Question

    North America's birds are disappearing from the skies at a rate that's shocking even to ornithologists （鸟类学家）.Since the 1970s, the continent has lost 3 billion birds, nearly 30% of the total, and even common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds are in decline, U.S. and Canadian researchers report this week online in Science. The findings raise fears that some familiar species could go the way of the passenger pigeon, a species once so abundant that its extinction in the early 1900s seemed unthinkable.

The results, ever done to North American birds, point to ecosystems in disorder because of habitat loss and other factors, researchers say. Yet ecologist Paul Ehrlich at Stanford University, California sees some hope in this new bad news: “ It might encourage needed action in view of the public interest in our feathered friends. ”

In past decades, Ehrlich and others have recorded the decline of particular bird groups, including migratory songbirds. All together, they studied 529 bird species, about three-quarters of all species in North America, accounting for more than 90% of the entire bird population. Rosenberg and his colleagues report Grassland birds have declined by 53% since 1970—a loss of 700 million adults in the 31 species studied. Habitat loss may be to blame.

The familiar birds that flock by the thousands in suburbs were not exempt（例外）. “There's a decline of the numbers of common birds,” Rosenberg says. His team determined that 19 common species have each lost more than 50 million birds since 1970. Twelve groups, including sparrows, warblers, finches, and blackbirds, were particularly hard hit. Even introduced species that have increased in North America, such as starlings and house sparrows, are losing ground.

1.What is happening to North America's birds?

A.Most of them are dying out. B.Some of them are decreasing.

C.They are disappearing quickly. D.They are raising fears to humans.

2.What does Paul Ehrlich mean?

A.The bad news will bring interest to the birds.

B.The bad news might alarm people to take action.

C.North America's birds need our help.

D.North America's birds suffered great loss.

3.What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A.Some common birds are also decreasing.

B.Some birds die from losing their habitat.

C.The research team found some unusual things.

D.The research team studied birds in North America.

4.In which section of a website may this text appear?

A.Environment. B.Health.

C.Education. D.Science.

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍了北美的鸟类正以惊人的速度从天空中消失,就此倡议人们采取行动来保护鸟类。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段中的“North America’s birds are disappearing from the skies at a rate that’s shocking even to ornithologist.(北美的鸟类正以惊人的速度从天空中消失，这让鸟类学家感到震惊。)”可知，北美的鸟类正在迅速地从天空中消失。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段中的“ecosystems in disorder because of habitat loss and other factors .It might encourage needed action in view of the public interest in our feathered friends. (鸟类生存环境的失去和其他因素造成了生态系统混乱。考虑到公众对鸟类朋友的兴趣，这个坏消息可能会促使人们采取必要的行动。)”可知，生态学家Paul Ehrlich表示，这个坏消息可能会警醒人们开始采取行动来保护鸟类。故选B。

3.主旨大意题。通读最后一段，根据其中的“There's a decline of the number of common birds(常见鸟类的数量正在下降。)”以及下文介绍的他的团队的研究可知，最后一段主要讲述了北美一些常见鸟类的数量在减少。故选A。

4.推理判断题。A. Environment环境； B. Health健康；C. Education教育； D. Science科学。通读全文可知，文章主要介绍了天空中的鸟类正在逐渐消失。根据第二段中的 “The results, ever done to North American birds, point to ecosystems in disorder because of habitat loss and other factors, researchers say. ”可知，研究人员说对北美鸟类所做的研究结果表明，由于栖息地丧失和其他因素，生态系统处于混乱状态，鸟的数量在减少。由此可推知，本文可能会在网站的环境栏目中出现，而健康、教育、科学均不合适。故选A。