2017年高考英语二轮复习讲义阅读理解训练11：（答案）_高考复习指南

2017年高考英语二轮复习讲义阅读理解训练11：（答案）

　　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 non-scientists alike to collect data 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 knowledge of how plants and animals are responding to climate change is to increase the amount of data we have,” he says．“That’s why we need citizen scientists to get as much information from as many places on as many species over as long a time period as we can．”