Question

Entire populations of American toads（蛤蟆）breed（繁殖）within the same few days at the same time each year, usually late April or early May. The toads hop to their breeding ponds after the ground has warmed and the first hard spring rain falls. To get there, many of the toads will cross roads that cut through their habitat. It will be a grand view of hopping toads as well as a disastrous killing by cars!

The toads are “slow in moving at that time of year―it’s still cool, they’ve been inactive―and they get killed” by cars when crossing roads, said Serrao, a naturalist. An April night five years ago, when Serrao went out to a country road to watch the moving of the toads, he counted 100 toads; 95 were hit by cars.

A similar story can be told for several other species of toads, frogs, crocodiles and turtles around the world.

The world’s amphibians are reducing, and road-killing is just one factor behind it. Other better-known causes of the decline include global warming, insecticides(杀虫剂), and the loss of wetlands.

Serrao says unless these animals get help crossing the road, their local populations will disappear.

Jackson, a biologist, said one way to help amphibians survive road crossings is to construct “amphibian tunnels” beneath the road. Jackson says tunnels should be a 0.6-meter-by-0.6-meter box, open at the top, and fitted with an iron grate（铁筛）to allow enough air and light into the tunnel. In addition, fences or walls should extend out from either side of a tunnel for about 30 meters, which guide amphibians toward the tunnels.

European countries have built amphibian tunnels for decades. Jackson led a team that installed the first such tunnel in America in 1987, which helped over 3/4 of the local amphibian population safely cross the road.

Jackson says that there are about a hundred amphibian tunnels in the US today, but many of them were not carefully designed and probably not working well because land developers wanted to save money.

 

62. When do American toads hop to breeding ponds?

A. Before the ground is warm.     

B. When the first heavy rain comes in spring.

C. After it is cool in sunny summer time.      

D. When it is early April.

63. Which is not the cause of the quick decline of the amphibian population?

A. The use of chemicals to kill insects.       B. The reduce of wetlands.

C. The development of car industry.          D. The green house effect of the earth.

64. Which of the following is true?

A. Toads are active when they begin their breeding migration.

B. A toad tunnel works effectively with a grate to let in air and light.

C. Amphibian tunnels were first built in America.

D. One hundred amphibian tunnels in the US work well

65. The passage is mainly about the protection of ________.

A. amphibians from road-killing    B. animal species from reducing

C. toads from breeding                D. toads, frogs, and turtles around the world

Answer 1

BCBA