Section A: Banked Cloze

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

The Extinction of Passenger Pigeons

The now extinct passenger pigeon has the dubious honor of being the last species anyone ever expected to disappear. At one point, there were more passenger pigeons than any other species of bird. Rough (26) ______ of their population went as high as five billion and they accounted for around 40 percent of the total indigenous bird population of North America in the early 19th century.

Despite their huge population, passenger pigeons were (27) ______ to human intrusion into their nesting territory. Their nests were shabby things and two weeks after the eggs (28) ______, the parent pigeons would abandon their offspring, leaving them to take care of themselves. People discovered that these baby pigeons were really tasty, and the adult birds were also quite (29) ______. First the Native Americans and then the transplanted Europeans came to consider the birds a great (30) ______.

By the 1850s, commercial trapping of passenger pigeons was proceeding at an (31) ______ pace. Hundreds of thousands of the birds were being harvested every day to be made into popular pigeon pies. In addition, large (32) ______ of the pigeons’ nesting territory were being cleared away for planting crops and creating pasture land. As numerous as the passenger pigeons were, they were not an (33) ______ resource. By the 1880s, it was noticed that the bird population had become seriously (34) ______. The last passenger pigeons killed in the wild were shot in 1899.

Eventually those billions and billions of birds shrank to a single remaining (35) ______, a passenger pigeon named Martha, who died on September 1, 1914, in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. In addition to being the end of an era, it was also the first time humans were able to exactly time the extinction of a species.

A) vulnerable

B) unprecedented

C) tracts

D) specimen

E) robust

F) refuge

G) plazas

H) infinite

I) hatched

J) expired

K) excerpts

L) estimates

M) edible

N) depleted

O) delicacy

Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)

Section A: Banked Cloze

26. L (estimates)。解析：空格被形容词 Rough 修饰，且作主语，其谓语动词为复数，需要填入复数名词。句意为“对它们数量的粗略‘估计’高达50亿”。因此填入 estimates。

27. A (vulnerable)。解析：空格在系动词 were 后，构成 be ______ to 结构，需要填入形容词。句意：尽管数量庞大，旅鸽对人类侵入其筑巢领地却很“脆弱/易受伤害”。be vulnerable to 是固定搭配。因此填入 vulnerable。

28. I (hatched)。解析：空格在从句主语 the eggs 后，需要填入谓语动词的过去式。句意：卵“孵化”两周后，父母就会抛弃后代。因此填入 hatched。

29. M (edible)。解析：空格在系动词 were 后，被副词 quite 修饰，需要填入形容词。前文提到幼鸟 tasty (美味)，并列结构 and 提示成年鸟也“可食用”。因此填入 edible。

30. O (delicacy)。解析：空格在 a great 后，需要填入单数名词。句意：人们开始将这些鸟视为一种不可多得的“美味/佳肴”。因此填入 delicacy。

31. B (unprecedented)。解析：空格在不定冠词 an 和名词 pace 之间，需要填入以元音音素开头的形容词。句意：商业诱捕以“史无前例的”速度进行。因此填入 unprecedented。

32. C (tracts)。解析：空格在形容词 large 后，of 前，需要名词复数（谓语是 were）。large tracts of land/territory 是固定搭配，意为“大片的土地”。句意：大片筑巢领地被清除。因此填入 tracts。

33. H (infinite)。解析：空格在不定冠词 an 后，需要元音音素开头的形容词。句意：尽管旅鸽数量众多，但它们并不是“无限的”资源。因此填入 infinite。

34. N (depleted)。解析：空格在系动词 had become seriously 后，需要过去分词或形容词作表语。句意：鸟类数量已变得严重“枯竭”。因此填入 depleted。

35. D (specimen)。解析：空格在形容词 remaining 后，需要填入单数名词，与同位语 a passenger pigeon 对应。句意：最终数十亿只鸟缩小到一个仅存的“标本/个体”。因此填入 specimen。

【核心搭配与亮点句型】

account for：占...比例，解释（accounted for around 40 percent）

be vulnerable to：对...脆弱，易受...伤害（were vulnerable to human intrusion）

take care of：照顾（take care of themselves）

at an unprecedented pace：以史无前例的速度

large tracts of：大片的（土地）（large tracts of the pigeons’ nesting territory）

全文翻译

现已灭绝的旅鸽背负着一种并不光彩的荣誉：它是最后一种人们从未想过会消失的物种。曾经，旅鸽的数量比任何其他鸟类都要多。对其种群的粗略估计高达五十亿只，它们占到了19世纪初北美本土鸟类总数的大约40%。

尽管数量庞大，旅鸽却极易受到人类入侵其筑巢领地的影响。它们的巢很简陋，而且产卵两周后，亲鸽就会抛弃幼鸽，让它们自生自灭。人们发现这些幼鸽非常美味，成年鸽也相当可口。首先是美洲原住民，然后是远渡而来的欧洲人，都开始将这种鸟视为一种极好的食物来源。

到19世纪50年代，商业性诱捕旅鸽正以惊人的速度进行。每天有数十万只鸟被捕获，制成流行的鸽子馅饼。此外，大片旅鸽的筑巢领地正被开垦，用于种植庄稼和开辟牧场。尽管旅鸽数量众多，但它们并非取之不尽的资源。到19世纪80年代，人们注意到旅鸽种群数量已经严重减少。最后一只在野外被猎杀的旅鸽于1899年被射杀。

最终，那数十亿只鸟缩减到了仅存的一只，一只名叫玛莎的旅鸽，于1914年9月1日在辛辛那提动物园的圈养中去世。这不仅是一个时代的终结，也是人类首次能够精确地记录一个物种灭绝的时间。