奇速英语官网—英语在线学习平台_让学英语更快乐_更快速

Indian birdwatchers have rescued a rare stork(鹳鸟) near Delhi which they feared would starve to death because a piece of rubber had trapped in its beak.

The black-necked stork is being fed fish by hand after the rubber was removed and kept under observation before being released into the wild. Conservationists had been trailing the bird since it was spotted in wetland near the capital on 7 June. It had been able to drink water but could not open its beak further to eat.

The stork was rescued at about 9 am on Wednesday and what was thought to be a plastic ring shutting its beak turned out to be a rubber stopper with holes. “When we found it, it was very weak. It was lying on the ground,” said Pankaj Gupta, a bird watcher and member of the Delhi Bird Foundation, who was involved in the rescue mission. He said its condition had rapidly improved—by noon it was standing up and poking its beak at anyone who came too close. Mr Gupta said the rubber stopper, which could have come from a bottle or can, is likely to have slipped onto the stork's beak when it was hunting in the water, and then got stuck there.

Black-necked storks are classified as “near-threatened” on the Red List and are native to parts of India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. But only 50-60 of the birds are found in the marshy regions outside Delhi. Their population grows quickly in wetlands where they hunt fish and snails.

Mr Gupta and his colleagues hope the difficulty of the stork will also help to rise people’s attention of the protection of wetlands. Environmentalists want the Basai area to be protected and are challenging a plan to build a factory there for recycling construction waste.

1.Why would the birdwatchers fear the stork would starve to death?

A Because it was too lazy to go out and hunt fish.

B Because the pollution killed all the fish and it had no food.

C Because its beak was trapped and couldn’t open to eat.

D Because it didn’t like to be kept under observation.

解析：选C。细节理解题。根据第一段可知人们担心这只鹳鸟被饿死是因为这只鹳鸟的嘴被一个橡胶盖卡住了，从而不能张嘴进食，故选C。

2.What was the stork doing when it was found?

A It was feeding itself.

B It was lying on the ground.

C It was poking its beak.

D It was relaxing in the field.

解析：选B。细节理解题。根据第三段第二、三句When we found it, it was very weak. It was lying on the ground.可知人们发现这只鹳鸟的时候，这只鹳鸟正躺在地上，故选B。

3.What does the underlined word “stuck” mean in Chinese?

A 消化.

B 卡住.

C 坚持.

D 紧贴.

解析：选B。词义猜测题。根据第二段最后一句It had been able to drink water but could not open its beak further to eat.可知这只鹳鸟不能张嘴，推断是有东西卡住了，故选B。

4.Where can’t you find black-necked storks according to the text?

A India.

B Indonesia.

C Sri Lanka.

D China.

解析：选D。细节理解题。根据第四段第一句Black-necked storks are classified as “near-threatened” on the Red List and are native to parts of India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. 可知在印度、印度尼西亚和斯里兰卡都有这种鹳鸟，但是未提及中国，故选D。

5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A The job to protect storks is very difficult.

B Recycling construction waste will help save animals.

C People will pay more attention to endangered animals.

D Environmentalists want to set a wetland protection area.

解析：选D。推理判断题。根据最后一段可知环保主义者希望引起人们的关注，可以修建保护区来保护这种黑颈鹳鸟，故选D。