Question

【題目】California Condor’s Shocking Recovery

California condors are North America’s largest birds, with wind-length of up to 3 meters. In the 1980s, electrical lines and lead poisoning(鉛中毒) nearly drove them to dying out. Now, electric shock training and medical treatment are helping to rescue these big birds.

In the late 1980s, the last few condors were taken from the wild to be bred(繁殖). Since 1992, there have been multiple reintroductions to the wild, and there are now more than 150 flying over California and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico.

Electrical lines have been killing them off. “As they go in to rest for the night, they just don’t see the power lines,” says Bruce Rideout of San Diego Zoo. Their wings can bridge the gap between lines, resulting in electrocution(電死) if they touch two lines at once.

So scientists have come up with a shocking idea. Tall poles, placed in large training areas, teach the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by giving them a painful but undeadly electric shock. Before the training was introduced, 66% of set-freed birds died of electrocution. This has now dropped to 18%.

Lead poisonous has proved more difficult to deal with. When condors eat dead bodies of other animals containing lead, they absorb large quantities of lead. This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds, and can lead to kidney(腎) failures and death. So condors with high levels of lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo, where they are treated with calcium EDTA, a chemical that removes lead from the blood over several days. This work is starting to pay off. The annual death rate for adult condors has dropped from 38% in 2000 to 5.4% in 2011.

Rideout’s team thinks that the California condors’ average survival time in the wild is now just under eight years. “Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”

【1】California condors attract researchers’ interest because they _________.

A. are active at night

B. had to be bred in the wild

C. are found only in California

D. almost died out in the 1980s

【2】Researchers have found electrical lines are _________.

A. blocking condors’ journey home

B. big killers of California condors

C. rest places for condors at night

D. used to keep condors away

【3】According to Paragraph 5, lead poisoning _________.

A. makes condors too nervous to fly

B. has little effect on condors’ kidneys

C. can hardly be gotten rid of from condors’ blood

D. makes it difficult for condors to produce baby birds

【4】This passage shows that _________.

A. the average survival time of condors is satisfactory

B. Rideout’s research interest lies in electric engineering

C. the efforts to protect condors have brought good results

D. researchers have found the final answers to the problem

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】B

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

試題加州兀鷹是北美最大的鳥類，翼展可達(dá)3米。20世紀(jì)80年代，由于觸電和鉛中毒，加州兀鷹幾乎絕跡�，F(xiàn)在，正通過電擊和藥物治療拯救加州兀鷹。

【1】推理判斷題。根據(jù)第三段“As they go in to rest for the night”排除A；根據(jù)第二段“In the late 1980s, the last few condors were taken from the wild to be bred(繁殖)”可知，condors一直生活在野外，排除B；根據(jù)第二段“more than 150 flying over California and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico”可知，不止加利福尼亞州有condors，排除C，根據(jù)第一段的 In the 1980s, electrical lines and lead poisoning(鉛中毒) nearly drove them to dying out.可推斷，加州禿鷹吸引了研究人員的興趣是因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)?/span>20世紀(jì)80年代幾乎滅絕。故選D。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段“Electrical lines have been killing them off...Their wings can bridge the gap between lines, resulting in electrocution(電死) if they touch two lines at once.”可知，兀鷹不知道停在電線上翅膀同時(shí)觸到兩根及兩根以上電線會(huì)觸電身亡，它們經(jīng)常停在電線上休息，結(jié)果，很多兀鷹被電死了，故選B。

【3】推理判斷題。根據(jù)“This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds, and can lead to kidney(腎) failures and death”可知，攝入大量鉛會(huì)刺激兀鷹的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，影響它們的生育能力，導(dǎo)致腎衰竭和死亡，因此推斷鉛中毒讓兀鷹很難繁殖小鷹。故選D。

【4】推理判斷題。根據(jù)“just under eight years”可知，在野外生存的兀鷹的平均壽命太短，排除A；根據(jù)“Although these measures are not effective forever”可知，目前采用的措施并不能永遠(yuǎn)有效，排除D；根據(jù)第六段“They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them.”可知，Rideout團(tuán)隊(duì)的研究興趣在于怎樣挽救這一瀕危物種，排除B。根據(jù)最后一句“Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”可知，雖然這些措施不會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)有效，但就目前而言，它們是至關(guān)重要的。 因此推斷保護(hù)兀鷹故選C。

推理判斷題屬于主觀題，是層次較高的題目。它包括判斷題和推理題。這兩類題常常相互依存，推理是為了作出正確的判斷，正確的判斷又依賴于合乎邏輯的推理。此類題要求在理解表面文字的基礎(chǔ)上作出判斷和推論，從而得到文章的隱含意思和深層意思，也就是通過文章中的文字信息、上下文的邏輯關(guān)系及事物的發(fā)展變化等已知的信息，推斷出作者沒有直接表達(dá)的態(tài)度和觀點(diǎn)。 推理判斷題的解題方法：推理判斷題不僅要求考生讀懂文章中的每個(gè)句子的意思，還要推理它們之間的關(guān)系，結(jié)合自己的生活常識(shí)和經(jīng)驗(yàn)，再通過邏輯推理和判斷，理解文章的言外之意，從而揭示文章的深層含義。任何一篇文章都有其特定的寫作目的，讀者需要知道如何去做或按照某種方式思考問題。推理判斷題的答案不可能在文章中直接找到，因此推理時(shí)我們務(wù)必要忠于原文，在文章中尋找并確定可推論的依據(jù)，即：已知部分－推論的前提，從中推測(cè)出未知部分－推理的結(jié)論，切忌妄加評(píng)論，把自己的觀點(diǎn)當(dāng)成作者的觀點(diǎn)。例如小題4，根據(jù)最后一句“Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”可知，雖然這些措施不會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)有效，但就目前而言，它們是至關(guān)重要的。 因此推斷保護(hù)兀鷹故選C。