河南 吕 朗

主题语境：动物 篇幅：312词 建议用时：6分钟

1Jonathan,a tortoise,is regarded as the oldest living land animal in the world,first arriving at its current home on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic in 1882 as a gift to the governor of the island,which is a British territory.He was thought to be at the age of at least 50 at the time because his species,a Seychelles giant tortoise,reaches full maturity by this age and 120cm-long Jonathan has not grown any bigger since his arrival on the island.

2His age means Jonathan was just a youngster when Queen Victoria,Britain's secondlongest reigning monarch(执政君主),took the throne,and he outlived both World Wars.

3Despite his long life,Jonathan only gained international attention in 2008 when the newspaperThe Independentreported on his then-remarkable age of 176.At that stage,he had already surpassed the 150 years'life expectancy of Seychelles giant tortoises.

4Jonathan,who is now blind with cataracts (白内障) and lacks a sense of smell,is recognised by the Guinness World Records as the oldest known living land animal.

5He has lived most of his life at the governor's plantation house,according to the island's website,which added that the tortoise could also be considered a national symbol for the island.Jonathan's image is even on the back side of a Saint Helena five pence coin.

6Scientists have even studied Jonathan to determine what health benefits they might gather from his diet and his cells.Because his cells do not change in the same way that humans'cells do,scientists hope he could reveal the secret to fighting cancer in humans.

7Jonathan shares his home with three other tortoises: Emma,a 54-year-old female,David,a 54-year-old male and Frederika,a 31-year-old tortoise originally called Frederik that is now thought to be female.The first two arrived in 1969,and Frederika arrived in 1991.

Reading Check

Detail 1.What can we know about Jonathan?

A.He is a tortoise which is mature at the age of 50.

B.He has lived at the governor's plantation for 190 years.

C.He came to the island as a candidate for the image on the Saint Helena five pence coin.

D.He is regarded as the most influential animal on the island.

Inference 2.What does paragraph 2 intend to tell us?

A.Jonathan has a high status on the island.

B.Jonathan is popular with famous people.

C.Jonathan is a tortoise that has lived long.

D.Jonathan has witnessed important moments.

Vocabulary 3.What does the underlined word“surpassed”in paragraph 3 mean?

A.Come up to.

B.Gone beyond.

C.Hoped for.

D.Got close to.

Detail 4.What do scientists expect of the research on Jonathan?

A.The growing process of him.

B.The benefit of proper diets.

C.The construction of his cells.

D.The secret to fighting cancer.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Text-centered chunks

reach full maturity 达到完全成熟

gain international attention 获得国际关注

lack a sense of smell 失去嗅觉

the secret to fighting cancer 抗击癌症的秘诀

Ⅱ.Discover the useful structure in the text

Jonathan,a tortoise,is regarded as the oldest living land animal in the world,first arriving at its current home on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic in 1882 as a gift to the governor of the island,which is a British territory.乌龟乔纳森被认为是世界上现存最长寿的陆地动物。1882 年，它第一次来到南大西洋的圣赫勒拿岛上的现居住所，当时它是作为礼物送给该岛总督的。该岛是英国的领土。

【点石成金】本句中，first arriving at its current home on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic in 1882 as a gift to the governor of the island 为伴随状语；which is a British territory为定语从句，修饰先行词the island。