2018年秋季高中英语 Unit 4 Wildlife protection Period 1 Warming Up Reading课后阅读训练 新人教版必修2.docVIP

PAGE 7 - Unit 4 Wildlife protection Period 1 Warming Up Reading 课后阅读训练 Ⅰ. 阅读理解 A What do the following animals have in common? Pandas, rhinoceros, Mexican burrowing snakes, pink pigeons and small tooth sawfish. They are all endangered animals! Animals become endangered for a variety of reasons. Sadly, humans are behind every one of them! For centuries, humans have hunted elephants for their tusks, and killed tigers for their beautiful furs, caught fish for food. While we still have elephants, tigers, and fish in the wild, we cannot say the same about many others that have simply died out! Year 1505 was a dreadful turning point in the natural history of the island of Mauritius—European sailors discovered this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean and brought dogs, pigs, monkeys with them. The arrival of humans and those introduced animal species were bad news for dodo birds. About 50 pounds and flightless, dodo birds did not have any natural enemies until then. They picked fruits fallen from trees and built their nests on the ground. Shortly after humans set foot on Mauritius, however, dodo birds realized that they were in big trouble—men killed them for their meat, and those introduced animal species destroyed their nests and ate their eggs. The effects of excessive(过度的)hunting and foreign species drove dodo birds to first become much fewer and then die out. The last dodo bird was killed in 1681. Humans and animals have always competed for land and other natural resources. We clear an area of a forest for farming. We cut down trees and use wood to build beautiful houses. We build reservoirs(水库)to make sure that we have enough water to use. At the same time that we are trying to make our life comfortable, we destroy the habitats of wild animals. More than once we have seen on television that rescue workers are trying their best to save seabirds in spilled(泄漏的)oil. More than once we have heard about how emissions of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳的排放)and other gases have