Research reports are considered formal professi6nal communication. As such, there is littl

The climatic phenomenon that is being blamed for floods hurricanes and early snowstorms also deserves credit for encouraging plant growth and helping to control the pollutant linked to global warming, a new study shows.

El Nino—the periodic warming of eastern Pacific Ocean waters—causes a burst of plant growth throughout the world, and this removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, researchers have found.

(112) The new study shows that natural weather events such as the brief warming caused by El Nino, have a much more dramatic effect than previously believed on how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants and how much of the gas is expelled by the soil.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, has been increasing steadily for decades. This is thought to be caused by an expanded use of fossil fuels and by toppling of tropical forests. Scientists have linked the CO2 rise to global warming, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. (113) Alarmed nations of the world now are drawing up new conservation policies to reduce fossil fuel burning, in hopes of reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

But David Schimel of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a co-author of the new study, says that before determining how much to reduce fossil fuel burning we should consider the effects of natural climate variations on the ability of plants to absorb CO2.

Schimel said satellite measurements of CO2, plant growth and temperature show that natural warming events such as El Nifio at first cause more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere, probably as the result of accelerated decay of dead plant matter in the soil. But later, within two years, there is an explosion of growth-in forests and grasslands, which means plants suck more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

"We think that there is a delayed response in vegetation and soil to the warming effects of such phenomena as El Nifio, and this leads to increased plant growth," said Schimel.

(114) However, be said, it is not clear whether the warming by El Nino causes a net decrease in the buildup of CO2 over the long haul. "We don't really know that yet," said Schimel. What the study does show, however, is that the rise and fall of CO2 in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by natural changes in global temperature, said B. H. Braswell of the University of New Hampshire, another co-author of the study.

Braswell said that in years when the global weather is cooler than normal, there is a decrease in both the decay of dead plants and in new plant growth. This causes an effect that is the opposite of El Nino warming: CO2 atmosphere levels first decline and later increase.

(115) "I think we have demonstrated that the ecosystem has a lot more to do with climate change than was previously believed," said Braswell, "Focusing on the role of human activity in climate change is important, but man made factors are not the only factors."

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it. Humans are thoughtful and creative, possessed of insatiable curiosity. Furthermore, humans have the ability to modify the environment in which they live thus subjecting all other life forms to their own peculiar ideas and fancies. Therefore, it is important to study humans in all their richness and diversity in a calm and systematic manner, With the hope that the knowledge resulting from such studies can lead humans to a more harmonious way of living with themselves and with all other life forms on this planet Earth.

"Anthropology" derives from the Greek words anthropos, meaning "human", and logos, meaning "study of". By its very name, anthropology encompasses the study of all humankind.

rks by Leonardo that hung nearby.【71】But it is ignored in favor of the smiling figure of "Mona Lisa" set behind bullet-proof glass and protected constantly by a guard and a heavy railing.【72】

What lies behind the intrigue of the "Mona Lisa"? The principal explanation for its particular appeal must lie in the mystery conveyed by the ambiguous smile which allows everyone to find something special for themselves in the obscure, smoky image.

Let's look at the painting itself. The figure is simple. Mona Lisa turns to her left in her chair to look at the viewer with that smile, a smile that 16th-century art historian and biographer Giorgio Vasari said "... was so pleasing it seems divine rather than real." Her pose is compact yet dynamic. Her hair is partly undone and falls in little curls.【73】A veil is caught up in her right arm and draped over her head and left shoulder.

Two features are special to this extraordinary portrait: the "sfumato" technique and the remarkable landscape. Leonardo worked the transitions of light and shade so subtly that everything blends without any hint of lines or borders. In the depiction of Mona Lisa's head, this skill in surface painting is supported by his knowledge of the skull beneath the skin—derived from his studies in anatomy. But it is her position on a balcony that gives this picture of a superbly mature woman a sense of cosmic drama. Beyond her and far below is an immense rocky landscape.【74】It is a landscape of the imagination but imagination based on years of study of rock formations.

【75】Leonardo has become the product of the collective imagination. His legend has been fuelled by the image of the bearded sage, inspired by his self-portrait drawing, now in Turin, and by the work "Lives of the Famous Painters and Sculptors" by Giorgio Vasari.

A. The legend of the "Mona Lisa" is closely tied to the legend of her creator, Leonardo da Vinci.

B. Her dress is very simple and she wears no jewelry.

C. Over the next 16 years, Leonardo worked and traveled throughout Italy for a number of employers.

D. An example is The "Virgin of the Rocks" which is the summation of Leonardo's studies in anatomy, botany, geology as well as being superbly painted.

E. No other painting in the immense galleries of the Louvre gets this treatment.

F. The landscape is divided and unsteady which makes it like a dream.

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The agreement is overseen by the Committee on Agriculture which reviews progress in the implementation of commitments, and is required to monitor the follow-up on the Ministerial decision relating to the least-developed countries and net-food importing developing countries. "Peace" provisions within the agreement aim to reduce the likelihood of serious disputes or challenges on agricultural subsidies over a period of nine years.

(82) The agreement was conceived as part of a continuing process with the long-term objective of securing substantial progressive reductions in support and protection in agriculture. It calls for further negotiations to be initiated before the end of the fifth year of implementation.

(83) The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and phytosanitary(植物检疫的)Measures concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations.

It recognizes governments' rights to take sanitary and phytosanitary measures but stipulates that they must be based on science, should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health and should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between members where identical or similar conditions prevail.

Members are encouraged to base their measures on international standards, guidelines and recommendations where they exist. (84)However, members may maintain or introduce measures which result in higher standards if there is scientific justification or as a consequence of consistent risk decisions based on an appropriate risk assessment.

(85) It is expected that members will accept the sanitary and phytosanitary measures of others as equivalent if the exporting country demonstrates to the importing country that its measures achieve the importing country's appropriate level of health protection.

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of ______ .

tors to its present status is the acquisition and accumulation of a vast body of knowledge about itself, the world, and the universe. The products of this knowledge arc all those things that, in the aggregate, we call "civilization", including language, science, literature, art, all the physical mechanisms, instruments, and structures we use, and the physical infrastructures on which society relies. 22. Most of us assume that in modern society knowledge of all kinds is continually increasing and the aggregation of new information into the corpus of our social or collective knowledge is steadily reducing the area of ignorance about ourselves, the world, and the universe. But continuing reminders of the numerous areas of our present ignorance invite a critical analysis of this assumption.

In the popular view, intellectual evolution is similar to, although much more rapid than, somatic evolution. Biological evolution is often described by the statement that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"--meaning that the individual embryo, in its development from a fertilized ovum into a human baby, passes through successive stages in which it resembles ancestral forms of the human species. The popular view is that humankind has progressed from a state of innocent ignorance, comparable to that of an infant, and gradually has acquired more and more knowledge, much as a child learns in passing through the several grades of the educational system. 23.Implicit in this view is an assumption that phylogeny resembles ontogeny, so that there will ultimately be a stage in which the accumulation of knowledge is essentially complete, at least in specific fields, as if society had graduated with all the advanced degrees that signify mastery of important subjects.

Such views have, in fact, been expressed by some eminent scientists. In 1894 the great American physicist Albert Michelson said in a talk at the University of Chicago: 24.While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing than those of the past, it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice The future truths of Physical Science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.

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