Text 2

Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens—a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands—once lent red to the often grey landscape of the mid-western and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.

The crash was a major reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the “threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservation approaches.In particular,they called for forging closer collaborations with western stata governments,which are often uneasy with federal action,and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chiekens habitat.

Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowners or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird as long as they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat. USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67, 000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species,” Ashe said.

Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric. Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court. Not surprisingly, industry groups and states generally argue it goes too far; environmentalists say it doesn’t go far enough.” The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.

26. The major reason for listing the lesser prairie chicken as threatened is　　_

[A] the insistence of private landowners

[B] the underestimate of the grassland acreage

[C] a desperate appeal from some biologists

[D] its drastically decreased population

27. The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it _

[A] was a give-in to governmental pressure

[B] would involve fewer regulatory powers

[C] granted less federal regulatory powers

[D] went against conservation policies

28.It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that unintentional harm-doers will be prosecuted if they _

[A] agree to pay a sun for compensation.

[B] volunteer to set up an equally big habitat.

[C] offer to support the WAFWA monitoring job.

[D] promise to raise funds for USFWS operations.

29. According to Ashe, the leading role in managing the species is

[A] the federal government

[B] the wildlife agencies

[C] the landowners

[D] the states

30. Jay Lininger would most likely support _

[A] the plan under challenge

[B] the win-win rhetoric

[C] environmental groups

[D] industry groups

Text 3

That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complain is made especially moumfully:There’s never any time to read.

What makes the problem thomier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient.The web’s fullof articles offering tips on making time to read:“Give up TV”or“Carry a book with you at all times.”But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning—or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes,“is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…

It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption.”Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.

In fact “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximized means you approach it instrumentally. judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal. Immersive reading, by contrast depands on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it in as to-do list item. and you’ll manage only goal-focused reading-useful, sometimes but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt, ”writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes)as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them.” No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book

So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behavior helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time.” You could limit distractions by reading only physical books ,or on single-purpose e-readers,” carry a book with you at all time “can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read ”, but just reading, and making time for everything else.

31.The usual time management techniques don’t work because

[A]what they can offer does not case the modern mind

[B]what people often forget is carrying a book with them

[C]what challenging books demand is repetitive reading

[D]what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed

32.The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to

[A]update their to-do lists

[B]make passing time fulfilling

[C]carry their plans through

[D]pursue carefree reading

33.Fberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps

[A]promote ritualistic reading

[B]encourage the efficiency mind-set

[C]develop online reading habits

[D]achieve immersive reading

34.“Carry a book with you at all times” can work if

[A]reading becomes your primary business of the day

[B]all the daily business has been promptly dealt with

[C]you are able to drop back to business after reading

[D]time can be evenly split for reading and business

35.The best title for this text could be

[A]How to Enjoy Easy Reading

[B]How to Set Reading Goals

[C]How to Find Time to Read

[D]How to Read Extensively