A
(2021·衡阳模拟)
By the time Robert Porter Allen was born in 1905, the whooping crane(鸣鹤)was already in trouble. The beautiful bird was once commonly found across North America. By 1941, the whooping crane population had dwindled to the double digits. The tallest species in North America was critically endangered.
In the 1940s, the remaining cranes migrated(迁徙) every year from the Gulf Coast of Texas to somewhere in the north of Canada to breed(繁殖). The conservation community didn’t know where the birds went. The wetlands where they used to spend winters were growing rarer and rarer as the tiny, non-migrating group of whooping cranes was alive in Louisiana in 1941, but the group had disappeared by the time Allen started his research.
In 1942, Allen undertook the whooping crane project over the next three years. He did almost constant field work that took him from Texas up the cranes’ migration route to Nebraska, and on into Saskatchewan in search of the nesting ground of the birds.
Studying the bird in its breeding habitat and seeing how many birds were born would allow conservationists to understand how to help the birds on their journey. But finding the whooping crane’s nesting site meant difficult and fruitless air searches over northern Canada.
In 1952, Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane. The report was a warning call to the conservation community: only 33 migratory “whoopers” remained, and their nesting site still hadn’t been found. Two years later, the whooping cranes’ breeding grounds in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park were finally found, and Allen headed north to study them first-hand—an “incredibly difficult journey”, in Sprunt’s words. Allen’s work laid the groundwork for conservationists to save the birds.
Their efforts paid off as the numbers reached 57 by 1970 and 214 by 2005. Today, the whooping crane is still listed as endangered, but there are roughly 600 birds alive.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
A. It is a story about Allen’s searching for a lost bird.
B. It is a story about the cranes’ long migration flight.
C. It is a story about the crane surviving the winters.
D. It is a story about conserving the whooping crane.
【解析】选D。主旨大意题。通读文章可知, 整篇文章都是围绕保护濒危鸟类——鸣鹤的内容展开的, 故答案为D项。
2. What does the underlined word “dwindled” mean in the first paragraph?
A. Increased. B. Reduced.
C. Stayed. D. Limited.
【解析】选B。词义猜测题。根据上文“By the time Robert Porter Allen was born in 1905, the whooping crane was already in trouble. The beautiful bird was once commonly found across North America. ”猜测画线词所在句句意: 到1941年, 鸣鹤的数量已经减少到两位数, 所以答案为B项。
3. According to the passage, which of the following is mainly responsible for what happened to the remaining whooping cranes?
A. Habitat loss. B. Illegal hunting.
C. Natural disasters. D. Deadly diseases.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段“The wetlands where they used to spend winters were growing rarer and rarer as the tiny, non-migrating group of whooping cranes was alive in Louisiana in 1941”可知栖息地的丧失是造成鸣鹤逐渐消失的主要原因, 所以答案为A项。
4. Which of the following events took place in 1954?
A. The non-migrating group of whooping cranes disappeared.
B. Robert Porter Allen undertook the whooping crane project.
C. The whooping cranes’ breeding grounds were found.
D. Robert Porter Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane.
【解析】选C。细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中的“In 1952, Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane. ”以及“Two years later, the whooping cranes’ breeding grounds in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park were finally found”可知答案为C项。
【知识拓展】鸣鹤鸟, 鹤科(GRUIDAE)鸟类, 学名为GRUS AMERICANA, 即美洲鹤, 最高的美洲鸟, 也是世界稀禽之一, 正式列为濒危物种。美国内政部渔猎局正在繁殖笼养美洲鹤, 试图增加其数量(20世纪80年代初仅余近100只, 尚有笼养约24只)。体高约150厘米, 翅展约210厘米。体羽白色, 翅尖黑色, 腿黑色, 裸露的面部和头顶红色。其鸣叫声在3. 2千米外都能听到。据信, 若干时间以来美洲鹤
之类的鸟类的数量之所以下降, 主要原因是生态条件的改变, 人类的捕猎及垦荒只是部分原因。它们又好集群, 因此易受不利环境条件的影响, 幼雏死亡率高, 因此种群恢复极慢。
