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Before birth, babies can tell the difference between loud sounds and voices. They can even distinguish their mother’s voice from that of a female stranger. But when it comes to embryonic learning (胎教), birds could rule the roost. As recently reported in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, some mother birds may teach their young to sing even before they hatch (孵化). New-born chicks can then imitate their mom’s call within a few days of entering the world.
This educational method was first observed in 2012 by Sonia Kleindorfer, a biologist at Flinders University in South Australia, and her colleagues. Female Australian superb fairy wrens were found to repeat one sound over and over again while hatching their eggs. When the eggs were hatched, the baby birds made the similar chirp to their mothers—a sound that served as their regular ＂feed me!＂ call.
To find out if the special quality was more widespread in birds, the researchers sought the red-backed fairy wren, another species of Australian songbird. First they collected sound data from 67 nests in four sites in Queensland before and after hatching. Then they identified begging calls by analyzing the order and number of notes. A computer analysis blindly compared calls produced by mothers and chicks, ranking them by similarity.
It turns out that baby red-backed fairy wrens also emerge chirping like their moms. And the more frequently mothers had called to their eggs, the more similar were the babies’ begging calls. In addition, the team set up a separate experiment that suggested that the baby birds that most closely imitated their mom’s voice were rewarded with the most food.
This observation hints that effective embryonic learning could signal neurological (神经系统的) strengths of children to parents. An evolutionary inference can then be drawn. ＂As a parent, do you invest in quality children, or do you invest in children that are in need?＂ Kleindorfer asks. ＂Our results suggest that they might be going for quality.＂
58.The underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 means＂__________＂. A. be the worst
B. be the best
C. be the as bad
D. be just as good
59. What are Kleindorfer’s findings based on? A. Similarities between the calls of moms and chicks. B. The observation of fairy wrens across Australia. C. The data collected from Queensland’s locals. D. Controlled experiments on wrens and other birds.
60. Embryonic learning helps mother birds to identify the baby birds which __________. A. can receive quality signals C. fit the environment better
C
A new commodity brings about a highly profitable, fast-growing industry, urging antitrust（反垄断）regulators to step in to check those who control its flow. A century ago, the resource in question was oil. Now similar concerns are being raised by the giants（巨头）that deal in data, the oil of the digital age. The most valuable firms are Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. All look unstoppable.
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B. are in need of training D. make the loudest call
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Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up. But size alone is not a crime. The giants’ success has benefited consumers. Few want to live without search engines or a quick delivery. Far from charging consumers high prices, many of these services are free (users pay, in effect, by handing over yet more data). And the appearance of new-born giants suggests that newcomers can make waves, too.
But there is cause for concern. The Internet has made data abundant, all-present and far more valuable, changing the nature of data and competition. Google initially used the data collected from users to target advertising better. But recently it has discovered that data can be turned into new services: translation and visual recognition, to be sold to other companies. Internet companies’ control of data gives them enormous power. So they have a ＂God’s eye view＂ of activities in their own markets and beyond.
This nature of data makes the antitrust measures of the past less useful. Breaking up firms like Google into five small ones would not stop remaking themselves: in time, one of them would become great again. A rethink is required — and as a new approach starts to become apparent, two ideas stand out.
The first is that antitrust authorities need to move from the industrial age into the 21st century. When considering a merger(兼并), for example, they have traditionally used size to determine when to step in. They now need to take into account the extent of firms’ data assets(资产) when assessing the impact of deals. The purchase price could also be a signal that an established company is buying a new-born threat. When this takes place, especially when a new-born company has no revenue to speak of, the regulators should raise red flags.
The second principle is to loosen the control that providers of on-line services have over data and give more to those who supply them. Companies could be forced to consumers what information they hold and how many money they make form it. Governments could order the sharing of certain kinds of data, with users’ consent.
Restarting antitrust for the information age will not be easy. But if governments don’t want a data economy controlled by a few giants, they must act soon. 61.Why is there a call to break up giants? A. They have controlled the data market. C. They no longer provide free services. A. Data giants’ technology is very expensive. B. Google’s idea is popular among data firms. C. Data can strengthen giants’ controlling position. D. Data can be turned into new services or products.
63. By paying attention to firms’ data assets, antitrust regulators could __________. A. kill a new threat C. favour bigger firms
B. avoid the size trap D. charge higher prices
B. They collect enormous private data. D. They dismissed some new-born giants.
62.What does the technological innovation in Paragraph 3 indicate?
64. What is the purpose of loosening the giants’ control of data? A. Big companies could relieve data security pressure. B. Governments could relieve their financial pressure. C. Consumers could better protect their privacy. D. Small companies could get more opportunities.
D
Old Problem, New Approaches
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While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life, global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions（排放）peak. So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today, we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to adaptation, it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard, but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least, the US National Climate Assessment says that: ＂There is no ‘one-size fits all’ adaptation.＂ Nevertheless, there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.
Around the world, people are adapting in surprising ways, especially in some poor countries. Floods have become more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His not-for-profit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries, schools, and health clinics, and are equipped with solar panels and other communicating facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity（连体） to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level: his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds prevent starvation during the wet season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers(冰川) there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel’s inspiration came from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation(灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Norphel calculates that he has stored about 200, 000 m3 of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norphel’s ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth’s reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.
In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice. The outcome is still far from clear. But the World Bank has included the project on its of \the planet＂.
More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense. But some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we’ve lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it’s a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual. Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.
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65. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 implies __________. A. adaptation is an ever-changing process C. global warming affects adaptation forms
B. the cost of adaptation varies with time D. adaptation to climate change is challenging B. Different organizations work with each other. D. The project connects flooded roads and highways. B. Protecting the glaciers from melting. D. Postponing the melting of the glaciers.
66. What is special with regard to Rezwan’s project? A. The project receives government support. C. His organization makes the best of a bad situation. A. Storing ice for future use. C. Changing the irrigation time.
67. What did the Ice Man do to reduce the effect of global warming?
68. What do we learn from the Peru example? A. White paint is usually safe for buildings. B. The global warming tread cannot be stopped. C. This country is heating up too quickly. D. Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming.
69. According to the author, polluting industries should __________. A. adapt to carbon pollution
B. plant highly profitable crops D. fight against carbon pollution B. Reducing carbon emission. D. Monitoring polluting industries.
C. leave carbon emission alone A. Setting up a new standard. C. Adapting to climate change.
70. What’s the author’s preferred solution to global warming?
第四部分：任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
请阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。 ．．
注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填一个单词。
Population Change
Why is the world’s population growing？The answer is not what you might think.The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits,but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies.In 1900,people died at the average age of 30.By 2000 the average age was 65.But while increasing health was a tupical feature of the 20th century,declining birth rate could be a defining one of the 21st.
Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 owadays.Furthermore,around 50% of the world’s population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level(i.e.2.1 births per woman)and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-repalanement birth rate.You might think that developing nations would make up the loss(especially since80% of the world’s people now live in such nations),but you’d be wrong,Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too,which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades.
A great decline in young work force is likely to occur in China,for instance.What does it imply?First,China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country.Sencond,if other factors such as technology remain constant,economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble.
Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise.Since 1992 the number of people dying has been biggen than that of those being born by a massive 50%,Indeed official figures
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suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961.Why is this occurring?Nobody is quite sure,but poor diet an above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it.If current trends don’t bend.Russia’s population will be about the size of Yemen’s by the year 2050.
In the north of india,the population is booming due to high birth rates,but in the south,where most econmoic development is taking place,birth rate is falling rapidly.In a further twist,birth rate is highest in poorly educated rural arceas an lowest in highly educated urban areas.In total,25% of India’s working-age population has no education.In 2030,a sixth of the country’s potential work force could be totally uneducated.
One solution is obviously to import foreign workers via immigration.As for the USA,it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010-2030,Moreover,the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants.As a result it’s likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term. Population Change Decline of the birth rate Population and 74 pressure American solution The USA will increase, from 2010-2030, its population by 20% through 1文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑. 79. _______. This will 80. _________ for the lack of young work force. Leaving aside the birth rate issue, India’s economy may take off when the country achieves 78. ___________ of educational opportunity. The 76. __________ death of Russians may result in a shrinking population, which would damage its economic future. It would be better if it can change people’s way of 77. ________. To guarantee its economic growth, China needs to deal with the population issue properly, as its workers are getting 75. ________. The impact of dropping birth rate on developing countries may not be 73. ____________ but disastrous. The birth rate in the 21st century may be much 71. ______ than it was in the 20th. It would be difficult for developed countries to maintain the 72. _________ of population.
2024年普通高等学校招生全国统一英语考试(江苏卷)(有答案)
