雅思阅读真题（Part 3）

Leatherback turtles

棱皮龟：海洋巨龟的北大西洋迁徙之谜

本篇也叫：棱皮龟、皮革龟、棱皮龟阅读、巨型海龟、革龟、棱皮龟雅思

Part 3 · 考频：中频 · 最近考试：2026.2.7/2024.9.28/2022.4.23/2016.12.17/2007.7.21

本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 3）《Leatherback turtles》，共 14 题，2026.2.7/2024.9.28/2022.4.23/2016.12.17/2007.7.21雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。

文章大意

文章讲述世界上最大的棱皮龟——一只在威尔士海滩发现的916公斤巨龟，引出科学家对其为何出现在寒冷北大西洋的探究。研究者认为棱皮龟会从热带繁殖地北上，频繁出没于英国和爱尔兰海域捕食水母，这颠覆了以往保护策略只关注加勒比海繁殖地的做法。

题目原文

A 

In 1988, the world's largest known leatherback turtle, measuring over three metres across and weighing an incredible 916 kilogrammes, was found washed up on a beach in Harlech, Wales, UK. The giant specimen is currently a prime attraction at the National Museum of Wales. Until now, experts have failed to explain how this massive reptile came to end its days in cool northern waters, thousands of kilometres from the tropical Caribbean nesting sites where hatchling leatherback turtles first enter the sea.

 

B 

But Jonathan Houghton of the Irish Sea Leatherback Turtle Project, working with marine ecologists from universities in Wales and Ireland, thinks that the mystery may have been solved. The team's research findings suggest that, contrary to previous assumptions, these giants of the sea habitually frequent northerly latitudes for extended periods, lured by the opportunity to feast on the plentiful jellyfish found in certain bays around the Welsh and Irish coasts from April to November. According to Houghton, the exact cause of the jellyfish proliferation is as yet uncertain, though further studies by the project hope to provide an explanation for this seasonal abundance.

If the results from the team's ongoing surveys in the Irish Sea corroborate these early findings, conservationists will have to turn their strategy for saving this critically endangered species on its head. Studies of Atlantic leatherback turtles have hitherto centred on their breeding sites, principally the Caribbean Basin, but also Suriname, French Guiana and Gabon. Unusually low numbers of nesting females returning to these locations over the last two decades have prompted conservationists to worry that pollution, fishing, egg-snatching and coastal development were taking their toll on leatherback populations. Experts are still in no doubt that the species is under severe threat, but the focus will need to shift, as Houghton explains: "The general perception is that leatherback turtles spend most of their time in warm waters. However, our studies suggest that many migrate north from the tropics after breeding, and frequently enter the waters around the British Isles.'

 

C 

Leatherback turtles have patrolled the oceans since dinosaurs roamed the earth, but we know less about their behaviour than that of almost any other marine creature. Because they spend most of their time away from accessible coastal areas and often dive below the surface, scientists have had little chance to study their behaviour or map their distribution. Any close encounters invariably take place in summer when females come ashore every three years or so to lay their eggs. Until the mid-1980s, up to 115,000 adult females regularly appeared on beaches around the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, population has dwindled to between 26,000 and 43,000. In the Pacific, as few as 2,300adult females remain. In 2003, no females turned up at the nesting colony at Terenggu, Malaysia, where 3,000 turtles regularly congregated in the 1960s.

 

D 

Houghton and the team are working to fill the gaping holes in our understanding of Atlantic turtles before these reptiles meet the same fate as their Pacific cousins. Working in collaboration with the Caribbean environmental organisation Ocean Spirits Inc, the team attached satellite transmitters to ten females nesting in Grenada in the Caribbean. The devices recorded the animal's location, depth and swim speed, plus the water temperature, and sent the information via satellite-receiving stations back to Swansea University in Wales each time the creature surfaced over a two-year period. The data from Irish Sea, are revealing the most extensive picture of turtle migration ever seen.

 

E 

Though the team needs to shadow the turtles for longer to understand their three-year journey from and back to their breeding sites, the tracking carried out so far shows turtles spend considerable periods of time in the deep, open waters of the North Atlantic. This has implications for conservation because of the threat facing turtles from longline fishing fleets, who daily set over three million hooks across the world's oceans. After integrating figures from international observer programmes, scientists at Duke University Marine Laboratory in the USA estimate that many tens of thousands of leatherbacks are lost every year in accidental catches (known as 'bycatch') by longline fishing fleets, and that numbers of casualties may be rising.

 

F 
There is some positive news, however. Research into the types of hooks and bait placed on long lines suggests that a 'circular' type hook, soon to be tested in Ecuador, could reduce snagging of leatherback turtles by as much as 66 percent. Currently, many fisheries use 'J'-shaped hooks, which can cause internal bleeding or suffocation to turtles if swallowed or snagged on flippers. Other devices, such as placing sharks made of fibreglass near lines or sending acoustic signals to scare turtles away, using blue dye to make bait less appealing, and laying hooks below the level of the migratory paths along which most leatherbacks travel, are also being trialled. 'The declines are caused by humans, but the solutions are within our grasp,' says Houghton. 'We just have to find the political will.' If governments can work with fisheries to prevent deaths, there is a chance the Atlantic will endure as the world's last leatherback stronghold. If not, these reptiles may go the same way as their dinosaur contemporaries, and our experience of them will be reduced to dusty exhibits in museums.

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题目与答案

  1. Until recently, it has been thought that
    • the giant leatherback turtle appeared on a beach in Wales.
    • numbers of Atlantic leatherback turtles are declining.
    • leatherback turtles are mainly resident in warm waters.
    • a leatherback turtle will return to the same breeding site year after year.
    • jellyfish occur in large numbers around the British Isles during certain months.
    • Atlantic leatherback turtles spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters.

    答案：leatherback turtles are mainly resident in warm waters.

    原文定位：The general perception is that leatherback turtles spend most of their time in warm waters

    同义替换：「it has been thought that」↔「general perception」，「are mainly resident」↔「spend most of their time」

  2. Houghton's team's research reveals that
    • the giant leatherback turtle appeared on a beach in Wales.
    • numbers of Atlantic leatherback turtles are declining.
    • leatherback turtles are mainly resident in warm waters.
    • a leatherback turtle will return to the same breeding site year after year.
    • jellyfish occur in large numbers around the British Isles during certain months.
    • Atlantic leatherback turtles spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters.

    答案：Atlantic leatherback turtles spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters.

    原文定位：The team's research findings suggest that, contrary to previous assumptions, these giants of the sea habitually frequent northerly latitudes for extended periods;many migrate north from the tropics after breeding, and frequently enter the waters around the British Isles

    同义替换：「reveals」↔「suggest」，「spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters」↔「habitually frequent northerly latitudes for extended periods」

  3. Houghton admits that he is unsure why
    • the giant leatherback turtle appeared on a beach in Wales.
    • numbers of Atlantic leatherback turtles are declining.
    • leatherback turtles are mainly resident in warm waters.
    • a leatherback turtle will return to the same breeding site year after year.
    • jellyfish occur in large numbers around the British Isles during certain months.
    • Atlantic leatherback turtles spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters.

    答案：jellyfish occur in large numbers around the British Isles during certain months.

    原文定位：According to Houghton, the exact cause of the jellyfish proliferation is as yet uncertain, though further studies by the project hope to provide an explanation for this seasonal abundance

    同义替换：「unsure」↔「uncertain」，「occur in large numbers」↔「proliferation」，「during certain months」↔「from April to November」

  4. Conservationists have had several theories as to why
    • the giant leatherback turtle appeared on a beach in Wales.
    • numbers of Atlantic leatherback turtles are declining.
    • leatherback turtles are mainly resident in warm waters.
    • a leatherback turtle will return to the same breeding site year after year.
    • jellyfish occur in large numbers around the British Isles during certain months.
    • Atlantic leatherback turtles spend a large part of their time in cool northern waters.

    答案：numbers of Atlantic leatherback turtles are declining.

    原文定位：Unusually low numbers of nesting females returning to these locations over the last two decades have prompted conservationists to worry that pollution, fishing, egg-snatching and coastal development were taking their toll on leatherback populations

    同义替换：「have had several theories as to why」↔「worry that pollution, fishing, egg-snatching and coastal development were taking their toll」，「declining」↔「low numbers」

  5. 31 The leatherback turtle is thought to be more difficult to study than almost any other marine creature.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：TRUE

    原文定位：Leatherback turtles have patrolled the oceans since dinosaurs roamed the earth, but we know less about their behaviour than that of almost any other marine creature

    同义替换：「more difficult to study」↔「know less about their behaviour」

  6. 32 Scientists are only able to observe leatherback turtles at close range during certain times of the year.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：TRUE

    原文定位：Any close encounters invariably take place in summer when females come ashore every three years or so to lay their eggs

    同义替换：「during certain times of the year」↔「take place in summer」

  7. 33 The decline in the population of Atlantic leatherback turtles is more advanced than that of their Pacific relatives.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：FALSE

    原文定位：In the Pacific, as few as 2,300 adult females remain. In 2003, no females turned up at the nesting colony at Terenggu, Malaysia, where 3,000 turtles regularly congregated in the 1960s;Houghton and the team are working to fill the gaping holes in our understanding of Atlantic turtles before these reptiles meet the same fate as their Pacific cousins

    同义替换：「relatives」↔「cousins」

  8. 34 Data from satellite transmitters suggests that annual variations in water temperature influence the migratory patterns of leatherback turtles.
    • TRUE
    • FALSE
    • NOT GIVEN

    答案：NOT GIVEN

    原文定位：The devices recorded the animal's location, depth and swim speed, plus the water temperature, and sent the information via satellite-receiving stations back to Swansea University in Wales each time the creature surfaced over a two-year period

  9. Efforts to Reduce the Impact of Longline Fishing Current measures aim to minimize the bycatch caused by commercial fishing fleets. One strategy involves the use of hooks that are 35_____ in shape.

    答案：circular

    原文定位：There is some positive news, however. Research into the types of hooks and bait placed on long lines suggests that a 'circular' type hook, soon to be tested in Ecuador, could reduce snagging of leatherback turtles by as much as 66 percent

    同义替换：「shape」↔「type」

  10. Artificial 36_____ made of fibreglass

    答案：sharks

    原文定位：Other devices, such as placing sharks made of fibreglass near lines

  11. or the emission of 37_____ may be used to deter turtles from the area.

    答案：acoustic signals

    原文定位：sending acoustic signals to scare turtles away

    同义替换：「emission」↔「sending」，「deter turtles」↔「scare turtles away」

  12. Bait can be made less attractive by using 38_____ .

    答案：blue dye

    原文定位：using blue dye to make bait less appealing

    同义替换：「attractive」↔「appealing」

  13. Hooks are positioned at depths below the turtles' 39_____ .

    答案：migratory paths

    原文定位：laying hooks below the level of the migratory paths along which most leatherbacks travel

  14. 40 Which of the following would be the most appropriate subtitle for Reading Passage 3?
    • The historical evolution of leatherback turtles since the prehistoric era.
    • A comparative study of nesting habits between Atlantic and Pacific turtles.
    • How new research findings may shift the strategy for Atlantic turtle conservation.
    • The environmental impact of jellyfish proliferation in northern waters.

    答案：How new research findings may shift the strategy for Atlantic turtle conservation.

    原文定位：If the results from the team's ongoing surveys in the Irish Sea corroborate these early findings, conservationists will have to turn their strategy for saving this critically endangered species on its head

    同义替换：「shift」↔「turn」

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