漫漫回歸路

黃小麗

疫情期間，這位特殊的媽媽帶著她的兩個寶寶開啟了回歸之旅……

1 During the pandemic， a special mom and her two babies took a trip. They were driven a few miles from a breeding （繁殖） center in northeastern Argentina to a 1.7? million?acre? nature? reserve （保護區） called? IberNational Park. There the three jaguars were released （釋放） into the wild.

2 Their release was the first reintroduction （再引入） of jaguars in that part of Argentina since the species almost died out there 70 years ago. “That is the highest level of protection that can be given in Argentina，” says Sebastin Di Martino. Hes the conservation director for Rewilding Argentina， which is one of the organizations helping to restore jaguars population.

3 The jaguars journey started in 2018 when the park was built in the Iber Wetlands. Several thousand jaguars once lived there， along with other important species. But jaguars fur was valuable， so people hunted them. Then farmers cleared the land they lived on. With jaguars gone， the ecosystem was out of balance. “In the absence of this species， ecosystems stop working well and may even collapse. The main prey of jaguars are capybaras （水豚） and caimans （凱門鱷）. They are abundant because of the reducing number of jaguars，” Di Martino says.

4 The park was the first step to give jaguars a place to live in. Then they needed to breed. A female named Mariua mated with a male jaguar from Brazil. Mariua then gave birth to two baby jaguars. It sounds simple， but the reality is more complicated. Di Martino says that jaguars born at breeding centers have to learn how to hunt and must not become used to humans. Otherwise， they will not have success in the wild.

5 The people who work at the breeding center stay out of sight. They use video cameras to watch the jaguars from several miles away. “We provide live prey for them， without letting them realize it comes from people，” Di Martino says. Mariua wears a radio collar so researchers can track her and her babies， Karai and Pord. So far， so good. Shes been hunting capybaras and wild pigs and is raising her babies very well.

[Reading][Check]

1. What can we know about the jaguar？

A. It is found only in Argentina.

B. It is taught to hunt by humans.

C. It is hunted for its valuable fur.

D. It is not considered as a rare species.

2. Which word can best describe Di Martinos job？

A. Exciting. B. Meaningful.

C. Surprising. D. Failed.

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

A. More than enough. B. Less than enough.

C. More powerful. D. Less powerful.

4. Why did the author mention Mariua？

A. To give an example of jaguars life.

B. To show the importance of female jaguars.

C. To introduce a way of training jaguars.

D. To explain the method of releasing jaguars into the wild.

[Language][Study]

Useful expressions

nature reserve 自然保護區

be released into the wild 被放歸到野外

out of balance 失去平衡

give jaguars a place to live in 給美洲豹一個住所

So far， so good. 到目前為止，一切順利。