最新高考英语一轮单元复习 精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇(64)

2014届最新高考英语一轮单元复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一
百篇（64）
Unit 66
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
The Exxon Valdez departed from the Trans Alaska Pi peline terminal at 9:12 pm March 23, 1989. After passing through Valdez Narrows, pilot Murphy left the vessel and Captain Hazelwood radioed the Coast Guard to report the Exxon Vald ez had "fetched up hard aground" and was "evidently leaking some oil." That scratchy, understated message set t he scene for one of the worst human-caused environmental disasters in history. Over the next spring and summer, the ne ws in Alaska and around the world was dominated by images and stories from Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska -- thousands of dead and dying bird s and sea mammals, angry fishermen, armies of rock wiper s improbably cleaning beaches wit h rags.
Birds and otters have proven themselves highly vulnerable to the oil drift ing aro und the Sound. Otters are the only marine mammal lacking a protective layer of blubber beneath their hide. They depend totally on their dense fur for warmth and floatation. When that fur ge ts dirty, the otter dies. These animals are so sensitive to contamination that early efforts to transplant them from Alaska to other parts of the West Coast failed. The otters, their fur dirtied by handling, died in captivity. Given this problem, scientists saw little hope of saving the otters. There were 4,000 to 6,000 of these animals in the Sound. No one k nows how many had come in contact with the oil.
Sea birds were not in much better shape than otters. Oil matted the feathers of birds, and that led to death in a number of ways. Matted feathers cease to ins ulate and birds die of hypothermia. Oil coated feathers make it impossible for the birds to fly to safe areas. Birds exhaust themselves trying to stay afloat after oil destroys the water repellency of their feathers. Rescuers were having a difficult time getting to the birds to catch them on rocky beaches. In order to rehabilitate one bird successfully, rescuers needed 150 gallons of water at 104 degrees. The ob stacles standing in the way of the job were intimidating.
Animals living in the nearby forests and roam onto the tidelands in search of food. Mink, land otters and bears could be harmed. There are similar fears for bald eagles, another scavenger. The eagles have already begun preying upon the seabirds killed or injured by oil.
Scientists knew that the 11 million gallons of oil that had spilled into the Sound was likely to kill thousands of birds and probably hundreds of marine mammals. But what they didn't know is what it would do to the micro organisms, the invertebrates and the fish that make up more than the va st majority of life th ere. What will become of the portions o f the crude oil that are dissolved in the water
is harder to predict. Where these chemicals concentrate, they would devastate the existing ecosystems, scientists sa id. But where they are diluted, the problems lessen.。