第三篇：Citizen Scientists
Understanding how nature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle1 events — flowering, the appearance of leaves, the first frog calls of the spring — all around the world. But ecologists can't be everywhere so they're turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.
Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, they're asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest — birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. — and send their observations to a giant database to be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat2, citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All that's needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it3 in.
A group of scientists and educators launched an organization last year called the National Phenology4Network. “Phenology” is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.
One of the group's first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project Bud Burst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project — which is open to everyone — record their observations on the Project Bud Burst website.
“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 education consultant with the project. “As we collect this data, we'll be able to make an estimate of how plants and communities5 of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.”
詞匯：
frog / fr朂/ n.蛙
ecologist / ,i:’k氂夀摟鈀樂猂琀/ n.生態(tài)學(xué)家
bud / b摟 / v.發(fā)芽，萌芽;n.芽，花蕾
database / ’de琂夀戂攀樀猂 / n.數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)
professional / pr()’fe夂渂夀氂/ adj.專業(yè)的，職業(yè)的;n.職業(yè)選手，專業(yè)人員
phenology / f’n氂夀摟鈀樂 / n.物候?qū)W
neighbor(u)rhood n.近鄰;鄰近地區(qū)
注釋：
1.life cycle：生命周期，即生物發(fā)展過程的系列變化。
2.hyper-local beat：beat在此做名詞用，意思是：某類新聞報(bào)道，如a business beat：商業(yè)專題報(bào)道。這是近年來(lái)出現(xiàn)的新詞。hyper-local beat即hyper-local news，指的是被傳統(tǒng)新聞報(bào)道方式所忽略的小型社區(qū)或居民居住區(qū)里發(fā)生的相關(guān)信息報(bào)道。在美國(guó)由此而誕生了hyper- local news websites，專門對(duì)主流媒體沒有覆蓋的地區(qū)所發(fā)生的事件進(jìn)行報(bào)道，其形式多以網(wǎng)民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上傳所在社區(qū)發(fā)生的事件報(bào)道、照片或視頻為主。這是網(wǎng)絡(luò)時(shí)代產(chǎn)生的又一種新生事物。
3.data是復(fù)數(shù)形式，但常用作單數(shù)，所以這里的代詞是it。另參見最后一段：“As we collect this data…”這里的data也用作單數(shù)。
4.phenology：物候?qū)W或生物氣候?qū)W，是氣候?qū)W和生態(tài)學(xué)的邊緣學(xué)科，主要研究氣候環(huán)境對(duì)生物的影響。
5.communities ：生態(tài)學(xué)詞匯：生物群落，即在比較相似的環(huán)境條件下在特定自然區(qū)域或環(huán)境中生活和相互影響的一群植物和動(dòng)物。
練習(xí)：
1.Ecologists turn to non-scientist citizens for help because they need them
A to provide their personal life cycles.
B to observe the life cycle of plants.
C to collect data of the life cycle of living things.
D to teach children knowledge about climate change.
2.What are citizen scientists asked to do?
A To develop a specific research interest and become professional scientists.
B To send their research observations to a professional database.
C To increase their knowledge about climate change.
D To keep a record of their research observations.
3.In “All that's needed to become one ... (paragraph2)”, what does the word "one" stands for?
A A citizen journalist.
B A citizen scientist.
C A scientist.
D A citizen.
4.What is NOT true of Project Bud Burst?
A Only experts can participate in it.
B Everybody can participate in it.
C It collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants.
D It has its own website.
5.What is the final purpose of Project Bud Burst?
A To study when plants will have their first buds.
B To find out the types of plants in the neighborhood.
C To collect life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States.
D To investigate how plants and animals will respond as the climate changes
Understanding how nature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle1 events — flowering, the appearance of leaves, the first frog calls of the spring — all around the world. But ecologists can't be everywhere so they're turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.
Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, they're asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest — birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. — and send their observations to a giant database to be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat2, citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All that's needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it3 in.
A group of scientists and educators launched an organization last year called the National Phenology4Network. “Phenology” is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.
One of the group's first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project Bud Burst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project — which is open to everyone — record their observations on the Project Bud Burst website.
“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 education consultant with the project. “As we collect this data, we'll be able to make an estimate of how plants and communities5 of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.”
詞匯：
frog / fr朂/ n.蛙
ecologist / ,i:’k氂夀摟鈀樂猂琀/ n.生態(tài)學(xué)家
bud / b摟 / v.發(fā)芽，萌芽;n.芽，花蕾
database / ’de琂夀戂攀樀猂 / n.數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)
professional / pr()’fe夂渂夀氂/ adj.專業(yè)的，職業(yè)的;n.職業(yè)選手，專業(yè)人員
phenology / f’n氂夀摟鈀樂 / n.物候?qū)W
neighbor(u)rhood n.近鄰;鄰近地區(qū)
注釋：
1.life cycle：生命周期，即生物發(fā)展過程的系列變化。
2.hyper-local beat：beat在此做名詞用，意思是：某類新聞報(bào)道，如a business beat：商業(yè)專題報(bào)道。這是近年來(lái)出現(xiàn)的新詞。hyper-local beat即hyper-local news，指的是被傳統(tǒng)新聞報(bào)道方式所忽略的小型社區(qū)或居民居住區(qū)里發(fā)生的相關(guān)信息報(bào)道。在美國(guó)由此而誕生了hyper- local news websites，專門對(duì)主流媒體沒有覆蓋的地區(qū)所發(fā)生的事件進(jìn)行報(bào)道，其形式多以網(wǎng)民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上傳所在社區(qū)發(fā)生的事件報(bào)道、照片或視頻為主。這是網(wǎng)絡(luò)時(shí)代產(chǎn)生的又一種新生事物。
3.data是復(fù)數(shù)形式，但常用作單數(shù)，所以這里的代詞是it。另參見最后一段：“As we collect this data…”這里的data也用作單數(shù)。
4.phenology：物候?qū)W或生物氣候?qū)W，是氣候?qū)W和生態(tài)學(xué)的邊緣學(xué)科，主要研究氣候環(huán)境對(duì)生物的影響。
5.communities ：生態(tài)學(xué)詞匯：生物群落，即在比較相似的環(huán)境條件下在特定自然區(qū)域或環(huán)境中生活和相互影響的一群植物和動(dòng)物。
練習(xí)：
1.Ecologists turn to non-scientist citizens for help because they need them
A to provide their personal life cycles.
B to observe the life cycle of plants.
C to collect data of the life cycle of living things.
D to teach children knowledge about climate change.
2.What are citizen scientists asked to do?
A To develop a specific research interest and become professional scientists.
B To send their research observations to a professional database.
C To increase their knowledge about climate change.
D To keep a record of their research observations.
3.In “All that's needed to become one ... (paragraph2)”, what does the word "one" stands for?
A A citizen journalist.
B A citizen scientist.
C A scientist.
D A citizen.
4.What is NOT true of Project Bud Burst?
A Only experts can participate in it.
B Everybody can participate in it.
C It collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants.
D It has its own website.
5.What is the final purpose of Project Bud Burst?
A To study when plants will have their first buds.
B To find out the types of plants in the neighborhood.
C To collect life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States.
D To investigate how plants and animals will respond as the climate changes