新法案要求改造户外人工照明设施以保护海鸟
新法案要求改造户外人工照明设施以保护海鸟

Nighttime sporting event venues, airports, hotels and other businesses would be given three years to replace artificial light facilities under a bill that aims to address light pollution and reduce threats to native Hawaiian seabirds.

The purpose of these rules is to keep native Hawaiian seabirds from losing their sense of direction because of artificial light during flights from their burrows(洞穴) out to sea, said Kelly Takaya King, chairman of the Climate Action. When these birds fall to the ground, they are easy to be hunted and killed by predators like cats and dogs, as well as hit by vehicles.

“Birds help to provide a representation of current biodiversity, which is foretelling of our possible future fate,” King said Wednesday. “The good news is that people and organizations are getting involved, including local conservation groups.” Native Hawaiian seabirds are historically and traditionally crucial to Maui’s ecosystem, and King said the council’s intention is to protect them as much as possible from interference of onshore sources of artificial light, like street lamps, porch lights, headlights and large stadium lights.

The revised bill reduced the amount of visible blue light content permitted in outdoor lighting facilities that are distracting for wildlife. The bill still calls for the removal of mercury vapor(汞蒸气) from new outdoor lighting facilities. It also clarifies that all outdoor lighting facilities, except for neon(霓虹灯), must be fully covered up and faced down with no light shining above the horizontal.

“We definitely don’t want to create a culture of anger towards the birds, so like I said, we need to coexist, so we also need to be aware of those events and maybe have one of our team members look for these incidents that could involve the birds,” said Cheryl King, seabird biology technician for the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project. 

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1.How does artificial light affect seabirds?

A It reduces their sleep.

B It makes them get lost easily.

C It brings pollution to their burrows.

D It makes them easy to be attacked.

解析:选B。B 细节理解题。根据第二段的“The purpose of these rules is to keep native Hawaiian seabirds from losing their sense of direction because of artificial light during flights”可知,鸟类在夜晚飞行过程中会因为这些人造光而失去方向感(即迷路)。故选B。

2.What King said in the third paragraph means ______.

A it was important to protect seabirds

B the artificial lights were harmful

C seabirds had no habitat to live in

D people showed no concern for birds

解析:选A。A 推理判断题。根据第三段“Birds help to provide a representation of current biodiversity, which is foretelling of our possible future fate”可知,鸟类帮助提供了当前生物多样性的代表,这预示着我们未来可能的命运,因此保护海鸟很重要。故选A。

3.What does Paragraph Four mainly talk about?

A All details of the new bill.

B The new habitat for wildlife.

C People’s understanding of the bill.

D Rules for new artificial light facilities.

解析:选D。D 段落大意题。第四段主要介绍了关于法案针对户外照明设施的要求,即相关改造规则。故选D。

4.Which of the following is Cheryl King’s opinion?

A People have a culture of anger towards the birds.

B Lights for nighttime sports should all be removed.

C People should live harmoniously with the seabirds.

D Some incidents are able to draw in more seabirds.

解析:选C。C 推理判断题。根据最后一段的“We definitely don’t want to create a culture of anger towards the birds, so like I said, we need to coexist”可知,他建议人与海鸟和谐共处。故选C。