【英语阅读】时文拓展阅读54鸟类的成长周期为何如此不同

1、时文阅读|鸟类的成长周期为何如此不同？鸟类的成长周期不尽相同，一只信天翁从胚胎发育到成年大约需要一 年的时间，而一只典型的英国花园鸣鸟只需要一个多月，面对这样的差异，你的脑海里是否有很多问号？快跟 着科学家们去解开心中的疑惑吧！ 阅读短文并回答问题Ateam of scientists havestudied thousands of species of birds to understand why there is so much diversity in the length of time they take to grow from a fertilized （受精的） egg i

2、nto anindependent adult. The study, published in Nature Communications, is the first oneto consider theimportance of lifestyle and environmental factors alongside evolutionary history and body size to explain the variation.All organisms face a trade-off between reproducing and surviving and they sol

3、ve this problem in different ways. The team found that migratory birdsdevelop much quicker, which may ensure they are ready to return to their winter habitats at the end of eachsummer.Findings showed that birds that breed and live in safer environments with fewer predators typically took longer to d

4、evelop, possibly because they can afford to spend longersince there is no danger or need to leave.They also found that bird species with a “live fast die young “ strategy develop quicker, allowing them to maximizethe number of offspring （后代）they can produce in the short timeavailable.As expected, th

5、e research showedthat bigger birds took longer to develop but even among birds of a similar size there was variation in development times.Dr.Chris Cooney, from the University of Sheffield s Departmerof Animaland Plant Sciences and leadauthor of the research, said, amountof time it takes for a fertil

6、ized egg to develop into a fully grown adult varies hugely across the animal kingdom. For instance, it takes an elephant almost 10 years to reach independence, whereasa fruit fly is fully grown after only a matter of days. This extraordinary diversity is also prevalentwithin birds, where albatrosses

7、can take almost a year to develop from an embryo（月丕胎）to an independent adult, but a typical UK garden songbird takes little more than a month. We found that certain aspectsof a species lifestyle and environment are important in explaininghow long they take to develop. ”Thestudy on birds gives scient

8、istssome clues about the type of factors that may beimportant in other species. However, it may be that different factors are important for determining development length in other animal groups. Therefore, the next step is to address these questions using data that covers the whole scaleof the anima

9、l kingdom- from fish to mammals to insects to gain an even broader insight into the factors shaping these fundamental differences across species.I.Whatdoes the study mainly focus on?A.The number of bird species.bird habitats.C.The life expectancyof birds.length of birds.2. What is paragraph 2 mainly

10、 about?The result of the study.the study.C. The process of the research.of the research.B.The changes ofD.The developmentThe method ofD. The importanceWhat can we know from Dr.Chris Cooney s words?A.The development times vary with the species.B.Size determines the speed obirds development.C.Animals

11、living in the same place develop at the same rate.D.Bigger animals always grow more slowly than smaller ones.What does the underlined word“ prevalent ” in paragraph4 probablymean?A.Rare. B.Common. C.Special D.Strange.Why do scientists use data involved in the animal kingdom?To study the cause of the

12、 species diversity.To show the basic differences among species.C.To explore the evolutionary history of animals.D. To figure out other factors in development length.【参考答案】DAABD单词学习trade-off n.权衡There is a trade-off between the benefits of the drug and the risk of side effects.在这种药的疗效和副作用之间有个权衡利弊的问题。

13、migratoryadj. 迁徙的 migratory birds 候鸟maximizev.使增加到最大限度tomaximize efficiency/fitness/profits最大限度地提高效率/增强体质/增 加利润whereasconj.然而；而Some of the studies show positive results, whereas others do nt些研 究结果令人满意，然而其他的则不然。albatrossn.信天翁长难句分析Ateam of scientists havestudied thousands of species of birds to unders

14、tand why there is so much diversity in the lengthof time they take to grow from a fertilizedegg into an independent adult.【分析】 句子主干为 “Scientistshave studied birds. to understand why there is into an independent acfeli 的状语；其中 “why there is so much into an independent adullunderstand ”的宾语从句；“they tak咙

15、后置定语，修饰先行词“time;” to grow from a fertilizedegg into an independent adu的动词不定式作目的状语，修饰“time。【翻译】科学家小组研究了数千种鸟类，以了解它们从受精卵发育到独立的成年期所需时间如此之长的原因。Findings showed that birds that breed and live in safer environmentswith fewer predators typically took longer todevelop, possibly because they can afford to spen

16、d longer since there isno danger or need to leave.【分析】 句子主语为 “Findings。” “that birds that breed need to leave 为 “showed勺宾语从句，其中 “that breed and livein safer environments with fewer predators 为定语从句修饰先行词“ birds, “ because they can afford to spend longersince there is no danger or need to leav的原因状语从向。【

17、翻译】研究结果表明，在捕食者较少的更安全的环境中繁殖和生活的鸟类通常需要更长的发育时间，这可能是因为它们有足够长的时间成体，因为它们不用面临危险或逃跑。Therefore, the next step is to address these questions using data thatcovers the whole scaleof the animal kingdomfrom fish to mammals to insectsto gain an even broader insight intothe factors shaping these fundamental differ

18、encesacross species.【分析】 句子主语为 “The next step to address these questio的不 ” 定式作表语；“ using data that covers the wholescaleof the animalkingdom 为非谓语动词作状语，其中 “that covers the whole scaleof the animal kingdom为定语从句，修饰“data 两个破折号中间的内容是 对 “the animal kingdom!勺解释说明；“to gain an even broader acrossspecies为 目 的状语， 其中 ashaping these f