Question

    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 were critically endangered.

In the 1940s, the remaining cranes migrate(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 they 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 firsthand, 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

2.What does the underlined word “dwindled” mean in the first paragraph?

A. Increased B. Reduced C. Stayed D. Limited

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 disaster. D. Deadly diseases.

4.Which of the following events took place in 1954?

A. The non-migrating group of whooping cranes disappeared

B. Robert Potter Allen undertook the whooping crane project.

C. The whooping cranes breeding grounds were discovered

D. Robert Porter Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

【解析】

本文为记叙文。文章讲述了罗伯特•波特•艾伦救助鸣鹤的故事。1905年，当罗伯特·波特·艾伦出生时，鸣鹤已经陷入了困境。这种美丽的鸟曾经在北美很常见。到1941年，鸣鹤的数量已经减少到两位数。北美最高的物种濒临灭绝。1942年，艾伦开始了鸣鹤计划，在接下来的三年里，他几乎一直在野外工作，从德克萨斯州沿着鹤的迁徙路线到内布拉斯加州，再到萨斯喀彻温省，寻找鹤的筑巢地。艾伦的工作为保护主义者拯救这些鸟类奠定了基础。

1.主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要讲述了罗伯特•波特•艾伦救助鸣鹤的故事。故D选项正确。

2.词义猜测题。根据划线词所在句后的The tallest species in North America were critically endangered可推知，到1941年，鸣鹤的数量已经减少到两位数。因此划线词dwindled意为“减少”。A. Increased增加；B. Reduced减少；C. Stayed保持；D. Limited限制。故B选项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据第二段中的The wetlands where they used to spend winters were growing rarer and rarer as they tiny及第四段中的But finding the whooping crane 's nesting site meant difficult and fruitless air searches over northern Canada可知，鸣鹤们曾经用来过冬的湿地变得越来越稀少，要找到鸣鹤的筑巢地，在加拿大北部进行空中搜索是困难而徒劳的。由此推断出，栖息地的丧失是现存鸣鹤面临的主要问题。故A选项正确。

4.推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的In 1952, Allen wrote a report on the whooping crane…Two years later, the whooping cranes breeding grounds in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park were finally found可推知，在1954年人们发现了鸣鹤的繁殖地。故C选项正确。