土耳其东部湿地：候鸟生命线正在抢救中
Eastern Turkey’s wetlands lie on one of the world’s most important routes for migrating birds. But the country’s lakes are in trouble: four out of five of them have vanished in recent decades. A small team of scientists, led by ecologist Çağan Şekercioğlu, is now racing to save the last lakes for the world’s birds.
One of these is Lake Aktaş, thickly dotted with coots and pelicans (鹈鹕). It is the last lake in Turkey where two kinds of pelicans still come together. Strangely, a military base has helped keep it safe — the base sits by the lake, villagers cannot boat or picnic there, and the birds live undisturbed. The birds of this region represent 68% of all the bird species in Turkey.
Şekercioğlu’s team has also scored some wins. When a new road to the Georgian border was planned, they worried the noise would disturb the birds, and proposed building it a mile away from the lake. The government agreed. “This is one of the few happy stories about bird protection,” says Şekercioğlu.
Nearby Lake Kuyucuk was less lucky. Şekercioğlu once counted 40,000 birds on its 2.2 square kilometres. In 1997, it was 13 m deep; when he first measured it in 2004, it was down to 4.5 m; by 2010, its deepest point measured only 1 m. The causes were human: villagers built small dams on the feeding streams to water their animals, and illegal wells drained the groundwater. Şekercioğlu convinced the governor to pump water back into the lake — an emergency step, “like chemotherapy (化疗)” — and persuaded the villagers to take down their dams. The lake has not returned, but it is still a wetland, not a dustbowl.
Bigger threats remain. Turkey risks severe drought by 2030. Worse still, the government is planning a new dam, which may flood the team’s research station on the Aras River. “When nature competes with people for water, nature will lose,” Şekercioğlu says. Still, he keeps hoping and keeps trying — for the birds of Eastern Turkey have nowhere else to go.
1.1. What do we know about the lakes in Turkey?
A Most of them have dried up.
B They are all protected now.
C Most of them are man-made.
D They lie in the same area.
解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据文章第一段“But the country’s lakes are in trouble: four out of five of them have vanished in recent decades”五分之四的湖泊已经消失，“Most of them have dried up”正是其同义替换，故选 A；B 与“小团队正争分夺秒拯救最后的湖”相反（颠倒是非），C 无中生有，D 曲解文意（原文只说东部湿地处在重要迁徙路线上，并未说全国湖泊都集中于同一区域）。
2.2. Why does the writer mention the military base near Lake Aktaş?
A To show the area is dangerous.
B To explain why birds live safely there.
C To introduce the village life.
D To describe the border history.
解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据文章第二段“Strangely, a military base has helped keep it safe — the base sits by the lake, villagers cannot boat or picnic there, and the birds live undisturbed”作者提军事基地，正是要解释这座湖的鸟为何至今安然无恙（基地反而成了保护者，此为“转折”点），故选 B；A 把军事基地误解为危险因素（曲解文意），C 以偏概全（写军事基地的目的是说鸟，不是说村民生活），D 与鸟类保护主线无关（张冠李戴）。
3.3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?
A Thousands of birds on the lake.
B Why the villagers built small dams.
C A dying lake and rescue efforts.
D A plan to build a new road.
解析：选C。C 段落大意题。文章第四段段首“Nearby Lake Kuyucuk was less lucky”引出该湖，先以昔日盛况铺垫（“Şekercioğlu once counted 40,000 birds on its 2.2 square kilometres”）；随后用 1997 年 13 m → 2004 年 4.5 m → 2010 年 1 m 的深度数据写出持续衰退（a dying lake）；“The causes were human”之后，“convinced the governor to pump water back into the lake”“persuaded the villagers to take down their dams”是拯救行动（rescue efforts）；段末“The lake has not returned, but it is still a wetland, not a dust bowl”收在拯救结果。全段＝衰退＋拯救，C 双层概括最全，故选 C。
4.4. What do Şekercioğlu’s words in the last paragraph mean?
A People should stop farming.
B Nature needs people’s help.
C Nature is losing everywhere.
D People need more water.
解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据文章第五段引Şekercioğlu 的话“When nature competes with people for water, nature will lose”，随后“Still, he keeps hoping and keeps trying”字面说“自然必输”，言下之意：自然无力独自与人争水，必须有人主动为自然留水、护水，故选 B；A“人们应停止耕作”属过度推理，C“自然处处在输”是绝对化（曲解文意），D 只抓住“人要更多水”的字面（曲解文意）。