Conversation Two
W: Hi, Bill, how is it going?
M: Oh, hi, Jan. I'm OK. How about you?
W: You can probably tell just by looking at me. I've been really busy. Hey, what are you reading?
M: A pretty interesting article. My biology professor assigned it, and I thought I just look it over. But I got really involved in it. It's about endangered species.
W: That sounds pretty interesting. (5) I'm getting frustrated with the two research papers I'm struggling with.
M: Oh?
W: (8) And can you believe they are both due on the same day?
M: That's tough.
W: I'll get through it. So what's this you are reading?
M: Well, (6) it's basically about the choices conservationists faced with. You know, on these days when funding is so hard to come by.
W: Wait a minute. Is the focus on biology or economics?
M: Both. (6) Conservationists don't have enough funding to save every endangered species in the world, so they have to decide based on what would be lost if a species became extinct.
W: Can you give me an example of what you mean?
M: Take for instance, two animals, the spotted owl and the tailed toad. (7) The article says the toad is unique. It has no relatives. But there are a lot of varieties of owls.
W: (7) So, if that toad became extinct, we'd lose an important link in the chain of evolution, right?
M: (7) Exactly. But that isn't so for the owl. So for conservationists, it might be clear choice of which animal to save.
W: I see. I am glad I don't have to make that kind of decision. Aren't you?
5.Why is the woman so busy?
6.What problems do conservationists have?
7.What can be inferred about the tailed toad?
8.What can we learn from the conversation?
对话二
女:嗨,比尔,你最近怎么样?
男:哦,还,简 。我很好 。你呢?
女:你看看我的样子就应该知道了 。我最近非常忙 。你在读什么?
男:一篇很有趣的文章 。我的生物学教授给我们安排的任务,刚开始我只想浏览一遍 。但是后来我被它吸引了 。是关于濒危物种的文章 。
女:听上去很有意思 。我对我那两篇令人头疼的研究论文都泄气了 。
男:哦?
女:你知道吗,它们两个竟然要在同一天上交 。
男:这么惨 。
女:我会挺过去的 。你读的文章是说什么的?
男:主要是关于环保人士面临的选择 。你也知道,这年头资金很难到位 。
女:等一下 。它到底是讲生物的还是讲经济的?
男:两方面都有 。环保人士没有足够的资金来拯救全世界所有的濒危物种,所以他们不得不根据某个物种灭绝所带来的损失来做出决定 。
女:你能把你刚才说的给我举个例子吗?
男:拿两种动物,斑点猫头鹰和长尾蟾蜍举例 。文章中说长尾蟾蜍是很独特的物种,没有亲缘物种,但是猫头鹰的种类有很多 。
女:所以,如果这种蟾蜍绝种的话,对于进化研究就少了一个重要的线索,是这样吗?
男:没错 。但是猫头鹰的情况不同 。所以,对于环保人士来说,应该救哪种动物答案已经很明确了 。
女:我知道了 。我很庆幸我不需要做这种决定 。你觉得呢?
问题5 女士为什么这么忙?
问题6 环保人士遇到了什么问题?
问题7 关于长尾蟾蜍我们可以推测出什么?
问题8 我们从对话中可以了解什么?
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