the radiation can differ widely. Some teens talk on their phone s more than others. People also hold their phone s differently. If the phone is close to the ear, more radiation may enter the body, Foerster notes.

The teens' scores in the figural memory tests were roughly the same from one year to the next. But those who normally held their phones near the right ears, and who were also exposed to higher levels of radiation, scored a little bit worse after a year. No group of teens showed big changes on the verbal memory test. Why might one type of memory be linked to cell phone use, but not another? Foerster thinks it could have to do with where different memory centers sit in the brain. The site that deals with the ability to remember shapes is near the right ear.

We were driving on the right road when, all of a sudden, a black car pulled out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stepped on his brake, skidded(打滑), and missed the black car's back end by just inches! The driver of the black car, who almost caused a major accident, turned his head angrily and started shouting bad words at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, my taxi driver was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to hospital!" And the following is what my taxi driver told me, which I now call "the law of the Garbage Truck".

"Many people are like garbage(垃圾) trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump(倾卸) it. And if you let them, they dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish him well, and move on. Believe me. You'll be happier."

So this is "The Law of the Garbage Truck". I started thinking: How often do I let "Garbage Trucks" run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets? It was then that I said, "I'm not going to do it any more."

I began to see "Garbage Trucks". I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, and move on.

Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. What about you? The mark of a successful person is how quickly he can get back his focus on what's important.

Bruce, a parrot missing part of his beak （喙）,  creatively uses stones to clean feathers （羽毛）,  highlighting advanced intelligence in parrots. 

Bruce lost the upper part of his beak in 2012 and was sent to live at a reserve in New Zealand. The defect made Bruce unable to search for food on his own, let alone keep his feathers clean with his beak. But in 2021, when comparative psychologist Bastos arrived at the reserve with colleagues to study parrots, zookeepers reported something strange：Bruce had seemingly figured out how to select and use small stones to clean his own feathers with his beak. 

Over nine days, the team kept a close eye on Bruce, quickly taking, videos if he started cleaning his feathers. It turned out that Bruce had indeed invented his own way to do so, the researchers reported in Scientific Reports. 

"It's crazy because the behavior was not from the wild, " Bastos says. When Bruce arrived at the reserve, he was too young to learn how to clean his feathers. And no other bird in the reserve uses stones in this way. "It seems like he just invented this tool use for himself, " she says. 

Tool use is just one of parrots' many talents. They're famous for copying and even understanding human speech. Some species can also solve complex puzzles, like how to enter a covered rubbish bin or practice self-control. 

For a concept as abstract （抽象的） as intelligence, it's challenging to develop a definition that applies across animals. Researchers often point to features once thought to make humans special—enhanced learning, memory, attention and movement control—as signs of advanced skills. However, many of these abilities can also be seen in parrots, as well as other animals like chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants. 

"Parrots are our evolutionary （进化的） mirror image. These brilliant birds may teach us about how humanlike intelligence can appear, " behavioral ecologist Antone wrote in his 2022 book The Parrot in the Mirror. With powerful brains and a preference for words, these birds are "the very best example, " he writes,  "of nature's 'other try' at humanlike intelligence. "

A recent study has found that using wood for construction instead of concrete and steel can reduce emissions. But Tim Searchinger at Princeton University says many of these studies are based on the false foundation that harvesting wood is carbon neutral (碳中和). "Only a small percentage of the wood gets into a timber (木料) product, and a part of that gets into a timber product that can replace concrete and steel in a building," he says. Efficiencies vary in different countries, but large amounts of a harvested tree are left to be divided into parts, used in short-lived products like paper or burned for energy, all of which generate emissions.

In a report for the World Resources Institute, Searchinger and his colleagues have modelled how using more wood for construction would affect emissions between 2010 and 2050, accounting for the emissions from harvesting the wood. They considered various types of forests and parts of wood going towards construction. They also factored in the emissions savings from replacing concrete and steel.

Under some circumstances, the researchers found significant emissions reductions. But each case required what they considered an unrealistically high portion of the wood going towards construction, as well as rapid growth only seen in warmer places, like Brazil. In general, they found a large increase in global demand for wood would probably lead to rising emissions for decades. Accounting for emissions in this way, the researchers reported in a related paper that increasing forest harvests between 2010 and 2050 would add emissions equal to roughly 10 percent of total annual emissions.

Ali Amiri at Aalto University in Finland says the report's conclusions about emissions from rising demand are probably correct, but the story is different for wood we already harvest. "Boosting the efficiency of current harvests and using more wood for longer lived purposes than paper would cut emissions," he says. "We cannot just say we should stop using wood."

Minimizing the environmental damage that new roads cause is generally regarded as a good thing. But to do that, it helps to understand just how new roads cause the damage of which they are accused.

Recently, a group of researchers led by Dr. Gonzalez conducted an experiment and proved that immigration is good for the health of animal populations. A road destroys only a small part of the habitat, thus destroying just a few local populations of creatures. So the argument that road-building itself is bad for biodiversity is not self-evidently correct. Those who nevertheless hold this view say that apparently separate local populations of animals are, in fact, parts of much larger populations connected via migration.

         According to this theory, when a local population struggles to move about – because of an epidemic, for example – individuals from neighboring communities can fill the gaps.

The implications of the theory are straightforward. Cut local populations off from each other and each is more likely to disappear. And roads are good at doing just that. Testing the theory with experimental roads, however, would be expensive. Dr. Gonzalez's brainwave was to do the whole thing on a much smaller scale.

          The team studied moss-covered rocks. On some rocks the researchers left the moss untouched; on others they made "roadways" across to leave the moss isolated. After waiting six months, they found that in the disturbed habitats nearly all the bug population had declined compared with undisturbed moss, and 40% of the species had become extinct.

The real test came in the second part of the experiment. In this, the researchers removed moss much as before, but they left narrow moss paths to bridge the no-bug's-land between islands. The islands with bridges did far better than isolated islands – a result that supports the notion that population exchange is necessary to keep an ecosystem healthy.

          Whether these results can be translated to large-scale ecosystems remains uncertain. But if they can, they would cause more, not less, concern about the ecological effects of road-building. On the other hand, they also suggest a way out. In Britain, tunnels are often built under roads for animals of regular habits, such as badgers(獾), to be able to travel their traditional routes without having to fight with traffic. Extending that principle, perhaps special bridges might be a cheap way of letting man and nature rub along a bit better.

Having lived in California until 1970, my family has felt a number of earthquakes. We have been fortunate, however, to have suffered no bodily harm or property damage.

There is a website that lists all Californian earthquakes recorded from 1769 to the present. The site lists the dates and time as well as the magnitude (震级) and the exact location of any earthquake that measured more than 6.0. There are only a few earthquakes that stand out in my memory and, luckily, none is shown in the website. So, my personal experience with earthquakes might be considered insignificant.

There are three earthquakes that are difficult to forget. The first one was in 1955 and our oldest daughter was walking with me in our backyard in Redwood City in California. As the shaking became stronger, I held her to me with one arm as I held on to one of our fruit trees with the other. All three of us (my daughter, I and the tree) shook for two or three minutes that to us felt like hours.

The second one was in 1963. Our entire family was visiting Disneyland in Southern California. The earth started to shake just as we were beginning to walk from our hotel towards the famous landmark.

My third experience with an earthquake was a lonely one in California. It was in my sixties and I was alone in an old church. As the building started to shake, I quickly headed for the door to go outside. I remember I said a few prayers—something like "Help me get out of here in time, dear Heavenly Father." Minutes later, I was safe outside.