The crash was a major reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)decided to formally list the bird as threatened ."The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation ," said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as "endangered," a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats .But Ashe and others argued that the" threatened" tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservations approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action. and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken's habitat. Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat .The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat , USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years .And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let "states" remain in the driver 's seat for managing the species," Ashe said. Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric. Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court. Not surprisingly, doesn't go far enough. "The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction, " says biologist Jay Lininger. 26.The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is____. [A]its drastically decreased population [B]the underestimate of the grassland acreage [C]a desperate appeal from some biologists [D]the insistence of private landowners 【答案】A 【解析】本题属于细节题，考查了考生对文章首段中关于草原鸡数量的变化的理解。根据对首段首句当中生物学家预测的数量是2百万，而在首段末句出现but转折以及末句当中关于草原鸡现在真实的剩余数量只有2万2千只，都可以说明草原鸡的数量急剧的下降；另外，这道题还有一种做法是通过第二段首句的主语的作用，某些情况下，文章中间段落的首句主语起到承上启下的作用，那么中间段落首句主语就会有概括上一段的作用，本文第二段的首句：The crash was a main reason USFWS decided to formally list the bird as threatened. 就是对第26题题干和正确选项的同义替换，根据第二段第一句的主语：the crash (这种暴跌)，对应正确选项A。 27.The "threatened" tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it_____. [A]was a give-in to governmental pressure [B]would involve fewer agencies in action [C]granted less federal regulatory power [D]went against conservation policies 【答案】D 【解析】本题属于推理题，根据题干信息：the "Threatened"tag 令许多环境学家感到失望，定位到第二段的第三句，因此，原因应该出自第三句之后，而第四句和第五句中间有很明显的转折词but,因此答案定位在第五句，很多同学可能会问，这里并没有表示原因的词去与题干当中的in that进行对应，但是在我们的钻石卡的课程中提到，原文当中给出原因的并不一定是直接给出表示原因的连词或者介词，在本文第三句的but Ashe and others argued that the "threatened" tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservation approaches. 当中的gave这个词是"使得"的意思，A使得B如何如何，也就是A是B的原因，因此这道题的答案是D (违反了保护措施)。 28.It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they_____. [A]agree to pay a sum for compensation [B]volunteer to set up an equally big habitat [C]offer to support the WAFWA monitoring job [D]promise to raise funds for USFWS operations 【答案】B 【解析】本题属于推理题，根据题干当中给出的位置信息(第三段)以及表示条件与结果的逻辑关系的if这个信息，可以迅速定位到第三段的第一句，其中题干当中的if与文章当中的as long as 进行对应，而题干当中的表示结果的部分与as long as 之前进行对应，因此，正确选项应该出自as long as 之后，也就是原文当中的：they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. "签订一系列管理计划去恢复草原鸡的栖息地"，对应到的正确选项是B (volunteer to set up an equally big habitat 帮助搭建同样大小的栖息地)。 |