剑桥雅思12阅读Test7Passage1本文主要介绍了加拉帕戈斯象龟的故事，包括它们生活的环境、种群数量的变化、人类的干预和保护措施。
文章带领读者了解了多刺仙人掌的森林、岛屿的特殊地貌，以及加拉帕戈斯象龟在此生活的独特适应性。然后文章描述了人类活动对象龟种群的影响，包括捕猎、栖息地破坏和引入外来物种的问题。接下来，文章介绍了一个位于伊莎贝拉岛的繁殖中心，并提到圈养繁殖计划面临的问题。最后，文章描述了一个重要的重新引入计划以及为此计划提供支持的合作伙伴。整篇文章展示了加拉帕戈斯象龟的保护和恢复的重要性。
| 段落A Forests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lava plains that separate the interior of the Galapagos island of lsabela from the Pacific Ocean. With its five distinct volcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape. Only the thick vegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-covered peak of Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. This inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise. Some time after the Galapagos’s birth, around five million years ago, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. As these ancestral tortoises settled on the individual islands, the different populations adapted to their unique environments, giving rise to at least 14 different subspecies. Island life agreed with them. In the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest and longest-living tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400 kilograms, occasionally exceeding 1.8 metres in length and living for more than a century. | 段落A 多刺仙人掌的森林覆盖着伊莎贝拉岛内陆与太平洋之间不平坦的熔岩平原。该岛有五座不同的火山，使得它看起来像一个月球表面一样。只有Sierra Negra山峰常年被云雾覆盖的山脚下的茂密植被为这片贫瘠的地区提供了喘息之处。这个荒凉的环境是巨大的加拉帕戈斯象龟的家园。大约在加拉帕戈斯群岛形成之后的五百万年左右，陆地南美洲的一个或多个象龟种群殖民了这些岛屿。随着这些祖先象龟在各个岛屿上定居，不同的种群适应了各自独特的环境，至少形成了14个不同的亚种。岛上的生活适合它们。在没有重要的捕食者的情况下，它们成长为地球上最大和寿命最长的龟，体重超过400公斤，偶尔超过1.8米长，寿命超过一个世纪。 |
| 段落B Before human arrival, the archipelago’s tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food, but the arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s saw this exploitation grow exponentially. Relatively immobile and capable of surviving for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages. Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high- grade oil. In total, an estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the 20th century. This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat to clear land for agriculture. They also introduced alien species — ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants — that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat. | 段落B 在人类到来之前，群岛上的象龟数量达到数十万只。从17世纪开始，海盗们用一些象龟作为食物，但是在1790年代鲸鱼船的到来使得这种开采呈指数增长。象龟相对不动，可以在数月内不进食也不喝水存活，所以它们被带上这些船只，成为长途航行中的食物供应。有时，它们的身体被加工成高级油。在20世纪之前，估计有20万只动物被带走。当定居者来到这些岛屿时，这种历史性的开采加剧了。他们捕猎象龟，破坏它们的栖息地以清理土地用于农业。他们还引入了外来物种，包括牛、猪、山羊、老鼠、狗、植物和蚂蚁，它们要么捕食象龟的蛋和幼龟，要么破坏或摧毁它们的栖息地。 |
| 段落C Today, only 11 of the original subspecies survive and of these, several are highly endangered. In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island’s tortoise populations. The centre’s captive-breeding programme proved to be extremely successful, and it eventually had to deal with an overpopulation problem. | 段落C 如今，原来的亚种中只有11个幸存下来，其中几个处于高度濒危状态。1989年，一个致力于保护该岛象龟种群的繁殖中心在伊莎贝拉岛的Puerto Villamil镇外开始建设。该中心的圈养繁殖计划非常成功，最终它不得不处理过度繁殖的问题。 |
段落D The problem was also a pressing one. Captive-bred tortoises can’t be reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least five years old and weigh at least 4.5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight — and their hardened shells — are sufficient to protect them from predators. But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport. | 段落D 这个问题也是一个迫切的问题。圈养繁殖的象龟直到至少五岁并且体重至少4.5公斤才能重新引入野外，此时它们的体型、重量和坚硬的壳足以保护它们免受捕食者的伤害。但是如果人们在这个时候等待太久，象龟最终会变得太大而无法运输。 |
段落E For years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with the tortoises carried on the backs of men over weeks of long, treacherous hikes along narrow trails. But in November 2010, the environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, a visiting private motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot gathered around a table in a small café in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. The aim was to use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding centre’s tortoises to various locations close to Sierra Negra. | 段落E 多年来，以小规模进行了回归努力，人们用背上的方式运送象龟，沿着狭窄的小径进行长达数周的艰险跋涉。但是在2010年11月，环保主义者和加拉帕戈斯国家公园联官戈弗雷·梅林、一位来访的私人游艇船长和一位直升机飞行员聚集在圣克鲁斯岛Puerto Ayora的一家小咖啡馆的桌子旁，商讨更宏大的重新引入计划。目标是使用直升机将繁殖中心的300只象龟运送到靠近Sierra Negra的各个地点。 |
段落F This unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-metre yacht White Cloud, who provided the Galapagos National Park with free use of their helicopter and its experienced pilot, as well as the logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. Originally an air ambulance, the yacht’s helicopter has a rear double door and a large internal space that’s well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 kilograms. This weight, together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, approached the helicopter’s maximum payload, and there were times when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter’s capabilities. During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport. Meanwhile, park wardens, dropped off ahead of time in remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and lava rocks. | 段落F 这项前所未有的努力得到了67米长游艇White Cloud的业主的支持，他们为加拉帕戈斯国家公园提供了直升机及其经验丰富的飞行员的免费使用，以及游艇、船长和船员的后勤支持。最初作为救护直升机，这艘游艇的直升机有后部双门和一个大的内部空间，非常适合运输货物，因此设计了一个定制的容器，可容纳多达33只象龟，总重约150公斤。这个重量加上燃料、飞行员和四名机组人员的重量接近直升机的最大有效载荷，有时明显接近直升机的极限。在为期三天的时间里，圈养中心的一组志愿者日夜工作，为运输准备年轻的象龟。与此同时，公园护林员提前在偏远地区登陆点清理了茂密的灌木、仙人掌和熔岩石头内的着陆场。 |
段落G Upon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their ancestral territory, investigating their new surroundings and feeding on the vegetation. Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species. | 段落G 释放后，幼龟迅速分布到它们的祖先领土上，探索新的环境并以植物为食。最终，一只微小的象龟遇到了一只已经在岛上缓慢行走了约一百年的巨大象龟。两者并肩站立，象征着古老物种的再生。 |
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