Directions:Inthissection,thereisapassagewithtenblanks.Youarerequiredtoselectonewordforeachblankfromalistofchoicesgiveninawordbankfollowingthepassage.Readthepassagethroughcarefullybeforemakingyourchoices.Eachchoiceinthebankisidentifiedbyaletter.PleasemarkthecorrespondingletteforeachitemonAnswerSheet2withasinglelinethroughthecentre.Youmaynotuseanyofthewordsinthebankmorethanonce.
Questions36to45arebasedonthefollowingpassage.
Climatechangehasclaimeditslatestvictim:Limacinahelicina,aplanktonic,predatory(捕食的)seasnailthat’samemberofthetaxonomicgroupmore(36)__________knownasseabutterflies.(Thenameis(37)__________fromthewing-likelobes(叶瓣)thetinycreaturesusetogetaround.)Inastudy(38)__________publishedinjoumalProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyB,agroupofscientistsfromtheNationalOceanicandAtmosphericAdministration(NOAA)andOregonStateUniversityhavefQundthatthePacificOcean’sdecreasingpH—itsacidifying(酸化),inotherwords-isdissolvingL.helicina’sthinshells.
Theresearcherscollectedseabutterfly(39)__________from13sitesalongthePacificcoast(betweenWashingtonandsouthernCaliforniA.,goingovereachwithascanningelectronmicroscope.Morethanhalfoftheshells(53%)fromonshoreindividuals(40)__________signsof“severedissolutiondamage,”while24%of(41)
__________individualssuffereddissolutiondamage.Thestudy’s(42)__________investigator,Dr.NinaBednarsekofNOAA,describedtheaffectedL.helicinashellsashavingatexturenotunlike“cauliflower”or“sandpaper.”
Accordingtothepaper,therewasa“strongpositive(43)__________”betweentheproportionofseabutterflieswithsevereshelldissolutiondamageand“thepercentageofundersaturated(未达到饱和的)water”neartheocean’ssurface.Theresearchersconclude“shelldissolutionowingto(human.causedocean(44)_________hasdoubledinnearshorehabitatssincepre.industrialconditionsacrossthisregionandisontracktotripleby2050,”atruly(45)__________prediction.Moreover,thebroaderimplicationsforecosystemareunclear,asdamagedshellsmakeitharderforL.helicinatofightinfections,staybuoyant,andprotectthemselvesfrompredators.
气候变化已公布了其最新的受害者:鯱螺(学名Limacinahelicina),一种捕食性浮游海螺,被(36)普遍称为海蝴蝶分类组中的一员(“海蝴蝶”之名(37)来源于微小生物用来游走的翼状叶瓣)。在(38)最近《皇家学会学报B》刊载的一项研究报告中,来自美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)及俄勒冈州立大学的科学家们指出:太平洋的PH正在不断下降一换句话说,海水的酸化正在溶解鯱螺的薄壳。
研究人员收集了太平洋沿岸(从华盛顿到南加州之间)13个地点的海蝴蝶(39)样本,并用扫描电子显微镜对其一一进行深入检查。来自海岸的个体样本中有一半以上(53%)的贝壳都(40)呈现出“严重溶解”的迹象,而在来自(41)海面上的个体样本中仅有24%的贝壳受到溶解破坏。该研究的(42)首席研究员,来自NOAA的NinaBednarsek指出那些受到影响的鯱螺的贝壳都拥有“菜花”状或者“砂纸”状的纹理。
据该研究报道,严重损伤的贝壳数量与海洋表面附近“欠饱合海水”百分率之间呈现出“强烈的正(43)相关”。研究人员推断出,“自该区域工业化时代以前的海洋条件算起,近海栖息地(由于人为导致的海洋(44)酸化)引起的贝壳溶解已经翻了一倍,到2050年可能会增至三倍,这真是个(45)糟糕的预言。此外,这对生态系统的更广泛影响并不明确,因为受伤的外壳会让鯱螺更难以抵御感染、保持浮力及逃脱捕食者的猎杀。