Упр.2 Юнит 3.1 ГДЗ Starlight Баранова 11 класс
Reading 2 Describe the animal in the picture. Why do you think he was ‘Lonesome George’? Read the text to find out.
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Reading
2 Describe the animal in the picture. Why do you think he was ‘Lonesome George’? Read the text to find out.
Lonesome George
“Lonesome George was a unique tortoise. He lived to tell the story of the existence of his subspecies on the tiny isolated island of Pinta.” Tony Harper reports
Sometimes the road to romance is long. ‘Lonesome Georgetask, a giant Galapagos tortoise, was the last of his subspecies and had a profoundly lonely existence. Living far out in the Pacific on the island of Pinta in the Galapagos Islands, he was officially the rarest living creature on Earth until his death in 2012 at the age of over 100.
No animal better captured the history and mysterious beauty of the Galapagos Islands than this giant tortoise. There used to be thousands of those creatures roaming over the islands, including the volcanic slopes of Pinta. Observation of them by Charles Darwin, who visited there in 1835, even formed part of his world changing theory of evolution.
Sadly however, mostly as a result of centuries of passing sailors hunting the giant tortoises for food, there are now only an estimated fifteen thousand left in the Galapagos Islands. Of the fifteen known is subspecies, four are Steady thought to be extinct, as was the Pinta giant tortoise until Lonesome George was discovered in 1971. This came as a pleasant surprise to scientists since no other Pinta tortoises had been found on Pinta Island since 1906.
In the decades that followed George’s discovery, he became something of a star attraction. Conservationists at the Charles Darwin Research Station tried to rescue some of his genes by mating him with another tortoise. Two females from the nearby island of Isabela, the most closely related to the Pinta subspecies that could be found, were put into his enclosure with him in 1992. Unfortunately, though, George failed to take the hint!
Then evolutionary biologist Jeffery Powell came up with a possible reason why lonesome George was not finding true romance with the ladies from Isabela Perhaps, he suggested, they were simply too different to him to be a suitable match. Sailors often carried the tortoises from one island to another, he pointed out. His question, therefore, was: ‘How do we know these tortoises are Lonesome
Georgetasks closest relatives?’ In other words, there could be a perfect Pinta match for George alive and well no just on Isabela but on some even more distant island.
To begin testing he theory, Professor Powell and Ns research team analysed DNA from seven Pinta tortoises - six from deceased museum specimens and one from George himself - and compared it with blood samples from twenty-seven giant tortoises living on the side of a volcano on the norther tip of Isabela. Among these samples. they found one tortoise, about thirty years old. with dear signs of Pinta ancestry. Sadly, however, the newly discovered tortoise was not a suitable romantic partner for George: he was male! He was not pure bred, other. While his lather was originally from Pinta Island, his mother came from Wolf Volcano on Isabela. Powel considered he had made a breakthrough, though, because it proved that in the recent past, a Pinta male had been breeding on the island. In that case, there was a clear possibility of finding other Pinta individuals out there, maybe even a female.
However, Powelltasks study had only examined a small random sample. So in 2008, a team of researchers returned to the Isabela volcano, where they collected more than 1,600 tortoises. To their amazement and delight, when blood samples were taken, seventeen tortoises wore shown to have high levels of Pinta DNA. As tortoises can live for 150 years, some of these creatures may have been Georgetasks immediate relatives!
Now, seven of these tortoises are housed in and around George’s dd enclosure) while the scientists attempt to brood them. One male and female in particular both have Pinta DNA and it is hoped that in just a few generations, 95 percent of George’s ‘lost’ ancestral genes can be go recreated. Therefore, the fate of the Pinta tortoise may not be as bleak as was previously thought. Meanwhile, although no longer with us, George’s status as a conservation icon is still undisputed.
1 The writer mentions Charles Darwin in order to emphasise the significance of giant tortoises
1 his importance as a scientist
2 his link to the Galapagos Islands.
3 the large numbers of tortoises on the Galapagos Islands.
4 the significance of giant tortoises.
2 According to the third paragraph, what were scientists pleased about?
1 There was a larger number of tortoises on the islands than previously believed.
2 One subspecies of giant tortoise was not extinct as previously thought
3 A new subspecies of giant tortoise had been discovered.
4 They had been the ones to make a particular discovery.
3 The writer uses the phrase ‘he failed to take the hint’ (line 26) to show that Lonesome George didntaskt behave In the way the conservationists had expected.
1 didntaskt behave In the way the conservationists had expected.
2 didntaskt seem to get on with the tortoises from Isabela.
3 behaved differently to the tortoises from Isabela.
4 wasntaskt used to the company of other tortoises.
4 In the fifth paragraph, what does the writer suggest about Pinta tortoises?
1 They could have originally come from Isabela Island.
2 They may be found on islands other than Pinta Island.
3 They wore brought to Pinta Island by sailors.
4 They were hunted by sailors more than other subspecies.
5 After carrying out his research on Isabela Island, Professor Powell felt hopeful of a future discovery.
1 became more uncertain about his theory.
2 was confused about Lonesome George’s ancestry.
3 felt hopeful of a future discovery.
4 was disappointed with his findings.
6 Continued research on Isabel Island was based on a much larger sample of tortoises than before.
1 only tortoises that had reached a certain age.
2 the tortoises from the previous study again.
3 all the tortoises on the Island.
4 a much larger sample of tortoises than before.
7 What do we learn from the last paragraph of the article?
1 The future of Pinta tortoises is now ensured.
2 Scientists can now trace Lonesome George’s ancestry.
3 Lonesome George continues to symbolise conservation.
4 The prospects for successful breeding are not bright.