Monitoring global warming usually requires a Ph. D. and enough maths to glaze your eyes. But that Francisco Lopez and Ruby Nostrant track（记录）what climate change is doing to five different plants in Tucson, Arizona and they are only in the second grade.
“We are collecting data because the weather is changing and the plants are blooming,” Ruby explained.
Scores of other students at Borton Primary Magnet School and Sunnyside High School in Tucson are heading outdoors to be part of a new scientific push to figure out how the biological timing of the earth is changing. It’s a research project that the average person, even a kindergartner, can join in.
The National Phenology（生物气候学）Network is calling on volunteers to help track early spring blooms and eventually changes in animals caused by global warming. It’s called Project Budburst. When it was first open to the public last year, thousands of people participated in 26 states.
“All people can contribute to it by tracking the timing of flowering events or leaf-out events for plants and animals in their backyard,” said Phenology Network director Jake Weltzin. He calls the volunteers “citizen-scientists.”
The idea is that tracking flowers blooming—especially lilacs（丁香）; which everyday people have helped track for decades—is fairly simple. The Website http://www.Windows.ucar.edu/ citizen_science/budburst/index.html gives directions on what to look for in different parts of the country.
University of Maryland professor David Inouye said it’s so easy to figure out what’s blooming that a lack of special knowledge isn’t a problem.
University of Arizona ecology graduate student Lisa Benton coordinated（协调）the Tucson high school students as they looked at plants five minutes from their high school. Each student has specific guidelines and she’s been happy so far with the data she is getting. For his part, second-grader Francisco said he had fun helping out.
“I like going out in the desert,” he said. “I want to be an Einstein.”
小题1:Francisco Lopez and Ruby Nostrant are monitoring global warming by __________.
A．watching early spring blooms and changes in animals
B．studying the biological timing of earth
C．collecting data of the local weather
D．tracking the early spring blooms of some local plants小题2:Those who participate in Project Budburst are mostly ___________.
A．ecology college graduates
B．high school students
C．common people
D．experts小题3:What David Inouye says suggests that ____________.
A．the study carried out by students is convincing
B．the students still need special training to study climate change
C．it is difficult to study climate change
D．to figure out what’s blooming needs special knowledge小题4:Who is primary school student joining in the Project Budburst?
A．Lisa Benton.
B．David Inouye
C．Francisco Lopez.
D．Jake Weltzin.小题5:We can conclude from the passage that _______.
A．changes in animals caused by global warming happen earlier than those in plants
B．the biological timing of earth is changing because of climate change
C．the effect of climate change in Tucson, Arizona can be hardly noticed
D．all the plants in Tucson, Arizona are blooming earlier because of climate change
—
—发出震耳欲聋的吼叫。这时，它身体膨胀起来，四条腿皮肤紧绷绷地发亮，一双眼睛炯炯有神，吼声激越悲壮，惊得江里的鱼儿扑喇喇跳出水面。