The black robin (旅鶇) is one of the world's rarest birds. It is a small, wild bird, and it lives only on the island of Little Mangere, off the coast of New Zealand. In 1967 there were about fifty black robins there; in 1977 there were fewer than ten.46
Energetic steps are being taken to preserve the black robin. 47 The idea is to buy an-other island nearby as a special home, a “reserve”, for threatened wild life, including black robins. The organizers say that Little Mangere should then be restocked (重新準(zhǔn)備) with the robin's food. Thousands of the required plants are at present being cultivated in New Zealand.
Is all this concern a waste of human effort? 48 Are we losing our sense of what is reasonable and what is unreasonable?
In the earth's long, long past hundreds of kinds of creatures have evolved, risen to a degree of success and died out. In the long, long future there will be many new and different forms of life. Those creatures that adapt themselves successfully to what the earth offers will survive for a long time.49 This is nature's proven method of operation.
The rule of selection “the survival of the fittest” is the one by which human beings have themselves arrived on the scene. We, being one of the most adaptable creatures the earth has yet produced, may last longer than most, 50 You may take it as another rule that when, at last, human beings show signs of dying out, no other creature will extend a paw (爪) to postpone our departure. On the contrary, we will be hurried out.
Life seems to have grown too tough for black robins. I leave you to judge whether we should try to do anything about it.
A Some creatures, certain small animals, insects and birds, will almost certainly outlast (比……長久)man, for they seem even more adaptable.
B Those that fail to meet the challenges will disappear early.
C Detailed studies are going on, and a public appeal for money has been made.
D Both represent orders in the classification of life.
E Is it any business of ours whether the black robin survives or dies out?
F These are the only black robins left in the world.
參考答案：
46 F這篇文章的主題是保護珍稀物種。文章第一段講到，離新西蘭不遠的一座島上生活著一些黑旅鶇，這些鳥已經(jīng)不多了，1967年時還有50多只，1977年的時候還剩不到10只。選項F的意思是：這是世界上僅存的黑旅鶇了。邏輯上講，這兩句話的意思是講得通的，these就指前面的black robins，故答案為F。
47 C第二段第一句說，人們正采取一些積極的辦法來保護這種鳥類。采取什么辦法呢?選項C說，一方面詳細(xì)的研究工作正在進行，另一方面人們已經(jīng)募集了許多錢來從事保護工作。選項C正是對本段第一句的說明或解釋，故選項C為正確答案。
48 E選項E是一個問句，第三段中的第一句和最后一句也是問句。根據(jù)這個線索我們也可以做出正確選擇。選項E的意思是說，黑旅鶇消失或是保存下來關(guān)我們什么事嗎?把它放到原文中去，意思連起來順暢，故選E。
49 B文章第四段主要在談地球上的萬物都遵循優(yōu)勝劣汰，適者生存的規(guī)律。選項B就是這個意思。注意這里的“those”指代的是those creatures。
50 A這一段還在談適者生存的規(guī)律，其中提到地球上的人類可能比某些物種存活的長久，選項A則說的是，有些物種(一些小動物、昆蟲或鳥類)卻比人存活的更久。此旬意思可以和前面的意思連得上，所以選A
Dung to Death
Fields across Europe are contaminated with dangerous levels of the antibiotics (抗生素) given to farm animals. The drugs, which are in manure sprayed (噴射) onto fields as fertilizers (肥料), could be getting into our food and water, helping to create a new generation of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”.
The warning comes from a researcher in Switzerland who looked at levels of the drugs in farm slurry. ______(46)
Some 20, 000 tons of antibiotics are used in the European Union and the US each year. More than half are given to farm-animals to prevent disease and promote growth. ______(47)
Most researchers assumed that humans become infected with the resistant strains by eating contaminated meat. But far more of the drugs end up in manure than in meat products, says Stephen Mueller of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology in Dubendorf.______(48)
With millions of tons of animals manure (施肥于) spread onto fields of crops such as wheat and barley each year, this pathway seems an equally likely route for spreading resistance, he said. The drugs contaminate (污染) the crops, which are then eaten. ______(49)
Mueller is particularly concerned about a group of antibiotics called sulphonamides. _______ (50) His analysis found that Swiss farm manure contains a high percentage of sulphonamides; each hectare of field could be contaminated with up to 1 kilogram of the drugs. This concentration is high enough to trigger the development of resistance among bacteria. But vets are not treating the issue seriously.
There is growing concern at the extent to which drugs, including antibiotics, are polluting the environment. Many drugs given to humans are also excreted unchanged and are not broken down by conventional sewage (用污水灌溉) treatment.
A. They do not easily degrade or dissolve in water.
B. And manure contains especially high levels of bugs that are resistant to antibiotics, he says.
C. Animal antibiotics is still an area to which insufficient attention has been paid.
D. But recent research has found a direct link between the increased use of these farmyard
drugs and the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bugs that infect people.
E. His findings are particularly shocking because Switzerland is one of the few countries to have banned antibiotics as growth promoters in animals feed.
F. They could also be leaching into tap water pumped from rocks beneath fertilized fields.
參考答案：
46-50 EDBFA
