Question

 

In a new study, Boston University researchers have found that butterflies show signs of being affected by climate change in a way that is similar to plants and bees, but not birds, in the Northeast United States.

"Butterflies are very responsive to temperature in a way that is comparable to flowering time, leafing out time, and bee flight times," says Professor Richard Primack. "However, bird arrival times in the spring are much less responsive to temperature." As a result, climate change could have negative implications for bird populations in the Northeast, which rely on butterflies and other insects as a food source.

While the effect of climate change on plant and bird life cycles in eastern North America has been well examined, studies of the effects of climate change on insects are rare, so these findings represent an important contribution. Another unique feature of this study is its use of data from museum collections as well as data gathered by the Massachusetts Butterfly Club, a group of dedicated (专注的 ) citizen scientists who are interested in butterflies. Use of this data gave the researchers an opportunity to compare butterfly flight periods dating back to the late 1800s.

 The researchers found that the start of the butterfly flight period advances, on average, by two days for each degree Fahrenheit (华氏温标) increase in temperature. The researchers also  found that observations by the Massachusetts Butterfly Club were an effective and largely untapped (未使用的) source of information that could be used to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on butterflies. Such data provide an opportunity to inform conservation policies on these species and their associated habitat. While data from museums were helpful, they-were less abundant (丰富的 )and therefore less useful than the citizen science dataset.

71. Which of the following are less responsive to climate change?

A. Plants.         B. Butterflies.      C. Birds.             D. Bees.

72. What is the main idea of the third paragraph?

A. The aim of the study.      B. The importance and the features of the study.

C. The results of the study.     D. The reasons why they did the study.

73. Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?

A. Birds will arrive much earlier in warmer years.

 B. There are few studies about the effect of climate change on bird life cycles in eastern North America.

C. The Massachusetts Butterfly Club is made up of many professional scientists.

D. Butterflies fly earlier in warmer years.

74. Compared with the data from museums, the citizen science data are more ______.

A. useful and plentiful          B. old and plentiful 

C. new and plentiful             D. helpful and new

75. Where is this passage probably taken from?

A. A fashion magazine.          B. A travel magazine.

C. A medical magazine.          D. A science magazine.

Answer 1

CBDAD