Fall is our favourite hiking season. It’s not too hot. The bugs are gone. Solitude (无人居住的地方) is easier to find. But fall hiking has its own complications, especially when it comes to weather.
Protect your feet. Pamper your feet, and they’ll take you around the world.
Backpacks.
Stay hydrated (含水的). Yes, the heatwaves of summer are probably gone for the year, but packing enough water is vital in any season.
| A．Number one criterion? |
| B．Keep warm and dry. |
| C．Like only cheep shoes? |
| D．Just going short distances? |
| E．Having enough water will keep you energetic. |
| F．Before heading out, check out this handy fall hiking checklist. |
| G．For shorter hikes, this might just mean filling up your favourite water bottle. |
The sunflower sea star has been listed as a critically endangered species following a groundbreaking population study led by Oregon State University (OSU) and The Nature Conservancy.
“These giant sea stars used to be easy to find and were a hit with divers. Unfortunately, your chances of finding one now are next to nothing in most of the areas near the United States—this listing is one step to extinction—and I don’t think they’re coming back without help,” said OSU’s Sarah Gravem, a research associate in the College of Science and the lead author of the study.
Populations of the sunflower sea star suffered dramatic crashes because of a marine (海洋的) wildlife epidemic event, which began in 2013. Scientists used more than 61,000 population surveys from 31 data sets to calculate a 90.6% decline in the sunflower sea stars and estimated that as many as 5.75 billion animals died from the disease, whose cause has not been determined. Moreover, the research showed no sign of population recovery in any region in the five to seven years since the event.
Sunflower sea stars are a key catcher of purple sea urchins (海胆) and the sea star decline has helped the increase in the urchin population in many regions. Too many urchins are linked to a decline in kelp forests（海藻林) already facing pressure from marine heat wave events, making the future uncertain for ecosystems that provide habitat for thousands of marine animals and help support coastal economies.
“Because most people are not out in the ocean every day, we don’t realize how much it’s being changed and impacted by humans. We need to think about how to keep our ocean healthy. While reducing the release of carbon dioxide is the most pressing need, rebuilding key catcher populations, like the sunflower sea star, can be an important piece of the puzzle too,” said study co-author Sara Hamilton, a Ph. D. candidate in the OSU College of Science.
1．What can we infer about sunflower sea stars from Sarah Gravem’s words?| A．They present a danger to divers. |
| B．They cannot recover on their own. |
| C．They cannot adapt to the new environment. |
| D．They attract many tourists to the United States. |
| A．Human beings’ overfishing. |
| B．The arrival of a new species. |
| C．The rising ocean temperature. |
| D．The occurrence of a marine disease. |
| A．Their common enemies are sea urchins. |
| B．Sunflower sea stars feed on the sea keep forests. |
| C．Sunflower sea stars help preserve the sea kelp forests. |
| D．The sea kelp forests provide habitats for sunflower sea stars. |
| A．More species should be introduced to the ocean. |
| B．Scientists play the most important role in protecting the ocean. |
| C．The influence of human activities on the ocean has decreased since 2013. |
| D．More action should be taken to increase the number of sunflower sea stars. |
Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse
The Swedish Academy credits Fosse
Growing up in a small coastal village, Fosse was immersed in the beauty of nature and the vastness of the sea. He draws
“He touches you so deeply when you read his works,” said Anders Olsson, Chairman of the Noble Prize Committee. “
Becoming the captain of the cheerleaders is a significant accomplishment when you’re in Grade Eight, about to conclude your school journey with a sense of glory. At least, that’s what I had expected. The process of counting the votes only took about five minutes, but for me, it felt like an hour and a half. As Coach Williams prepared to announce, I inched to the edge of my seat ready to spring to my feet as soon as she said my name.
“Girls,” she began, “Laura Shaw has been elected Captain of the Maplewood High School cheerleading team.” A great cheer was heard throughout the gym, but all I could do was to contain my hysteria (歇斯底里). How could this be? Was everyone blind? Didn’t they realize I had my heart set on this?
As everyone cheered for Laura, I didn’t move a step toward her. It felt like she had stolen my moment and my dream. After a few minutes, I walked over to Laura with shaky legs and softly said, “Good luck, Laura.” in a whisper that barely masked my urge to cry.
Laura hugged me close and said,“I wasn’t expecting this, Annie. What a shock.”I didn’t lash out at (痛斥) her but in my heart I wanted to do just that. Who was she to claim the title I had worked three years to earn?
All the way home, I sobbed. There was no way I was going to stay on a team so blind they couldn’t see who should be the captain. The next morning, however, I went to my closet and took out my uniform. Once holding it close to me in my hands, I knew I couldn’t quit. As heartbroken as I was, my true love was cheering with my teammates.
How very hard it was to go to that first practice after Laura had been named captain. When I arrived, Coach Williams asked me to take three of the new girls and work with them on our basic drills. Laura was assigned three new girls as well.
Just then Laura suggested all eight girls working together, and though I hesitated, I eventually agreed.
At the award ceremony, Laura won her captain’s award, and then came the final “Cheerleading Spirit Award”.
Children between 4 months and 2 years old who have had covid-19 are more likely to have antibodies that attack cells that make insulin (胰岛素), a feature of type 1 diabetes.
Insulin, a hormone that regulates the body’s blood sugar levels, is made in the pancreas (胰腺) by cell clusters known as islets of Langerhans. In some cases, the body can develop an autoimmune response to these islets and produce auto-antibodies against them. Too many of these over time will kill enough islets to trigger type 1 diabetes, where the body can’t produce its own insulin.
“The presence of these auto-antibodies more or less means that there’s a 100 per cent path to [type 1 diabetes]” says Anette-Gabriele Ziegler at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.
One of the risk factors for type 1 diabetes is thought to be some viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19. A rise in diabetes cases linked to covid-19 has been reported, but the mechanism behind it isn’t known.
To investigate, Ziegler and her colleagues monitored 885 children between the ages of 4 months and 2 years old, who were all identified as having at least a small risk of developing islet auto-antibodies. Of the children, 170 had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, suggesting they had previously had covid-19.
The children who had these antibodies were twice as likely to develop islet auto-antibodies as those who hadn’t been infected. Those who caught covid-19 before they were 18 months old had a 5 to 10 times higher risk of developing the auto-antibodies, making them the most at risk group.
“We would love to see if vaccinating children from 6 months can prevent the autoimmunity that leads to type 1 diabetes,” says Ziegler.
1．What can we know from the passage about type 1 diabetes?| A．Adults are less likely to have type 1 diabetes. | B．Auto-antibodies will help cure type 1 diabetes. |
| C．Some viral infections may lead to type 1 diabetes. | D．Type 1 diabetes occurs only in children. |
| A．To clarify the identification of infectious viruses. |
| B．To explore the connection between covid-19 and increasing diabetes cases. |
| C．To investigate the number of children who had previously had covid-l9. |
| D．To reveal the mechanism of how the body produces auto-antibodies. |
| A．favorable | B．expectant | C．critical | D．indifferent |
| A．Covid-19 is linked to higher risk of type 1 diabetes in children. |
| B．Insulin regulates the body’s blood sugar levels. |
| C．Auto-antibodies kill islets of Langerhans. |
| D．Vaccination serves as the best way to prevent type 1 diabetes. |
The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath a willow tree. It must be as sick, for the branches were kind of yellow and dry. I was a deserted girl. Endless quarrels with my parents had left me nowhere to go but this desolate (荒无人烟的) corner of the park. As I sat on the bench, things that happened recently began to flash through. Days seemed months to me recently. No cozy home to stay. No happy memories about my life. No considerate family members to talk to. Even the book I was reading was no fun. Not content with life, I had a good reason to frown, for the world was intended to drag me down.
And if that were not enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath approached me, all tired from play. He stood right in front of me with his head tilted (倾斜) down and said with great excitement, “Look what I found!” In his hand was a flower. What a pitiful sight, its petals (花瓣) were all worn—not enough rain, or too little light. He must have picked the flower from somewhere shady and sunless, just like where I was staying these days. I couldn’t help being self-pitying. Wanting him to take his dead flower away and go off to play, I faked a smile and then looked away. “Why couldn’t everyone just leave me be!” I thought to myself, upset and gloomy.
But instead of leaving, he sat next to me and placed the flower to his nose and declared loudly with certainty, “It sure smells pretty and it must be beautiful, too. That’s why I picked it; here, it is for you.” The “weed” before me was dying or dead, not vibrant with colors, orange, yellow or red—anyone having eyes can see that clearly! But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.” Strangely, instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it in mid-air without any reason or plan.
Casting a curious glance at the boy’s eyes, I was hugely shocked.
“I had to make a change,” I thought to myself.
Mark grabbed his keys. He needed to get out of the house quickly. He had been trying to save as much money as possible from the government assistance he received due to his disability, but it was harder and harder with prices rising daily.
Unfortunately, he lost half his right arm in a car accident several years ago, and it was hard to find a new job in his town in Tampa, Florida. He lost his previous job recently when the company went bankrupt (破产). For now, he only had those government checks keeping him fed, but he was tapping into his savings for everything else, and they were running out fast.
One of his friends had gotten him an interview and he was on his way. But after closing and locking his door, Mark turned around and got the shock of his life. A pregnant (怀孕的) woman was lying on his lawn, and/he had no idea how long she had been there.
He grabbed his phone and called 911 quickly, and suddenly, it started to rain. Finally, it came, and he explained to the doctors that he had to move her because of the rain.
“Don’t worry, sir. She’s cold, so it was good that you moved her. Do you know this woman?” asked the doctor. Mark shook his head.
“Can I give you my phone number? If you don’t find her family or anyone, can you call me? My name is Mark Higgins.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the doctor said, noting down his number and leaving with the woman.
Mark closed his door and sat down on his couch, hoping his heart would stop beating so fast. Suddenly, he remembered his interview and looked at the clock. He was late for it. He dashed to his car, praying they would wait for him.
As is the fate of anyone running a hotel in Kerala these days, Bijoy George is a man with too much to do. Before pandemic-caused lockdowns began in 2020, he managed 40 employees at the Eighth Bastion Hotel in the charming historic quarter of Kochi, a bustling coastal city. Now that business is back to pre-covid levels he needs the same number of staff again. But he has only 20 workers. His plight is shared with every other hotel, café and bar. It is a result of the state’s hospitality (招待) employees moving all together in large numbers to Qatar, not to watch football but to take up employment tied to the World Cup.
As the start of the competition approaches on November 20th, workers are quitting at a rate Mr. George says he has never seen in his 22 years in the business. Qatar, a country with a population of under 3m, will have welcomed more than 1.5m visitors before the matches conclude on December 18th. That means finding staff to run all the new hotels that have been built along with other venues that have been pressed into service to profit from the sports fans.
Kerala has long been a significant source of hospitality workers for Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries. Its state government provides good schools with English-language instruction but few jobs. More than 2m people, 17% of its working population, already work overseas, largely in the Gulf.
The appeal of Qatar is straightforward. Starting salaries approach $1,000 a month, more than six times the level for similar jobs in Kerala. To replace those who have left, Kerala’s employers have been casting their nets wider. Recruiters have been extending their searches to many other Indian cities. But that means the most common word on name-tags pinned to the breast pockets of workers is “trainee”.
Among the many skills that need to be taught, says Mr. George, is smiling at customers — the failure to do so a result of shyness among those new to the workforce. The danger is that after a week or so when confidence grows, even these employees may slip away to the Gulf.
Most contracts run for three months, concluding at the end of December, not long after the World Cup final. Returning workers will be welcomed back with open arms. Filling the gaps is even more important as Indian tourism and weddings have restarted. The reunions, though, may be short-lived. The game these workers will have learned from the World Cup is how to be paid better. That means leaving India.
1．The underlined sentence in paragraph one implies that __________.| A．other hotels, cafes and bars will share Bijoy’s 20 employees |
| B．other hotels, cafes and bars will have to lay off some workers |
| C．other hotels, cafes and bars also send the workers to Qatar |
| D．other hotels, cafes and bars also find it hard to employ enough workers |
| A．Millions of tourists have to be served during the World Cup. |
| B．Hospitality workers are in high demand with new hotels and venues open for business in Qatar. |
| C．Qatar provides good education and English training for potential workers in Kerala. |
| D．The salaries of similar jobs in Kerala are much lower than those in Qatar. |
| A．Kerala’s employers have to take on new employees in Asian cities. |
| B．Many of the new employees will pin their name tags to their breast pockets. |
| C．The new employees will not greet the customers as a result of shyness. |
| D．The new employees may soon follow the trend of going to the Gulf. |
| A．Jobs outside India can provide Indian workers with a more decent life. |
| B．It will soon be the off season for Indian tourism and weddings. |
| C．Another grand occasion will soon begin in the Gulf. |
| D．The workers only sign short-term contracts with the employers in India. |
Both Lang Ping and Michael Jordan are living legends of sports as they not only are
Lang Ping is loved by fans at home and
Michael Jordan,
Yours,
Li Hua
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