Filmmakers Michele dive into an eerie (怪誕的) world. The usually colorful corals are a ghostly white. Most of the fish, crabs, and other animals have disappeared. The reef is sick and dying.
Coral reefs are often called “the rainforests of the sea” because of their abundance of life forms. A great diversity of animals finds food and shelter in every crack and crevice.
Today’s reefs are about 10,000 years old. Found in sunny, shallow water in warm seas all over the world, reefs are made up of the hard shells of millions of corals. As corals live and die, they create a giant, rocky honeycomb. Only a thin top layer is living coral.
A reef grows only about as fast as your fingernails—three-quarters of an inch a year. But coral reefs are huge, and in time a healthy reef can be thousands of miles long.
Millions of people around the world rely on reef fish and other animals for food. And reefs provide protection from storms at sea. Without thousands of miles of reefs surrounding coastal areas, many beaches and even whole islands could be destroyed by the pounding of powerful ocean waves.
“Let’s say a grazing animal like the parrot fish is overfished,” Michele explains. “Without them, the kind of algae (海藻) that the fish feed on could grow like weeds and take over the reef. The competition for space and sunlight could then starve the coral.”
Nearly 27 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been lost or damaged. But there is hope. Many reefs around the world—including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the reefs off the Florida Keys in the United States—are now protected areas where scientists study how to keep reefs healthy. They determine how many and which kinds of fish can be taken for food without hurting the reef’s delicate balance.
There is hope, too, that people will learn to be good partners to the reefs. “We want our film to inspire people to help coral reefs,” says Michele. “For me, even though I may not go back to the South Pacific, just knowing the reefs are there and thriving brings a sense of contentment (滿足) to my spirit.”
小題1:What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?
| A．To describe what coral reefs are. |
| B．To tell people to protect coral reefs. |
| C．To introduce a film to people. |
| D．To ask people to visit coral reefs. |
小題2:From the passage we can infer that
.
| A．coral reefs grow very fast |
| B．there are few huge coral reefs |
| C．coral reefs appear mostly in deep water |
| D．it takes a long time to make a coral reef |
小題3:By mentioning the parrot fish, Michel wants to tell us
.
| A．coral reefs need sunlight to survive |
| B．the biggest enemies of reefs are weeds |
| C．the parrot fish feed on a kind of algae |
| D．it is easy to destroy coral reefs |
小題4:What is the author’s attitude towards the protection of reefs?
| A．Optimistic | B．Disappointed. | C．Uncertain. | D．Pessimistic (悲觀的). |
