雅思阅读 039 · The Kākāpō Baby Boom

改编自 Scientific American（Elizabeth Anne Brown, 2026）。题型：T/F/NG + 填空。难度：中等（Passage 1，约 700 词）。

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正文 Passage

The biggest berry bloom in New Zealand's forests in decades has set off a mating frenzy among the critically endangered Kākāpō, the world's heaviest parrots.

With the face of a Muppet and the physique of a Furby, the Kākāpō is an all-around preposterous creature. It's nocturnal and lime green, and, as science-fiction writer Douglas Adams wrote, it "flies like a brick." The animals produce a strong, fruity musk, can weigh as much as a house cat, and can potentially live for 90 years or more.

At the beginning of 2026 only 236 Kākāpō remained in the world, and to the chagrin of their human conservation team, the birds rely primarily on a single fruit to set the mood for love. The animals mate prolifically only when the rimu tree — a towering conifer that can live for a millennium — produces a bumper crop of bright-red berries, which happens every two to four years.

During the berry-backed courtship rituals, male Kākāpō use their stumpy little legs to scrape and stomp out earthen amphitheatres called booming bowls, which amplify their courtship song — a resonant, low-pitched call that carries for miles. "Rather than hearing it, you kind of feel it in the chest," says Andrew Digby, science adviser for the Kākāpō team at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

Nearly all female Kākāpō of reproductive age have bred this year, Digby says, producing an impressive 248 eggs and counting. About half of the eggs will be fertile. Fewer will hatch, and fewer still will survive long enough to fledge. As of mid-March, scientists had tallied 70 living chicks.

Recent population gains wouldn't have been possible without a handful of Kākāpō "superbreeders" like Blades, a Kākāpō Don Juan of unknown age who, after fathering 22 chicks since 1982, has been banished to "Bachelor Island" for fears that he'll flood the gene pool. "He was a victim of his own success," Digby says. "He was too popular."

Once the fortunate eggs hatch, the females will rear their chicks alone. Every night Kākāpō mums use beak and talon to climb into the rimu tree canopies, up to 100 feet above the ground, to harvest berries — about a pound's worth per chick each day.

Some females have reproduced for more than 40 years, creating strong "dynasties," Digby says. One Kākāpō matriarch named Nora has participated in 13 breeding cycles since 1981 and became both a mum and a great-great-grandmother this season.

This year the New Zealand Department of Conservation set up a nest cam to let people watch Kākāpō supermom Rakiura hatch and rear foster chicks. Newly hatched chicks look like dandelion puffs, but within a few weeks they become "weird little dinosaurs with these huge, oversize feet," Digby says.

题目 Questions

Questions 1-5: T/F/NG

1. The Kākāpō is the world's heaviest parrot.

2. Kākāpō can fly long distances.

3. There were 236 Kākāpō at the beginning of 2026.

4. Kākāpō mate every year.

5. Blades has fathered 22 chicks.

Questions 6-10: Complete the notes. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• Kākāpō mate when the (6) ____________ tree produces a bumper crop of berries.
• Male Kākāpō create earthen amphitheatres called (7) ____________.
• As of mid-March, scientists had tallied (8) ____________ living chicks.
• Blades has been banished to (9) ____________ Island.
• Kākāpō mums climb up to (10) ____________ feet to harvest berries.

答案 Answers

核心词汇

Kākāpō / parrot / New Zealand / endangered / conservation / rimu tree / berry / breeding / courtship / nocturnal / conifer / gene pool