高中英语外刊时文阅读训练
专题21
全球鼠岛之战
Ⅰ.文章话题导入
Ⅱ.外刊原文阅读
Ш.阅读理解专项针对性练习
Ⅳ.话题高频词汇强化训练
Ⅴ.参考译文赏析
【话题·导语】
1959 年，贪婪的入侵老鼠被指责在新西兰的玛丽亚岛杀死了数百只白脸风暴海燕，这是一种小型海
鸟。为了保护鸟类，环保主义者在这座2 公顷的岛屿上传播了老鼠药，该岛也被称为Ruapuke。他们并不
打算消灭老鼠，但5 年后，他们惊喜地发现啮齿动物已经消失了，海鸟是安全的。
【原文·外刊阅读】
THE GLOBAL WAR ON ISLAND RATS
（文章来源：France 24）
In 1959, voracious invasive rats were blamed
for killing hundreds of white-faced storm petrels, a
small seabird, on New Zealand’s Maria Island. In
part to protect the birds, conservationists spread rat
poison on the 2-hectare island, also known as
Ruapuke. They didn’t intend to eradicate the rats
but 5 years later were pleasantly surprised to
discover that the rodents had disappeared, and the seabirds were safe..
Today, that pioneering effort and others have helped inspire a global push to eradicate rats from
many other islands. Over the past half-century, people have made 820 attempts on 666 islands, according
to a database maintained by the nonprofit Island Conservation. Some 88% have succeeded, says James
Russell, a conservation biologist at the University of Auckland. As a result, boobies, shearwaters, petrels,
and other seabirds have recovered, and island creatures from lizards to stick insects have reclaimed their
homes.
That’s good news for conservationists, because although rats are considered the ultimate urban pest
they may do their worst damage when they invade islands, where birds and other animals, unused to
these predators, can be especially vulnerable to extinction. Although the world’s 465,000 islands
comprise just 5.3% of Earth’s land, island-dwelling species account for an estimated 75% of all known
bird, mammal, amphibian, and reptile extinctions.
Three rat species—black or ship (Rattus rattus), brown or Norway (R. norvegicus), and Pacific (R.
exulans)—are the most common targets of eradication programs, according to Island Conservation. Once
they reach an island, often as stowaways on ships, the rodents can quickly wreak havoc. Maturing in a
little more than a month, one female and her offspring can explode to hundreds or thousands of rats in a
year.
Sometimes, it takes several tries to banish rats. Five years ago, for example, a decade after North
Seymour Island in the Galápagos was declared rat free, conservationists had to launch a second
eradication effort when rats reappeared. Reinvasions seem to be more likely on islands that are near
surviving rat populations (some of these animals can swim 1 kilometer or more) or have human residents,
increasing the odds of rats returning with a ship or cargo.
When eradication fails, it’s often because rats don’t get a lethal dose of poison, studies suggest.
On tropical islands, where rats reproduce year-round and have essentially unlimited food, eliminating them
can require intensive campaigns.
Through 2019, the median size of targeted islands was 1700 hectares, according to data published in
2022 in Scientific Reports. But increasingly eradication efforts are tackling bigger islands. One has
targeted the uninhabitated Late Island in Tonga, which covers 11,600 hectares. Eradicators have also gone
to work on Floreana, a 17,900-hectare island in the Galápagos that has human residents. There, rats
consumed so many giant tortoise eggs that only very old reptiles remained.
Those islands, however, are far smaller than the record holder: South Georgia, a more than 100,000-
hectare island off Antarctica. A 10-year, $13.5 million effort to oust rats used helicopters to drop some
3000 tons of bait.
Recently, New Zealand embarked on the most ambitious eradication plan ever: to make the entire
island nation free of invasive predators by 2050. The three common exotic rat species, along with ferrets
and possums, are targets of the effort, which could benefit native frogs, bats, and birds.
The payoff from such campaigns could be enormous. A 2019 study published in PLOS ONE found
that eradicating rats and other invasive mammals on just 169 islands over the next decade could improve
the survival prospects of 111, or 9.4%, of Earth’s most threatened island vertebrates.
【原创·阅读理解】
1.What was the initial purpose of spreading rat poison on Maria Island in 1959?
A. To completely eliminate all rats.
B. To protect the white-faced storm petrels.
C. To study rat behavior.
D. To attract more seabirds.
【答案】 B
【解析】 文章提到，传播毒药的初衷是为了保护白脸风暴海雀，结果意外消灭了老鼠。
2.How many attempts have been made to eradicate rats from islands, according to Island Conservation?
A. 500 attempts on 400 islands.
B. 820 attempts on 666 islands.
C. 1,000 attempts on 800 islands.
D. 700 attempts on 600 islands.
【答案】 B
【解析】 根据非营利组织Island Conservation 的数据，已在666 个岛屿上进行820 次灭鼠尝试。
3.What percentage of island eradication attempts have been successful?
A. 50%
B. 70%
C. 88%
D. 95%
【答案】 C
【解析】 文章提到，88%的灭鼠尝试成功，这使得多种海鸟和岛屿生物得以恢复。
4.What is a significant challenge in eradicating rats from tropical islands?
A. The size of the islands.
B. Year-round reproduction and unlimited food.
C. Lack of funding.
D. Presence of other predators.
【答案】 B
【解析】 研究表明，热带岛屿上老鼠全年繁殖且食物丰富，这使得消灭它们成为挑战。
5.What is New Zealand's ambitious plan regarding invasive predators by 2050?
A. To eliminate all species of rats.
B. To eradicate invasive predators from the entire nation.
C. To increase the population of native species.
D. To promote tourism on uninhabited islands.
【答案】 B
【解析】 新西兰的计划是到2050 年使整个国家免于入侵捕食者的威胁，包括常见的三种外来老鼠。
【高频词汇训练】
1．A lot of soldiers devote themselves to defending the country invasion (侵略). （用适当的词填空）
【答案】from/against
【详解】考查介词。句意：许多士兵献身于保卫国家不受侵略。defend sb. from/against sth.防卫……以免
于……。根据句意，故填from/against。
2．Jackson’s mother is a biologist. It comes no surprise that he knows much about botanical
knowledge. （用适当的词填空）
【答案】as
【详解】考查固定搭配。句意：Jackson 的母亲是一位生物学家。他对植物学知识了解很多，这并不令人惊
讶。comes as no surprise 为固定搭配，意为“并不令人惊讶”。故填as。
3．The (explode) had left a hole more than forty miles across-much too huge to be seen from anywhere at
ground level. (所给词的适当形式填空)
【答案】explosion
【详解】考查名词。句意：爆炸留下了一个40 多英里宽的洞——太大了，从地面上的任何地方都看不见。
作主语，应用名词explosion，不可数。故填explosion。
4．The population of China is larger than of American. （用适当的词填空）
【答案】that
【详解】考查代词。句意：中国的人口比美国的人口多。空处代指前面有定冠词的单数名词population，
表示与其同类，应用代词that。故填that。
5．The government is determined to spend the first quater (tackle)inflation(通货膨胀). (所给词的适当
形式填空)
【答案】tackling/ackling
【详解】考查非谓语动词。句意：政府决心在第一季度对付通货膨胀。spend some time (in) doing sth.“花费
时间做某事”，用动名词作宾语，故填tackling。
6．It was this campaign that (establish) the paper's reputation. (所给词的适当形式填空)
【答案】established
【详解】考查强调句型中的谓语动词使用。句意：正是这次运动确立了这家报纸的声誉。分析句子结构可
知，这是一个强调句型，强调的是this campaign 这个主语。在强调句型中，it was 和that 构成固定结构，而
真正的谓语动词应放在that 之后。由于句子描述的是过去的事实，谓语动词应使用一般过去时态。因此，
establish 的过去式形式为established。故填established。
7．Bees, bats and rodents, to n
but a few, can see ultraviolet light.（根据首字母单词拼写）
【答案】name/ame
【详解】考查动词。句意：简单地列举几个，蜜蜂、蝙蝠和啮齿动物，都能看到紫外线。从句考查不定式
短语to name but a few，意为“简单地列举几个”，作插入语。给设空处应填及物动词name，意为“叫
出……的名字”。故填name。
8．These staff have responsibility for u the database. （根据首字母单词拼写）
【答案】updating/pdating
【详解】考查动名词。句意：这些工作人员负责更新数据库。由句意和首字母提示可知，update 更新，是
动词，此处作介词for 的宾语，应用动名词形式。故填updating。
9．He (提交) his proposal for urban development to the city council at the conference. （根据汉语提
示单词拼写）
【答案】submitted
【详解】考查动词时态。句意：他在会议上向市议会提出了城市发展的建议。根据汉语提示“提交”可知，
应填动词submit 作谓语，此处陈述过去发生的事情，使用一般过去时。故填submitted。
10．An activity is beginning to try to save a species of crocodile from e (灭绝). (根据中英文提示
拼写单词)
【答案】extinction/xtinction
【详解】考查名词。句意：一项试图拯救一种鳄鱼免于灭绝的活动正在开始。根据汉语提示可知，空处填
不可数名词extinction 作宾语。故填extinction。
【参考译文】
全球鼠岛之战
1959 年，贪婪的入侵老鼠被指责在新西兰的玛丽亚岛杀死了数百只白脸风暴海燕，这是一种小型海
鸟。为了保护鸟类，环保主义者在这座2 公顷的岛屿上传播了老鼠药，该岛也被称为Ruapuke。他们并不
打算消灭老鼠，但5 年后，他们惊喜地发现啮齿动物已经消失了，海鸟是安全的。。
今天，这一开创性的努力和其他努力帮助激发了全球根除许多其他岛屿老鼠的努力。根据非营利组织
岛屿保护组织维护的数据库，在过去的半个世纪里，人们在666 个岛屿上进行了820 次尝试。奥克兰大学
的保护生物学家詹姆斯·拉塞尔说，大约88%的人取得了成功。因此，鲣鸟、海鸥、海燕和其他海鸟已经恢
复，从蜥蜴到竹节虫的岛屿生物也重新夺回了家园。
这对环保主义者来说是个好消息，因为尽管老鼠被认为是最终的城市害虫，但当它们入侵岛屿时，它
们可能会造成最严重的破坏，因为不习惯这些捕食者的鸟类和其他动物可能特别容易灭绝。尽管世界上
46.5 万个岛屿仅占地球陆地的5.3%，但岛屿物种估计占所有已知鸟类、哺乳动物、两栖动物和爬行动物灭
绝的75%。
据岛屿保护组织称，三种老鼠——黑色或船形（Rattus Rattus）、棕色或挪威（R.norvegicus）和太平
洋（R.exolans）——是根除计划最常见的目标。一旦它们到达一个岛屿，通常是作为船上的偷渡者，这些
啮齿动物就会迅速造成严重破坏。在一个多月的时间里，一只雌性和她的后代可以在一年内爆炸成数百或
数千只老鼠。
有时，需要多次尝试才能驱逐老鼠。例如，五年前，加拉帕戈斯群岛北西摩岛宣布无鼠十年后，当老
鼠再次出现时，环保主义者不得不发起第二次根除行动。再入侵似乎更有可能发生在靠近幸存老鼠种群
（其中一些动物可以游1 公里或更远）或有人类居民的岛屿上，这增加了老鼠带着船或货物返回的几率。
研究表明，当根除失败时，通常是因为老鼠没有得到致命剂量的毒药。在热带岛屿上，老鼠全年繁
殖，食物基本上是无限的，消灭它们可能需要密集的运动。
根据2022 年发表在《科学报告》上的数据，到2019 年，目标岛屿的中位面积为1700 公顷。但越来越
多的根除工作正在针对更大的岛屿。其中一个目标是汤加无人居住的后岛，占地11600 公顷。根除者还前
往加拉帕戈斯群岛占地17900 公顷的弗洛里安娜岛进行工作，该岛有人类居民。在那里，老鼠吃掉了太多
的巨龟蛋，只剩下非常古老的爬行动物。
然而，这些岛屿远小于记录保持者：南乔治亚岛，南极洲外一个面积超过10 万公顷的岛屿。一项为期
10 年、耗资1350 万美元的灭鼠工作使用直升机投放了约3000 吨诱饵。
最近，新西兰开始了有史以来最雄心勃勃的根除计划：到2050 年，使整个岛国摆脱入侵性捕食者。这
三种常见的外来老鼠物种，以及雪貂和负鼠，是这项工作的目标，这可能会使当地的青蛙、蝙蝠和鸟类受
益。
这些活动的回报可能是巨大的。2019 年发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》上的一项研究发现，在未来
十年内，仅在169 个岛屿上消灭老鼠和其他入侵哺乳动物，就可以改善111 种（9.4%）地球上受威胁最严
重的岛屿脊椎动物的生存前景。
