Four Places Named After Scientists in Antarctica
There are many scientific breakthroughs made by women in Antarctic. Here are four landmarks in Antarctica and the female pioneers they're named for.
Jones Terrace (梯田)
The ice-free terrace in eastern Antarctica's Victoria Land bears Jones' name. In 1969, geochemist Lois M. Jones led the first all-female research team from the U.S. to work in Antarctica. Jones and her team studied chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an ice-free area of Antarctica. Through chemical analyses of rocks they had collected, Jones and her team discovered many geochemical characteristics of the valley's ice-covered lakes.
Mount Fiennes
8,202-foot-high Mount Fiennes, located on Antarctica's largest island — Alexander Island — is named for Ginny Fiennes. She established and maintained 80-foot-tall radio towers in the Antarctic. In 1985, Fiennes became the first female who was invited to join the Antarctic Club, a British supper club open to individuals who have spent extended time in the Antarctic region.
Francis Peak
The 3,727-foot-tall peak on Antarctica's Adelaide Island is named after Dame Jane Francis, who is the first female director of the British Antarctic Survey, the national polar research institute of the UK. Her collection of fossils on Seymour Island helped conclude in a 2021 paper that Antarctica's abundant plant fossils indicate the continent once had a much warmer climate than it currently does.
Peden Cliffs
Peden Cliffs near Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land are proof of the labor of Irene Peden. She was the first American female scientist to both live and work in the Antarctic, where she used radio waves to study ice sheets. Peden and her team determined how very low frequency radio waves spread over long polar distances by measuring pathways in the ice. They also used varying radio wave frequencies to measure the thickness of Antarctica's ice sheets.
As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you're lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it's unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.
Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.
The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant's experience of "We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while" was assigned the categories "sitting at beach" and "listening to waves."
Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a "nature language" began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.
Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.
"We're trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it," said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.
Working out exactly what students and taxpayers get for the money they spend on universities is a tricky business. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), a Paris-based think-tank for rich countries, is planning to make the task a bit easier, by producing the first international comparison of how successfully universities teach.
"Rather than assuming that because a university spends more it must be better, or using other proxy measures for quality, we will look at learning outcomes," explains Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of education research. Just as the OECD assesses primary and secondary education by testing randomly chosen groups of youngsters from each country in reading and mathematics, it will sample university students to see what they have learned. Once enough universities are taking part, it may publish league tables showing where each country stands, just as it now does for compulsory education. That may produce a fairer assessment than the two established rankings, though the British one does try to broaden its inquiry by taking opinions from academics and employers.
There is much to be said for the OECD's approach. Of course a Nobel laureate's view on where to study may be worth hearing, but those professors may be so busy writing and researching that they spend little or no time teaching—a big weakness at America's famous universities. And changes in methodology can bring surprising shifts. The high-flying London School of Economics, for example, tumbled(暴跌)from 17th to 59th in the British rankings published last week, primarily because it got less credit than in previous years for the impressive number of foreign students it had managed to attract.
The OECD plan awaits approval from an education ministers' meeting in January. The first rankings are planned by 2021. They will be of interest not just as a guide for shoppers in the global market, but also as indicators of performance in domestic markets. They will help academics wondering whether to stay put or switch jobs, students choosing where to spend their time and money, and ambitious university bosses who want a sharper competitive edge for their institution.
The task the OECD has set itself is formidable. In many subjects, such as literature and history, the syllabus varies hugely from one country, and even one campus, to another. But OECD researchers think that problem can be overcome by concentrating on the transferable skills that employers value, such as critical thinking and analysis, and testing subject knowledge only in fields like economics and engineering, with a big common core.
Moreover, says Mr Schleicher, it is a job worth doing. Today's rankings, he believes, do not help governments assess whether they get a return on the money they give universities to teach their undergraduates. Students overlook second-rank institutions in favour of big names, even though the less grand may be better at teaching. Worst of all, ranking by reputation allows famous places to coast along, while making life hard for feisty upstarts. "We will not be reflecting a university's history," says Mr Schleicher, "but asking: what is a global employer looking for?" A fair question, even if not every single student's destiny is to work for a multinational firm.
New research suggests that a gene that governs the body's biological (circadian) clock acts differently in males versus females and may protect females from heart disease. The study is the first to analyse circadian blood pressure rhythms(节奏)in female mice.
The body's circadian clock-the biological clock that organizes bodily activities over a 24-hour period—contributes to normal variations in blood pressure and heart function over the course of the day. In most healthy humans, blood pressure dips(下降)at night. People who do not experience this temporary drop, called "non-dippers", are more likely to develop heart disease. The circadian clock is made up of four main proteins (encoded by "clock genes") that regulate close to half of all genes in the body, including those important for blood pressure regulation.
Previous research has shown that male mice that are missing one of the four clock genes (PER1) become non-dippers and have a higher risk for heart and kidney disease. A research team studied the circadian response and blood pressure of female mice that lack PERI and compared them with a healthy female control group. On both low-and high-salt diets, both groups "kept an apparent circadian rhythm" of blood pressure, the researchers explained. Unlike the male mice in previous research, the females without PERI showed normal dips in blood pressure overnight.
These results suggest that the lack of PER1 acts differently in males and females. The findings are consistent with research showing that women are less likely to be non-dippers than men of the same age. "This study represents an important step in understanding sex differences in the regulation of cardiovascular(心血管的)function by the circadian clock," the researchers wrote.
Envy is a natural human emotion, and we writers suffer from it constantly. But if we allow it, our envy will eat us up inside and turn something we once loved (writing) into something we hate now. . Here are some practical and effective steps you can follow.
Remind yourself why you write.
I write because it's a main aspect of who I am. It satisfies me in a way nothing else does. Although I'm glad to cash whatever checks publishers send me, this is not my purpose. . As long as I remember why I write, I don't feel envious of others.
Keep a positive comment file.
I've long kept a blurb(简介)file where I list positive comments reviewers have made about my work. I use these blurbs when it comes time to promote my work. I also read over them when I need to remind myself that I'm a pretty good writer. I take screenshots(截屏)of positive things people say about my work on social media.
You know what happens when you don't see people posting about their writing successes all the time? You know nothing about them. And if you know nothing about them, you can't be envious of them, can you? So sometimes leaving the social media alone might help you reduce the chance of being envious. Living your life in the real not the virtual world can remind you that your writing career is about you, not about anyone else.
Not focus on writing only.
You should bear in mind that there are more things to your life than your writing career. Hopefully you have friends and family who love you. Spend some time with them. Do you have any hobbies that don't involve writing, something you do it simply because it's fun and relaxing? Do that for a while. Take a break for a few days and don't feel guilty about it.
A. Cut down on social media.
B. Pay no attention to others successes.
C. Using blurbs make me feel satisfied and relieved.
D. And I look at them when I need an emotional lift as well.
E. I write not for such financial reward, but for emotional reward.
F. Therefore, how can we learn to live with it and minimize its effects?
G. Recharging yourself mentally and emotionally in turn benefits your writing.
I wrote my first novel when I was 22. It was a mess. I didn't know how to properly organize dialogues and structure a plot (情节). Those were all 1 . I planned to work out later. I gave the book to my father to read, and he left me a voice mail in a few days saying that it was 2 and that I was going to sell it for $300,000.
3 , and rather quickly, the book was 4 by every publisher in New York. If there were a literary prize for Most Rejections, I would have won it. I was 5 : of course, but I knew better than to give up—writing wasn't an easy job, and if this book wasn't my 6 in, maybe the next one would be. I got back to work.
But this scenario (剧情) happened again: I wrote books...and then they wouldn't 7 . Still my father's faith in me never wavered (动摇), even if I worked a host of other jobs. Some of the jobs, like being a bookseller, were great and 8 to my writing life. Some, like selling overpriced jeans to 12-year-olds, were only insofar as they were material for future 9 . And they were—because it finally 10 . I sold a book! I was going to make it big!
I completely agree with the motivation speaker and author John Maxwell's words: "Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities but in their 11 to reach their potential." Life's not 12 . It never was, it isn't now, and it won't ever be. But do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling you are a(n) 13 . You are not. Get over it and 14 with it. And yes, most things are more 15 when you break a sweat to get them.
Be Careful on the Internet
Parents of boys at a Sydney private school have been urged to monitor their sons' use of social networking website, with a warning any mistakes made in teenage years could be permanently recorded on the Internet and catch up with them later in life.
The headmaster, Timothy Wright, wrote to parents on Thursday, (explain) that younger boys were too immature to fully understand the possible consequences of disclosing private information on social networking sites. "We now know that those parts of the brain deal with decision-making are still developing in a man in his 20s," he said. "But mistakes (commit) at fifteen may be still accessible to an employer ten years later."
Modern technology means that a careless word, an ill-willed comment or an inappropriate photograph, are on permanent record and freely available to has access. Stupidities that (forget) immediately before now last, spread and damage in ways unknown before this decade.
Dr Wright said that words spoken in the playground could be more easily forgotten, those captured on the Internet or on mobile phone text messages could have far more lasting and more hurtful consequences.
He urged parents to set ground rules for use of mobile phones and the Internet and in particular to set boundaries on taking and sending images that be used to bully others. "Parents who are paying for the Internet service have an unquestionable right (insist) they are a friend on social networking websites. I would certainly insist on this at least the end of 16 if not later," he wrote.
40%的同学反对：
1. 浪费金钱，这些钱原本可以解决地球上的饥饿、贫困等问题；
2. 可能会污染太空里的环境。
60%同学赞成：
1. 能更好地应对自然灾害；
2. 可进行地球上无法进行的科学实验。
注意：
1. 词数100词左右；
2. 可根据内容要点适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头已为你拟好，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：贫困poverty
Dear Editor,
Recently our class have had a heated discussion about whether it is worthwhile for mankind to explore the space.
……
Yours,
Li Hua
The chain of kindness
The rain was coming down so hard that each drop seemed to explode as it hit the roof of the car. Tom looked out into the coal-black night, struggling desperately to keep his car on the road. The rain beatdown continuously and the road was deserted except for Tom and his car.
Tom could see his wheelchair in the backseat from the rear-view mirror and quickly looked down at his thin, broken legs. He could feel a familiar wave of despair start to wash over him. Suddenly, a loud noise shook him out of his moment of hopelessness as the car began to bump down the road. "Great," he thought, "a flat tyre."
With a heavy sigh, Tom brought the car to a stop, resting his head on the steering wheel, defeated! After a few seconds, he looked up and peered out of the window. In the distance, he could see a light twinkling in the blackness.
When Tom approached the house, a young girl around ten years old was standing in the doorway. He pulled up and rolled down the window. "Are your parents at home?" he shouted over the wind and rain. "I have a flat tyre and I need help."
"Wait a minute," the girl replied and went into the house. A few minutes later, she returned with an old man. The girl held his arm and smiled lovingly up at him.
Tom explained the problem to the old man and added, "I need help because my legs are paralyzed." The words came out flat. But he did not know how else he could convey the fact that he needed help from this weak old man in the middle of the rainstorm. The old man simply nodded.
The old man and the little girl concentrated on their work and the rain was soaking them. Once again, Tom couldn't help but feel he was useless. Soon the old man stepped to the window. "You're all set," he said. Tom handed some money to the old man, but he made no move to take it. Finally, the young girls aid, "Grandfather is blind."
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Tom did not know what to say.
……
Inspired by the chance encounter, Tom started to see everything differently
