拯救棱皮龜

呂品

Save a leatherback turtle

棱皮龜是龜鱉目中體型最大者，頭較大，頸、尾較短，四肢呈槳狀，無爪，前肢特別發(fā)達。它的游泳速度快且能力極強，主要棲息于熱帶海域的中上層，分布在大西洋和太平洋海域。

1 Every year， massive leatherback turtles cross both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to nest and feed， averaging about 10，000 miles.

2 Named for their leather?like shells， the massive sea turtles are one of the migratory animals in the world. Coastal residents in Massachusetts expect to see these creatures in their waters， but when an adult male leatherback was stranded （使擱淺） on a mudflat along the Herring River on Cape Cod， locals knew something was wrong.

3 Concerned citizens reported the turtle to Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary， which dispatched a team of volunteers to keep the animal from moving farther inland with the tide. “We wanted to keep it from being stranded somewhere we couldnt rescue it，” Director Emeritus Bob Prescott said. “If it got away， there was no telling where it would be stranded next.”

4 The turtle weighed about 600 pounds and was about 5 feet long！ They called in more animal rescuers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare， asking them to bring special heavy?duty transport carts， mats， and stretchers which are typically used to move beached dolphins and small whales. Together， they relocated the animal to Herring Cove in Provincetown.

5 Once he was safely in the cove， staff from New England Aquariums Rescue and Animal Health gave the turtle a health checkup. “Our initial evaluation indicated that the turtle was very strong and in good body condition， and this helped us to decide that he was a good candidate for release，” said Dr Charles Innis， director of animal health at the New England Aquarium.

6 Before getting the turtle back to ocean home， Charles gave him some vitamins and mild pain reliever injections and attached small ID tags and a microchip so they can track him by using satellites. Staff from the aquarium plan to track the turtle to make sure he survives for the next 30 days; then they will monitor his migration patterns for the next five to ten years.

Detail 1. How did the locals feel about the turtle when he was in trouble？

A. Surprised.

B. Shocked.

C. Worried.

D. Disappointed.

Vocabulary 2. What does the underlined word “dispatched” probably mean in paragraph 3？

A. Sent.

B. Warned.

C. Expected.

D. Helped.

Gist 3. Whats the main idea of paragraph 4？

A. The turtle was big and long.

B. Carts were used to move the turtle.

C. How did animal rescuers save the big turtle.

D. Rescuing a turtle of this size wasnt easy.

Detail 4. What can we know about the turtle from the text？

A. He would move farther inland.

B. He would be monitored for at least 10 years.

C. He was strong and the aquarium let him go after the checkup.

D. He was attached a microchip by concerned citizens.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentences in the text

1. Named for their leather?like shells， the massive sea turtles are one of the migratory animals in the world. 這種巨型海龜因其皮質外殼而得名，是世界上有遷徙習慣的動物之一。

【點石成金】句中的Named是過去分詞作狀語，表被動，主句是the massive sea turtles are one of the migratory animals in the world。

2. They called in more animal rescuers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare， asking them to bring special heavy?duty transport carts， mats， and stretchers which are typically used to move beached dolphins and small whales. 他們從國際愛護動物基金會叫來了更多的動物救援人員，要求他們帶上專用重型運輸車、墊子和擔架，這些通常是用來運送擱淺的海豚和小鯨魚的。

【點石成金】asking...and stretchers在句中作伴隨狀語，和主句的謂語動詞的動作幾乎是同時發(fā)生的；which在從句中作主語，引導定語從句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

get away 離開；脫身

call in 召來；叫來

special heavy?duty transport cart 專用重型運輸車

be used to do 被用來做……

health checkup 健康檢查

get back 返回；回家

in the cove 在海灣