XI'AN - China's conservation work for the endangered crested ibis（朱鹮）is facing new challenges, including an increasing mortality rate due to inbreeding, and the conflict between the need to expand natural habitats and local communities' economic interests, bird experts have warned.
The crested ibis, once widespread in Japan, China, Russia and the Korean Peninsula, almost became extinct in the first half of the 20th century.
Before 1981, when seven crested ibis were accidentally found in Yangxian county, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, academics thought the species had been extinct in China for almost 17 years.
Due to the huge effort put into species protection since 1981, the number of crested ibis in China has risen to an estimated 1,617, including 997 in the wild, the State Forestry Administration said at a meeting on crested ibis protection in Xi'an on Monday.
However, although the ibis population exceeds 1,000, the birds are still not free from the threat of extinction, said Fang Shengguo, director of the State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife at Zhejiang University.
“Ornithologists used inbreeding in the early stages of protection so that numbers of the precious birds could increase quickly, but that method had consequences,” Fang said.
"Studies have proved that as a result of inbreeding, crested ibis have the lowest genetic diversity of all endangered birds," Fang said.
"It means a high mortality rate and more physical defects for hatched chicks."
“The government should collect genetic information from all crested ibis and establish a genetic database as soon as possible, then design a scientific mating plan for the species,” Fang said.
So far, about 90 percent of crested ibis live in Shaanxi province, and fewer than 140 ibis live in three zoos in other parts of the country, including Beijing Zoo, according to Liu Dongping, an assistant researcher at the National Bird Banding Center of China, which is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Forestry.
The bird has lost the ability to migrate, he said, adding that if an unexpected natural disaster occurred in Shaanxi province or an infectious disease spread through the area, the ibis population could be greatly reduced.
Experts also warned that the increased population of ibis, whether in the wild or in captivity, requires a larger and more varied natural habitat.
Rampant hunting, the massive loss of habitat caused by deforestation and the overuse of pesticides, which killed aquatic insects on which the ibis feed, are believed to be the main reasons for the sharp reduction in the ibis population before 1981.
So, in 1983, a State-level natural reserve was set up in Shaanxi province to protect the bird. But the struggle for living space between human and animal has never stopped, said Lu Baozhong, deputy director of the Shaanxi Crested Ibis Conservation Station.
"For example, ibis often look for loaches in farmers' rice fields. Sometimes their claws trample the rice seedlings. In another case, villagers discovered some land with abundant mineral resources which happened to be a habitat for ibis," said Lu, who has devoted 30 years to ibis protection.
A long-term win-win solution for ibis and local communities needs to be developed, one that would provide ecological compensation for local residents, Lu said.
1.. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. The Rare Bird in China B. New Problems for the Crested Ibis
C. The Way to Save the Crested Ibis D. The Reason for the Crested Ibis’s Extinction
2. Which of the following statement is TRUE ?
A. The crested ibis is a native of China.
B. Before 1981, the crested ibis was extinct in China.
C. The crested ibis is now free from the threat of extinction.
D. Most of the crested ibis are in Shaanxi province.
3.. Why did the experts adopt the way of inbreeding to protect the crested ibis?
A. To increase the mortality rate.
B. To increase the number of the crested ibis.
C. To get more physical defects for hatched chicks
D. To have the lowest diversity of the endangered bird.
4.. What may be the reason for the reduction in the population of the crested ibis before 1981?
A. inbreeding B. economic development
C. over hunting D. sandstorm
5.. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Due to our great efforts, the crested ibis lives in the wild well.
B. Scientists will choose a better habitat for the crested ibis.
C. The problems of the crested ibis have not been solved now.
D. The government has established a genetic database of the crested ibis.
Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.
Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.
Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift” — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialised nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.
1.. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. The good old days of mothers in the 1970s and 1980s.
B. The great sufferings of today’s children.
C. The statistics of working mothers and full-time mothers.
D. The big problems that today’s working mothers face.
2.. What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.
A. hate B. miss C. abandon D. control
3. Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves.
B. The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family.
C. Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays.
D. Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children.
4. From para. 4, we can infer that ___________.
A. working mothers can seek help on line
B. Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues
C. working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother
D. Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers
5.. What critics say means that _____________.
A. it is wise for working mothers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders
B. too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health
C. nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children
D. children do not like nurseries or childminders at all
In a surprising discovery about where higher life can survive, scientists have found a shrimp -like creature and a jellyfish swimming beneath an Antarctic ice sheet.
About 180 meters below the ice where no light can get through, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes (微生物) could exist.
That’s why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera’s cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle (触须) they believe came from a jellyfish.
“We were operating on the presumption that nothing’s there.” said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler. “It was a shrimp you’d enjoy having on your plate.”
“We were just gaga (狂热的) over it,” he said when talking about the 7.5cm long, orange creature starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it’s not a shrimp. It’s a Lyssianasid amphipod, which is distantly related to the shrimp.
The video is likely to inspire experts to rethink what they know about life in harsh environments. And it has scientists thinking that if shrimp-like creatures can live below 180 meters of Antarctic ice in freezing dark water, what about other cold places? What about Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter?
Cynan Ellis – Evans, a scientist of the British Antarctic Survey called the finding fascinating. He said it was possible the creatures swam in from far away and don’t live there permanently.
But Kim, who is a co-author of the study, doubts it. “The site in West Antarctica is at least 19 km from open seas. Bindschadler drilled a 20 cm-wide hole and was looking at a tiny amount of water. That means it’s unlikely that two creatures swam from great distances and were captured randomly in that small area,” she said.
“Yet scientists were puzzled at what the food source would be for these creatures. While some microbes can make their own food out of chemicals in the ocean, complex life like the shrimp can’t,” Kim said.
“So how do they survive? That’s the key question.” Kim said.
“It’s pretty amazing when you find a huge puzzle like that on a planet where we thought we know everything.” Kim said.
1.. Scientists had believed that harsh environments could only have been populated by ______ .
A. jellyfish B. mammals C. microbes D. shrimp-like creatures
2. According to Kim, the shrimp-like creature _________ .
A. swam great distances to Antarctic B. has always lived in the area
C. gradually evolved from shrimps D. has nothing in common with shrimps
3. The finding is significant in that __________.
A. it marks NASA’S first Antarctic biological study
B. it proves there is marine life in the Antarctic
C. it could inspire further study of life in harsh environments
D. it shows that Lyssianasid amphipod is closely related to shrimps
4.. The last three paragraphs suggest that __________.
A. researchers will look at the places the creatures came from
B. ice scientists will drill deeper to find more creatures
C. scientists know very little about the planet they live on
D. further research will be done about what the creatures live on
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从 21～40 各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
School was over and I felt quite tired. I sat at the very 21 of the crowded bus because of my anxiety to get home. Sitting there makes me 22 out like a shiny coin in a pile of dull pennies.
Janie, the 23_ , tries to break the uncomfortable atmosphere by striking the match of _ 24 .
I tried to mind my manners and 25 listen, but usually I am too busy thinking about my day. On this day, 26 , her conversation was worth listening to.
“My father’s sick,” she said to no one in 27 , I could see the anxiety and fear in her eyes. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked. With her eyes wet and her voice tight from 28 the tears, she answered, “Heart trouble.” Her eyes 29 as she continued. “I have already lost my mum, so I don’t think I can stand losing him.”
I was 30 . My heart ached for her. And this reminded me of the great 31 that my own mother was thrown into when her father died. I saw how hard it was, and 32 is, for her. I wouldn’t like anyone to 33 that.
Suddenly I realized Janie wasn’t only a bus driver. That was 34 her job. She had a whole world of 35 and concerns, too. I suddenly felt very __36____. I realized I had only thought of people as far as what their purposes were in my life. I paid no attention to Janie 37 she was a bus driver. I had 38 her by her job and brushed her off as unimportant.
For all I know, I’m just another person in 39 else’s world, and may not be 40 . I should not have been so selfish and self-centered. Everyone has places to go, people to see and appointment to keep. Understanding people is an art.
1. A. front B. end C. side D. middle
2. A. find B. take C. think D. stand
3.. A. doctor B. driver C. teacher D. assistant
4. A. fire B. topic C. conversation D. discussion
5. A. politely B. slightly C. carelessly D. partly
6.. A. however B. therefore C. instead D. otherwise
7.. A. surprise B. particular C. silence D. purpose
8. A. fighting B. turning C. clearing D. protecting
9. A. opened B. shone C. closed D. lowered
10. A. recognized B. worried C. shocked D. excited
11. A. victory B. pain C. respect D. disappointment
12.A. away B. seldom C. still D. never
13. A. pick up B. work out C. go through D. get down
14.A. almost B. nearly C. ever D. just
15. A. family B. bus C. school D. friend
16. A. selfish B. desperate C. pessimistic D. ridiculous
17.. A. while B. because C. though D. until
18.. A. criticized B. received C. considered D. judged
19.. A. everyone B. anyone C. someone D. nobody
20. A. happy B. wise C. useful D. important
---- When did the couple die?
---- It was on May 12 _______ the earthquake hit Wenchuan County.
A. that B. which C. when D. what
----Mr. Hu, have you finished correcting the papers?
----Not yet, the papers _______. You _______ get the results from me by tomorrow.
A. are corrected; will B. are being correcting; should
C. are being corrected; shall D. are being corrected; would
