四川省雅安市天全中学2015-2016学年高二下学期第2周周考 英语
第一节：阅读理解（8*3=24分）
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Nature responds to climate change.To understand it，we need to monitor key life cycle events—flowering，the appearance of leaves，the first frog calls of the spring—all around the world.But scientists can’t be everywhere so they’re turning to nonscientists，sometimes called citizen scientists，for help.
A group of scientists and educators set up an organization last year called the National Phenology Network.“Phenology” is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.
One of the group’s first efforts depends on scientists and nonscientists alike to collect da ta about plant flowering and leafing every year.The program，called Project BudBurst，collects life cycle data on different kinds of usual plants from across the United States.
“People don’t have to be plant experts—they just have to look around and see what’s in their neighborhood，” says Jennifer Schwartz，an adviser with the project.“As we collect this data，we’ll be able to predict how plants and communities of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.”
That data will help scientists predict not only how natural communities may change but also how these changes will affect people.
Scientists monitoring lilac flowering in the Western United States reported that in years when lilacs bloomed early—before May 20th—wildfires later in the summer and fall are larger and more severe.“Lilac blooming could serve as an alarm bell，” Jennifer says.
Improved monitoring is an important step toward predicting how natural communities will respond to climate change.
“The best way for us to increase our kno wledge of how plants and animals are responding to climate change is to increase the amount of data we have，”she says.“That’s why we need citizen scientists to get as much information as many places on as many species over as long a time period as we can.”
1．The National Phenology Network is set up to________.
A．research how nature makes response to climate change
B．keep a record of what is happening in nature
C．make a study of the first frog calls of the spring
D．judge what plants will die out in the future
2．The task of Project BudBurst is to________.
A．grow more plants to improve the climate
B．collect information about usual plants
C．make citizens tell different plants
D．find out how many kinds of plants there are in America
