Women are equally responsible for the growth of a free, modern society. Here's a look at some outstanding women who made great contributions to world history.
Maria Sibylla Merian
Today, children can explain how a caterpillar (毛毛虫) turns into a butterfly (蝴蝶). But there was a time when no one knew this --not even scientists. Thanks to Maria Sibylla Merian, we know the truth about these beautiful winged insects. Merian was fascinated by insects, and she began collecting, studying, and drawing them when she was as young as 13. It was through her study of caterpillars that she discovered the truth about their life cycles.
Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham was quite incredible in not just aviation (航空) but several other industries, including horse racing. In 1936, at age 33, Markham became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic alone from the east to the west, nonstop. The pilot played a role in the classic best-selling novel and film, Out of Africa, and had many biographies penned about her talents and life.
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C J. Walker developed a condition that caused her to lose her hair, and with it, an interest in hair care. She began working for black hair care entrepreneur (企业家) Annie Turnbo Malone. Eventually, Walker began making and marketing her own hair care products designed for African-American women. Her company developed into the successful Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She is widely recognized as America's first black female self-made millionaire.
Hedy Lamarr
You might know Hedy Lamarr from the silver screen; she starred in many films. But her film career is far from her only achievement; she was also a brilliant inventor. In 1942, she received a patent for an invention that could change radio signal frequencies. It paved the way for much of the wireless technology we use today.
In my opinion, my mother has the ability to do anything, especially chores such as ironing and cooking. However, teaching her how to use the Internet is as frustrating as untangling (解开) wires.
Once, my mother came to me to ask for help on how to find a recipe for all-beef Lasagna. I gave her very simple verbal instructions—go to the home page of a particular search engine and type in "recipe for all-beef Lasagna." Fifteen minutes later, she came to me, telling me that she was unable to find the Internet icon. I went over to the computer and pointed out the icon to her.
Another fifteen minutes went by when I felt a tap on my shoulder. This time, my mother said that she was unable to search for the particular recipe. Gritting (咬) my teeth, I walked to her room again. I saw that she had typed "all beef La saga" instead. With frustrated strokes, I keyed in the correct spelling.
Yet another fifteen minutes went by again when my mother gingerly tapped my shoulder. I stormed next door without bothering to hide my frustration. The main page of the website had not shifted one bit. I then realized that she did not know how to scroll(滚动屏幕) down the page. What had initially seemed like an easy task was turning out to be an intense one.
To avoid being disturbed again, I decided to find the recipe for her. Without a word, I rapidly downloaded a few recipes, printed them out and passed them to my mother. However, seeing her embarrassment, I began to regret my impatience.
At that moment, memories flashed through my mind. When I was young, my mother endured my endless questions, enlightening me with much patience. Now that I am older, the roles slowly reverse. As my mother may increasingly need my help, shouldn't I rethink how to respond to her needs?
"It is necessary for us to go to places that still look like the ocean as it was 500 years ago," says Enric Sala, former professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. However, in most parts of the world, marine conservation is stymied by opposition from fishing, oil, and mining-interests. A mere 7 percent of the world's ocean has protection—mostly weak rules, and only 2.5 percent is highly protected. Outside of these zones, the ocean's story is a continuing failure.
A few remaining parts of the ocean are the last wild places of the sea—the marine equivalent of the remotest old-growth forest in the Amazon—still unaffected by overfishing, pollution and climate change. Enric is working with the National Geographic Society and together launched the Pristine Seas project in 2008. Over the past 14 years, Pristine Seas has helped create 28 marine reserves, making up two-thirds of the world's fully protected marine areas—covering more than two million square miles in all.
Now Sala and his team have set an even more ambitious goal: to see more than a third of the world's ocean conserved for the purpose not just of sustaining biodiversity but also of replenishing(补充)fish stocks and storing carbon.
Pristine Seas worked with native Palauans(帕劳人)to give an ancient conservation tradition a modern change. For centuries, Palauans have used what they all "buls", a Palauan word which means closure, to preserve and rebuild their reef fish stocks. Over the years they have created 35 reserves to protect marine life around their islands, some of which ban fishing permanently.
Sala and his team calculate that a 14-fold expansion of the fully protected part of the ocean, from 2.5 percent to 35 percent, would provide 64 percent of the biodiversity benefits while increasing the global fish catch by almost 10 million metric tons. Even that may sound impossible, but the alternative is awful. For now, we still get to choose.
In a recent study, researchers have suggested that temperature is a major predictor of body size variation. Meanwhile, scientists studying red deer have said that warmer winters in northern Europe and Scandinavia may lead to the body size of these animals becoming smaller. Prof Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist(古生物学家) at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals(哺乳动物) have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans' future.
Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann's rule. "Why do they become smaller? It is not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area relative to their volume than bigger animals and can thus better release extra heat," he writes. "It is a common way that mammals deal with climate change".
He added: "That's not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures change pretty quickly. That does raise the question: if so, might humans get smaller? And I think that certainly makes sense."
Prof Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said it is commonly believed that the strong relations between temperature and mammal body size may often be down to the availability of food and resources. "We are not really controlled by natural selection," he said. "If that was going to happen, you'd need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today's world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, and we have got air conditioning if it is too hot."
Desertification(沙漠化), the process by which fertile (肥沃的) land becomes desert, has severe impacts on food production and is worsened by climate change.
Africa's Great Green Wall is a project to build an 8,000- kilometer-long forest across 11 of the continent's countries. The project is meant to contain the growing Sahara Desert and fight climate change.They include limited political support, lack of money, weak organizational structures, and not enough consideration for the environment. Just 4 million hectares (公顷) of land have been turned into forest since work on the Green Wall began 15 years ago.
First proposed in 2005, the project aims to plant a forest from Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean in western Africa to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti in the east. It could also reduce levels of climate-related migration in the area and capture hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air. Several countries have struggled to keep up with the demands of the project.
Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan have all expanded their efforts. Ethiopia is producing 5.5 billion seedlings leading to thousands of hectares of restored land. Efforts in Eritrea and Sudan have also resulted in nearly 140,000 hectares of newly planted forest. The U. N. desertification agency says the project will need to plant an average of 8.2 million hectares yearly to reach its goal of 100 million hectares by 2030.
A. But the project faces many problems.
B. That is only 4 percent of the programme's goal.
C. However, it is difficult to work on the Great Green Wall.
D. A quarter of Africa is under threat of food shortage.
E. Some progress has been made in recent years in the east of the continent.
F. Supporters hope that the project will create millions of green jobs in rural Africa.
G. The U.N. says up to 45 percent of Africa's land is impacted by desertification, worse than any other continent.
Whether you think about it or not, what you wear says so much about who you are. Because of this, we often end up 1 a lot of meaning into the 2 we own.
I go through my clothes every year and 3 the pieces I do not wear so I can make 4 for new items. However, there are some items I just can't 5 . Even though it's just a piece of 6 , it feels like a part of me. When you have something that has grown with you since middle school, it can be 7 to let go. I have a couple of these items, the most 8 being a Syracuse University crew-neck.
This crew-neck has the 9 fit, almost like it was made for me. You're probably wondering how I 10 it. Well, I stole it, kind of. Some nights my dad would have meetings and I would be at my grandparents' house pretty late. It was after a long day at school and I wandered into the guest bedroom and searched for some 11 clothes to wear. I found some sweats and a crew-neck. It was love at first 12 .
The clothes in the dresser 13 belonged to my Aunt Marie, and this crew-neck helps me 14 her. Clothes can help us define who we truly are. The traditions of our cultures or certain beliefs we have can be defined by how we 15 . My crew-neck means so much to me because it does all of these things.
Chinese calligraphy (书法) is an art form that(involve) the skilled and deliberate use of brush and ink to create beautiful and expressive characters.
The origins of Chinese calligraphy can be traced back thousands of years to the Shang Dynasty, making it one of the (old) continuous artistic traditions in the world. Its evolution is accompanied with the development of the Chinese writing system, consists of thousands of characters, each with its own artistic structure and stroke order (笔顺).
Calligraphy in China(regard) as one of the highest forms of artistic expression. It is not only a means of communication a way to develop one's character, discipline, and spirituality. The practice of calligraphy requires (patient), concentration, and a deep understanding of the balance between empty space and solid forms.
Different styles of calligraphy have emerged throughout history, each with its own distinct characteristics and artistic conventions. The most famous(style) include regular script (kaishu), running script (xingshu), cursive script (caoshu), and seal script (zhuanshu).
Chinese calligraphy has a profound influence other art forms, such as (paint), poetry, and seal carving. It is often considered as an important part of the Chinese traditional culture, where scholars and artists would gather in a (culture) salon to appreciate and discuss calligraphic works.
It was my twelfth birthday, and what I really wanted most was a new bicycle. But I knew that my family couldn't afford one, so I settled for(勉强接受，将就) a bedside table with lockable drawers, a safe place to keep my private stuff.
We went to the charity shop where we found an old dark one. It didn't look too cool, but I thought that I would paint it to make it look better.
After we took it home, I was getting ready to paint it. When I pulled the drawers out. I felt something stuck to the back. I reached in all the way, and guess what? A sealed bag with some papers in it.
When I opened the bag, I realized that the papers were official documents. And, wrapped in them were a bunch of ten and twenty dollar bills! Talk about finding a treasure! And on my birthday!
"Is this some kind of joke?" I said aloud. I went ahead and read the papers, and it turned out to be a will. Some old lady was leaving her savings for her son and grandchildren.
My mind was going crazy. Was I the luckiest twelve-year-old ever? With this money I could buy the coolest bicycle. Who knows?
I began counting. When I reached a thousand dollars, my mother was knocking on my bedroom door. I quickly closed the drawer with the money in it.
"Do you want some help? Is everything all right?" she asked.
No, everything was not right. Actually, my stomach was growling (低吼).
"I'm okay," I lied.
When my mother left my room, I lay on my bed, starting thinking. What a dilemma (窘境)! I wished there were some one I could talk with. Could I keep it and get all kinds of stuff for me and my family? It wouldn't be too bad for me to keep it, if I shared it...right? Thoughts ran through my mind. But I really didn't need someone else to give me the answer.
注意： 1. 续写词数应为150左右； 2. 请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I finally made a decision and called my parents into my bedroom.
Though surprised, the shop owner helped find the family's telephone number.
