Equipped only with a pair of binoculars (双筒望远镜) and ready to spend long hours waiting in all weathers for a precious glance of a rare bullfinch(红腹灰雀). Britain’s birdwatchers had long been supposed to be lovers of a minority sport. But new figures show birdwatching is fast becoming a popular pastime, with almost three million of us absorbed in our fluttering feathered friends.
Devoted birdwatchers, those prepared to travel thousands of miles for a sighting of a rare Siberian bird, are fast being joined by a new breed of follower whose interest is satiated by watching a few finches (雀科鸣鸟) on a Sunday walk or putting up a bird-box in the back garden.
“Almost three million UK birdwatchers is certainly possible if you include everyone with only a casual interest,” Stephen Moss said in his newly published book—A Bird in the Bush: a Social History of Birdwatching—which records the pursuit from the rich Victorian Englishman’s love of shooting rare birds to the less offensive observational tendencies of birdwatchers today.
Television wildlife programmes have helped to fuel the new trend. Last summer, BBC 2’s Britain Goes Wild was a surprise success. It pulled in three million viewers and led to bird-houses selling out across the UK as 45,000 people promised to put up a box.
Birdwatchers’ networking system first came to the attention of the nation in 1989, when a birdwatcher caught sight of the first Vermivora chrysoptera—a golden-winged songbird from North America—to be seen in Britain. He put a message out on the network service Birdline, and the next day 3,000 birdwatchers proved the full pull of a truly rare bird as they visited the Tesco car park in Kent, where it had settled. Today, birdwatchers can log on to www.birdline.co.uk or have news of the latest sightings texted to their phones.
“Multimillion-pound spending on binoculars, bird food and boxes point to the increasing numbers of birdwatchers,” said David Cromack, the editor of Bird Watching magazine, “The number of people involved is so big that they have great potential to influence government decisions affecting the environment.”
小题1:The word “satiated” in paragraph 2 can best be replaced by “_______”.
A．affected
B．shared
C．satisfied
D．narrowed小题2:What happened after the message of seeing a Vermivora chrysoptera was put on the network?
A．Birdwatchers helped the rare bird settle in Kent.
B．Large numbers of birdwatchers went to view the bird.
C．Many birdwatchers logged on to the website for details.
D．Birdwatchers showed their determination to protect the rare bird.小题3:Which of the following CANNOT be true according to the passage?
A．Television wildlife programmes started the popular pastime of birdwatching.
B．The network service has contributed to the rapid development of birdwatching.
C．Birdwatching in Britain was long considered a sport with a small group of followers.
D．The current situation of birdwatching may promote the protection of the environment.小题4:The passage mainly tells us about ________ in UK.
A．the history of bird watching
B．a growing passion for bird watching
C．the impact of media on bird watching
D．bird watching as a popular expensive sport
