中考真题2024年四川省德阳市阅读理解C篇-韦斯特曼群岛居民独特方式助小海鹦“起飞”
If you see a girl and a boy throwing two baby puffins (海鹦) off a cliff (悬崖) on the Westman Islands, you may not understand why they’re doing so. In fact, they are just trying to help save them.
Puffins are the most common birds on the Westman Islands in Iceland. Different from most sea birds, they are able to go under water to 60 meters deep to catch fish. Each spring, they lay eggs in holes on cliffs. 40 days later, they will fly back to the sea, leaving the young there. Baby puffins would spend about six weeks in the holes alone before they are ready to fly to the sea.
In the past, young puffins could easily find the sea with the help of the moonlight. But now, bright lights of the city often make them lose their way. Many of them end up flying into the town. However, it’s not an easy thing for young puffins to fly up and find food in the town, so they may lose their lives there.
That’s why people on the Westman Islands have decided to help those young puffins. In late summer, when young puffins leave their holes, local people often go out to look for the missing puffins at night. If they find one, they would pick it up and put it in a box. The next day, they would take it to the cliff and throw it off. In this way, young puffins can fly safely to their new home for the next few years.
The unusual tradition also helps make sure the puffins will be back to their holes another year.
A puffin lays one egg each year at most, so the help from the people on the Westman Islands is of great importance to the survival (生存) of puffins.
1. Why are the boy and the girl throwing the baby puffins off a cliff?
A To have fun.
B To hurt them.
C To take photos.
D To help them.
解析：选D。细节理解题。根据“In fact, they are just trying to help save them.”可知，把海雀宝宝扔下悬崖只是想帮助拯救它们。故选D。
2.When do puffins lay eggs?
A In spring.
B In summer.
C In autumn.
D In winter.
解析：选A。细节理解题。根据“Each spring, they lay eggs in holes on cliffs.”可知，每年春天，它们都会在悬崖上的洞里产卵。故选A。
3.What can we know from the passage?
A Puffins spend 40 days at sea every year.
B Young puffins find it easy to live in the town.
C Local people often take puffins home as pets.
D The help from local people is important to puffins.
解析：选D。细节理解题。根据“so the help from the people on the Westman Islands is of great importance to the survival (生存) of puffins”可知，韦斯特曼群岛上人们的帮助对海雀的生存至关重要，故选D。
4.What’s the purpose of this passage?
A To teach teenagers how to feed puffins.
B To introduce a special way to save puffins.
C To help local people raise money for puffins.
D To encourage readers to visit the Westman Islands.
解析：选B。主旨大意题。根据“If you see a girl and a boy throwing two baby puffins (海鹦) off a cliff (悬崖) on the Westman Islands, you may not understand why they’re doing so. In fact, they are just trying to help save them.”可知，本文介绍了韦斯特曼群岛的人们试图拯救海鹦宝宝的行动，选项B“介绍一种拯救海雀的特殊方法”符合主题，故选B。