The smallest animal with a backbone（脊椎） known to science, a fish from the carp family, has been discovered in the peat swamps （沼澤）of Indonesia. Mature（成熟的）females of the fish species （種類）Paedocypris reach just 7.9mm in length.

　 The species was discovered in the highly acidic (酸性的) peat swamps of the Indonesian island of Sumatra by a team led by Ralf Britz, a zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

　 “This is one of the strangest fish that I’ve seen in my whole career,” Dr Britz said. “It’s tiny, and it lives in acid. I hope that we’ll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.”

　 The species lives in dark tea-colored swamp waters, which are 100 times more acidic than rainwater. Although these swamps were once thought to be inhabited by very few animals, recent research has shown that they are home to a highly different range of species that occur nowhere else.

　 The peat swamps were damaged by forest fires in 1997, and are also threatened by agriculture. The scientists behind the discovery said that several populations of Paedocypris had already been lost.

　 “Many of the peat swamps we surveyed （調(diào)查）throughout South-East Asia no longer exist,” Dr Britz said. “Populations of all the miniature（微型的） fish of peat swamps have decreased or disappeared.”

　 Details of the discovery are published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B.

1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

　　 A. The Strangest Fish

　　 B. Acidic Peat Swamps

　　 C. Strange Species

　 D. The Smallest Backbone Animal

2. Where does the smallest backbone animal live?

　　 A. It lives in highly acidic rainwater.

　　 B. The species lives in the acidic waters of dark tea-coloured swamps.

　　 C. It was put in the Natural History Museum in London.

　　 D. Its habitat disappears completely.

3. Dr Britz’s words imply____.

　　 A. the habitat will be more after a period of time

　　 B. many peat swamps that they surveyed have already survived

　　 C. he wants to find out more about them before their habitat disappears

　　 D. he wants to have a further research

4. According to the passage, the forest fires in 1997 have led to the fact that ____.

　　 A. many places where these animals lived have been damaged

　　 B. the population of the species has increased

　　 C. there are many animals in the acidic peat swamps today

　　 D. agriculture doesn’t affect the living space of these animals

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：2012-2013學年上海市金山中學高二下學期期中考試英語卷（帶解析） 題型：填空題


A. Independence leading to family breakup
B. Women’s easy and convenient life in USA
C. No marriage for many people nowadays
D. Average American families getting small
E. Full freedom for young women
F. Divorce--- a social problem in USA
【小題1】_________
Marriage, like other social instructions, is showing the strains of modern life. While more Americans are getting married today than ever before, the divorce rate is also disturbingly on the rise (one divorce for every three marriages last year). Why should this be so, and what, if anything, can we do to reverse this trend?
【小題2】__________
For most people, life is easier and more comfortable than ever before. Convenience foods from the supermarket simplify shopping and cooking. Household appliances like the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine have made housework much easier to do. Released from these household chores, many wives have found jobs outside the home. Women are achieving economic independence.
【小題3】_______
Families, too, are simpler today. In American, it is not customary for parents to live with their married children. With our greater mobility, relatives have scattered, the parents retiring to Florida or Arizona and the young people, after they marry, going wherever their jobs or their interests take them.
【小題4】________
Young adult women have new freedom, too. While attending college, they often live away from home, sometimes far from their parents or their relatives. After college, they move to the city, find a job, and set up “bachelor” apartment. This is the era of women’s liberation.
【小題5】________
But all this freedom and affluence have had an unforeseen and in some respects a devastating effect on marriage. Men and women, no longer dependent on each other for food and maintenance, find it harder to accept the responsibilities and restraints or endurance the misunderstandings of married life. When happiness becomes misery, many couples decide to terminate their marriage through divorce. On the other hand, there is a growing trend today for couples in trouble to try to save their marriage by consulting a professional counselor. He listens patiently while they talk, knowing that only through self-understanding can they solve their problems.

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