Wildlife in City Gardens剑桥雅思9听力-原文翻译及答案解析

一、Wildlife in City Gardens 听力原文：

Good morning.

Today I'd like to present the findings of our Year 2 project on wildlife found in gardens throughout our city.

I'll start by saying something about the background to the project, then talk a little bit about our research techniques, and then indicate some of our interim findings.

First of all, how did we choose our topic?

Well, there are four of us in the group and one day while we were discussing a possible focus,  two of the group mentioned that they had seen yet more sparrow hawks - one of Britain's most interesting birds of prey - in their own city centre gardens and wondered why they were turning up in these gardens in great numbers.

We were all very engaged by the idea of why wild animals would choose to inhabit a city garden.

Why is it so popular with wildlife when the countryside itself is becoming less so?

The first thing we did was to establish what proportion of the urban land is taken up by private gardens.

We estimated that it was about one fifth, and  this was endorsed by looking at large-scale usage, maps in the town land survey office - 24% to be precise.

Our own informal discussions with neighbours and friends led us to believe that many garden owners had interesting experiences to relate regarding wild animal sightings so we decided to  survey garden owners from different areas of the city.

Just over 100 of them completed a survey once every two weeks for twelve months - ticking off species they had seen from a pro forma list - and adding the names of any rarer ones.

Meanwhile, we were doing our own observations in selected gardens throughout the city.

We deliberately chose smaller ones because they were by far the most typical in the city.

The whole point of the project was to look at the norm not the exception.

Alongside this primary research on urban gardens,  we were studying a lot of books about the decline of wild animals in the countryside and thinking of possible causes for this.

So what did we find?

Well, so much that I just won't have time to tell you about here.

If you're interested in reading our more comprehensive findings, we've produced detailed graphic representations on the college web-site and of course any of the group would be happy to talk to you about them.

Just email us.

What we've decided to present today is information about just three species - because we felt these gave a good indication of the processes at work in rural and urban settings as a whole.

The first species to generate a lot of interesting information was frogs.

And there was a clear pattern here - they proliferate where there is suitable water.

Garden ponds are on the increase, rural ponds are disappearing, leading to massive migration to the towns.

Hedgehogs are also finding it easier to live in urban areas - this time because  their predators are not finding it quite so attractive to leave their rural environment , so hedgehogs have a belter survival rate in cities.

We had lots of sightings, so all in all  we had no difficulties with our efforts to count their numbers precisely.

Our final species is the finest of bird singers, the song thrush.

On the decline in the countryside, they are experiencing a resurgence in urban gardens because these days, gardeners are buying lots of different plants which means  there's an extensive range of seeds around, which is what they feed on.

Another factor is the provision of nesting places — which is actually better in gardens than the countryside.

Hard to believe it, but it's true.

Incidentally, we discovered that a massive new survey on song thrushes is about to be launched, so you should keep an eye open for that.

Now, I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have…

二、Wildlife in City Gardens 听力中文翻译：

早上好

今天，我想介绍我们的第二年项目的研究结果，该项目研究的是我们城市花园中的野生动物。

首先，我将介绍一下该项目的背景，然后谈谈我们的研究技术，然后指出我们的一些中期发现。

首先，我们是如何选择主题的？

嗯，我们有四个人在小组中，有一天，当我们讨论可能的焦点时，小组中的两个人提到，他们在自己的市中心花园里看到了更多的麻雀鹰——英国最有趣的猛禽之一，并想知道为什么它们会大量出现在这些花园里。

我们都非常关心为什么野生动物会选择居住在城市花园里。

为什么它在野生动物中如此受欢迎，而乡村本身却越来越不受欢迎？

我们做的第一件事是确定私人花园占用城市土地的比例。

我们估计这大约是五分之一，这是通过查看城镇土地调查办公室的大规模使用情况和地图得出的，准确地说是百分之二十四。

我们与邻居和朋友的非正式讨论让我们相信，许多园主在野生动物目击方面有着有趣的经历，因此我们决定调查城市不同地区的园主。

其中只有100多人在12个月内每两周完成一次调查，在形式清单上勾选他们见过的物种，并添加任何稀有物种的名称。

与此同时，我们在全市选定的花园中进行了自己的观察。

我们特意选择了较小的，因为它们是城市中最典型的。

该项目的全部目的是关注规范，而不是例外。

除了对城市园林进行初步研究外，我们还研究了许多关于农村野生动物数量减少的书籍，并思考了可能的原因。

那么我们发现了什么？

嗯，太多了，我没有时间告诉你这里的情况。

如果您有兴趣阅读我们更全面的研究结果，我们已经在学院网站上制作了详细的图形表示，当然小组中的任何人都会很乐意与您讨论这些内容。

只需给我们发电子邮件。

我们今天决定介绍的是关于三个物种的信息，因为我们认为这些信息很好地说明了农村和城市环境中的整体工作过程。

第一个产生大量有趣信息的物种是青蛙。

这里有一个明确的模式——它们在有合适水的地方繁殖。

花园池塘在增加，乡村池塘正在消失，导致大量移民到城镇。

刺猬也发现在城市生活更容易——这一次是因为它们的捕食者发现离开农村环境并没有那么吸引人，所以刺猬在城市的存活率更高。

我们有很多目击事件，所以总的来说，我们在努力精确计算他们的数量方面没有任何困难。

我们的最后一个物种是最好的鸟歌手，歌鸫。

随着农村人口的减少，他们正在城市花园中重新兴起，因为现在，园丁们正在购买大量不同的植物，这意味着周围有各种各样的种子，这就是他们的食物。

另一个因素是提供筑巢的地方——实际上，在花园里比在乡村更好。

很难相信，但这是真的。

顺便提一下，我们发现一项关于画眉的大规模新调查即将启动，所以你应该对此保持警惕。

现在，我很乐意回答您的任何问题。

三、Wildlife in City Gardens 听力问题：

Question 31-36

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

31.What led the group to choose their topic?

A. They were concerned about the decline of one species.

B. They were interested in the effects of city growth.

C. They wanted to investigate a recent phenomenon.

32.The exact proportion of land devoted to private gardens was confirmed by

A. consulting some official documents.

B. taking large-scale photos.

C. discussions with town surveyors.

33.The group asked garden owners to

A. take part in formal interviews.

B. keep a record of animals they saw.

C. get in contact when they saw a rare species.

34.The group made their observations in gardens

A. which had a large number of animal species.

B. which they considered to be representative.

C. which had stable populations of rare animals.

35.The group did extensive reading on

A. wildlife problems in rural areas.

B. urban animal populations

C. current gardening practices.

36.The speaker focuses on three animal species because

A. a lot of data has been obtained about them.

B. the group were most interested in them.

C. they best indicated general trends.

Question 37-40

Complete the table below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Animals

Reason for population increase in gardens

Comments

suitable stretches of water

massive increase in urban population

Hedgehogs

safer from  when in cities

easy to  them accurately

Song thrushes

- a variety of  to eat

- more nesting places available

large survey starting soon

四、Wildlife in City Gardens 听力答案：

31.C

32.A

33.B

34.B

35.A

36.C

37.frog / frogs

38.predators

39.count

40.seed / seeds

五、Wildlife in City Gardens 听力答案解析

31. C　录音中在介绍完背景信息后，由一句 First of all, how did we choose our topic? 可以预测答案即将出现。三个选项的核心表达分别是 decline of one species，effects of city growth 和 a recent phenomenon，但它们均未在录音原文中出现。由 ...they had seen yet more sparrowhawks...in their own city centre gardens and wondered why they were turning up in these gardens in great numbers. 可知，录音讲的是越来越多的雀鹰出现在市中心的花园中，并且是大量地出现，所以谈的是雀鹰增多这一现象，而非某物种数量的下降或者城市扩张的影响，答案应选 C。

32. A　该题三个选项完全独立，考生先通过 ...what proportion of the urban land... 定位题干的出现。然后录音中说到 ...this was endorsed by looking at large-scale usage maps in the town land survey office...，可知确定宅园的准确占地面积要参照来自城镇土地调查办公室的大规模使用图，即 A（参考一些官方文件），而非 B（大规模拍照）或 C（与城镇测量员讨论）。该题的难点在于录音涉及了三个选项中的核心单词，容易迷惑考生。

33. B　考生先通过 ...so we decided to survey garden owners from different areas... 来定位本题答案即将出现。接下来的 ...over 100 of them completed a survey once every two weeks for twelve months — ticking off species they had seen from a pro forma list... 正与 B（记录所见的动物）的意思一致，其中 tick off 意为“列举，简要地描述”。

34. B　在 33 题答案之后，录音中很快出现 ...we were doing our own observations in selected gardens...，其中的 observations 正好与本题题干中的定位词一致。之后录音中说到 We deliberately chose smaller ones because they were by far the most typical in the city.，其中的 typical 与 B 选项中的 representative 是同义替换，都表示“具有代表性的，典型的”之意，所以正确答案为 B。

35. A　该题难度稍大，因为他并未像之前的题目一样在录音中就可以找到题干中的定位词。但录音中的 ...we were studying a lot of books... 即“研读大量书籍”，与题干“广泛阅读”的信息对等，则考生据此可以定位到答案所在句，紧接着录音读到 ...about the decline of wild animals in the countryside...，即为 A。其中 wildlife 与 wild animals 意思对等，rural areas 与 countryside 意思对等。

36. C　该题的定位很明显，因为题干中有 three animal species，所以当录音读到 What we’ve decided to present today is information about just three species because... 时，考生可迅速联想到题干，并且录音中的 because 也提示考生接下来就是答案。只要考生听到 ...because...could be good indication of...，就可以判断出它指的就是 C 中的 indicated。

37. frog / frogs　本题难度较小，因为录音开始就谈到 The first species that generated a lot of interesting information was frogs.，只要考生听到 The first species...was frogs. 就能很轻松地找到“青蛙”这个答案。

38. predators　该题的定位词为 hedgehogs 和 safer from。当录音中提到 Hedgehogs are also finding it easier to live... 时，考生应意识到答案应该就在接下来的句子里。接下来一句 ...this time because their predators are not finding it quite so attractive to leave their rural environment... 意思是“这次因为它们的天敌（捕食者）并不愿意离开它们生存的农村环境，所以刺猬就免于受到天敌的攻击，而更易于在城市中生存。其中 safe from 意为“免于受到……的危害”。

39. count　在 38 题答案之后紧接着出现了 ...so all in all, we had no difficulties with our efforts to count their numbers precisely.，本句中的 no difficulties 与题干中的 easy 同义，precisely 与题干中的 accurately 同义。此外，考生只要抓住 to 后面的动词，也可以找到答案的位置。

40. seed / seeds　该题相对前面的题目难度较低。该题的定位词是 song thrushes 和 a variety of，所以考生要尽量去听表示“多样性”和“大量”的录音内容。根据录音中的 ...which means there is an extensive range of seeds around... 可知答案为 seed / seeds。