1 . The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has risen over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes（湿 地 ） where plants were eaten by the hungry birds. In response, the federal government loosened restrictions on snow goose hunting.

But how do the Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, view the situation? A recent plan is giving Inuit wildlife experts the opportunity to lend their knowledge to managing the species. The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Canada and led by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board (an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut), asked the experts to share their generations of knowledge about snow geese and their views on what should be done.

“The community had concerns about controlling the   population,” says Ron, a   community officer of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, “and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew.” Inuit experts disagreed with that, considering it wasteful and unnecessary. They felt hunting more snow geese in an organized way, such as paying local hunters a minimal amount of money and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt by employing local people, would be appropriate.

Inuit wildlife experts will plan to call on scientists this fall. They say they hope to search for a common way forward and that while there may be too many snow geese in some areas, it’s not a crisis. Biologists now generally agree that there seem to be plenty of undamaged marshes available and newer research shows that some damaged areas can recover.

“Now that we have recorded and documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese,” says Ron, “when facing the crisis other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species, which is fundamental to dealing with it effectively.”

1. Why did the federal government loosen limitations on snow goose hunting?

A．To make more profits.	B．To create more marshes.
C．To wipe out the hungry birds.	D．To protect the ecosystem.

2. Which of the following might Inuit wildlife experts agree with?

A．Organizing large commercial hunts.

B．Using snow goose hunting to man’s best advantage.

C．Regarding too many snow geese as a crisis.

D．Hunting as many snow geese as possible.

3. What might biologists think about the marshes’ future now?

A．It’s a bit promising.	B．It’s unpredictable.
C．It’s too discouraging.	D．It’s hard to get better.

4. What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．The species.	B．Inuit knowledge.
C．The crisis.	D．Inuit research.

2 . Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately：the air you breathe.

Previous studies have linked high exposure (暴露) to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problems，but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke (中风) within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants (污染物) were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)considers to be of “moderate” (良好) quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.

The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.

1. The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.

A．heart problems and air quality

B．heart problems and exercising

C．heart problems and smoking

D．heart problems and fatty food

2. The underlined word “modest” in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.

A．relatively high	B．extremely low
C．relatively low	D．extremely high

3. What can we learn from the text?

A．Eating fatty food has immediate effects on your heart.

B．The EPA conducted many studies on air quality.

C．Moderate air quality is more harmful than smoking.

D．Stricter regulations on pollutants should be made.

4. The author's purpose of writing the text is most likely to ________.

A．inform	B．persuade
C．describe	D．entertain