Question

【題目】Australia’s koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to stop the losing in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to reduce the number of wild koalas sharply.

The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. Previous estimates put the number of koalas at more than 100,000, but the latest calculations suggest there could now be as few as 43,000.

The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.

The foundation said besides problems caused by cutting down forests, hotter and drier conditions because of global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to poor nutrition for them.

Koalas, which live in the forests in Australia’s east and south, are very fussy (愛挑剔的) about what types of the leaves they eat.

Foundation chief Deborah Tabart said: “The koalas are missing everywhere we look. It’s really no tree, no me. If you keep cutting down trees you don’t have any koalas.”

She is hoping the new figures will persuade the government’s Threatened Species Steering Committee (TSSC) to list the koala as threatened. But committee chairman Bob Beeton said a decision was not likely recently and the koala’s status as one of the country’s favourite animals would not be a factor. “There’s a number of species which are attractive and people have special feelings towards them. We don’t consider that,” Mr Beeton was reported as saying by the AFP agency.

【1】The writer gives the example of the area in northern Queensland in Paragraph 3 to show that _____.

A. the forests are being damaged heavily

B. the environment is being polluted seriously

C. koalas usually live in wild mountainous areas

D. the number of koalas is dropping quickly

【2】Global warming is an important cause of koalas’ reduction because _____.

A. koalas can hardly stand the hot weather

B. the leaves koalas eat are losing nutritional value

C. koalas cannot get enough water to drink

D. the leaves koalas eat cannot grow in hot weather

【3】According to Bob Beeton, _____.

A. koalas are his favourite animals

B. a decision will be made to protect koalas

C. they needn’t pay special attention to koalas

D. koalas needn’t be protected at all

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】B

【3】C

【解析】

試題分析:本文倡導人們保護考拉。澳大利亞的考拉面臨滅絕的危險，除非人們馬上采取措施。社會的發(fā)展、氣候的變化以及叢林大火都是導致考拉數(shù)量急劇減少的原因。

【1】D細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.可知原來在北昆士蘭有很多考拉，但是現(xiàn)在人們很難再找到了，考拉的數(shù)量減少了很多，故選D。

【2】B細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章hotter and drier conditions because of global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to poor nutrition for them. 可知氣候的變化使得考拉吃的樹葉的營養(yǎng)變少了，故選B。

【3】C細節(jié)理解題 。根據(jù)the koala’s status as one of the country’s favourite animals would not be a factor. “There’s a number of species which are attractive and people have special feelings towards them. We don’t consider that,”可知Bob認為還有很多吸引人的動物，人們不應該只關注考拉，故選C。