同等學(xué)力英語(yǔ)閱讀及翻譯專項(xiàng)練習(xí) 8

Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they've been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that split from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former territory.

India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile sanctuary ( 保護(hù)區(qū) ). It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest — and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will hide in the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid — lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Gir's lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. It's odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold — too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions move about near the boundary of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. That's one reason India is creating a second sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural disasters. In 1994 a serious disease killed more than a third of Africa's Serengeti lions — a thousand animals — a fate that could easily happen to Gir's cats. These lions are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals. “If you do a DNA test, Asiatic lions actually look like identical twins,” says Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist ( 基因?qū)W家 ) who has studied them. Yet the dangers are hidden, and you wouldn't suspect them by watching these lords of the forest. The lions display vitality, and no small measure of charm.

Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when it's time to eat, meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs. For a mother and her baby lion sharing a deer, or a young male eating an antelope ( 羚羊 ), there's no need to fight for a cut of the kill. The animals they hunt for food are generally smaller in Gir than those in Africa , and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well.

1. In the first paragraph, the author tells us that Asiatic lions ______.

A. have killed off other lions B. have descended from African lions

C. used to span vast sections of the globe D. have lost their habitat

2. What impressed the author most when he went to watch the lions in the Gir Forest ?

A. Their friendliness. B. Their size.

C. Their intimacy. D. Their vitality.

3. What does the sentence “…meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs” mean?

A. The lions do not show intimacy among them any more.

B. The lions may not need to fight for food.

C. Food is not readily available in that region.

D. Meals can be obtained only with great effort.

4. The lions in the Gir Forest are especially vulnerable to disease because ______.

A. they have descended from a dozen or so ancestors

B. they are smaller than the African lions

C. they do not have enough to eat

D. they are physically weaker than the African lions

5. One of the reasons why India is creating a secondary sanctuary for the Asiatic lions is that ______.

A. the present sanctuary is not large enough

B. scientists want to do more research on them

C. they have killed many people

D. the forest is shrinking in size

大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為，獅子其實(shí)是非洲動(dòng)物，但這只是因?yàn)閹缀跗渌�任何地方的獅子都被趕盡殺絕的緣故。一萬(wàn)年以前，獅子遍布于世界上的絕大多數(shù)地區(qū)。如今，獅子的棲息地只是以前的一小部分，亞洲獅子——可能是十萬(wàn)年前從非洲獅子中分離出來(lái)的一個(gè)亞種，堅(jiān)守著一塊幾乎不可能再小的以前領(lǐng)地。

印度是大約三百只這樣的獅子的管理地——這些獅子主要生活于一個(gè)五百六十平方英里的保護(hù)區(qū)內(nèi)，印度引以為榮。我花了一年半的時(shí)間才得到許可去探索整個(gè)格森林——根本沒(méi)有時(shí)間了解為什么這些獅子成為高貴和偉大的象征。老虎可能會(huì)隱藏在森林里讓你看不見(jiàn)，但獅子卻堅(jiān)守自己的領(lǐng)地，充滿好奇，無(wú)所畏懼——威武勇猛。但是，當(dāng)我靠得太近時(shí)，格森林的獅子就以微妙的方式提醒我；在我呆在森林的三個(gè)月里，它們只容許我瞥了一眼它們的生活。認(rèn)為它們面臨絕種的危險(xiǎn)的想法真是奇怪；格森林能夠容納多少獅子，就有多少獅子生活于其中——事實(shí)上，有太多的獅子。由于缺少領(lǐng)地，獅子便在森林邊緣出沒(méi)，甚至完全離開(kāi)森林，經(jīng)常與人類發(fā)生沖突。這就是印度正在興建第二個(gè)保護(hù)區(qū)的原因之一。還有一些其他緊迫的原因：疾病的爆發(fā)或自然災(zāi)害。一九九四年，一場(chǎng)嚴(yán)重的疾病奪去了非洲賽溫葛蒂超過(guò)三分之一的獅子的性命——一千只，這種命運(yùn)可能很容易發(fā)生在格森林的貓科動(dòng)物身上。這些獅子尤其容易患病，因?yàn)樗鼈兪鞘畞?lái)只獅子的后裔�！叭绻�你給亞洲獅子做一個(gè) DNA 測(cè)試，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們其實(shí)看起來(lái)就像長(zhǎng)相一樣的雙胞胎，”史蒂芬·奧·布瑞恩說(shuō)，他是一名研究這些獅子的基因?qū)W家。不過(guò)，危險(xiǎn)是潛在的，你不可能通過(guò)觀察這些森林主宰者而猜測(cè)危險(xiǎn)。獅子展示了活力，也展示了非常的魅力。

在進(jìn)食時(shí)，盡管在打鬧中所表現(xiàn)出的溫順的愛(ài)撫行為消失了，但是，格森林中的進(jìn)食肯定不是瘋狂的行為。對(duì)于一只母獅子與其幼子共享一只鹿，或是與一只年輕的雄獅享用一只羚羊，它們沒(méi)有必要為了分食獵物而爭(zhēng)斗。格森林中獅子捕食的動(dòng)物一般比非洲獅子捕食的動(dòng)物小，狩獵的群體也往往比非洲獅子小。

參考答案 ： 1 ． B 2 ． B 3 ． B 4 ． A 5 ． A