Good morning. Today I'd like to present the findings of our Year 2 project on wildlife found in gardens throughout our city. I'll start by saying something about the background to the project, then talk a little bit about our research techniques, and then indicate some of our interim findings.
First of all, how did we choose our topic? Well, there are four of us in the group and one day while we were discussing a possible focus, two of the group mentioned that they had seen yet more sparrow hawks - one of Britain's most interesting birds of prey - in their own city centre gardens and wondered why they were turning up in these gardens in great numbers.【Q31】 We were all very engaged by the idea of why wild animals would choose to inhabit a city garden. Why is it so popular with wildlife when the countryside itself is becoming less so?
The first thing we did was to establish what proportion of the urban land is taken up by private gardens. We estimated that it was about one fifth, and this was endorsed by looking at large-scale usage, maps in the town land survey office 【Q32】- 24% to be precise. Our own informal discussions with neighbours and friends led us to believe that many garden owners had interesting experiences to relate regarding wild animal sightings so we decided to survey garden owners from different areas of the city. Just over 100 of them completed a survey once every two weeks for twelve months - ticking off species they had seen from a pro forma list - and adding the names of any rarer ones.【Q33】 Meanwhile, we were doing our own observations in selected gardens throughout the city. We deliberately chose smaller ones because they were by far the most typical in the city. The whole point of the project was to look at the norm not the exception.【Q34】 Alongside this primary research on urban gardens, we were studying a lot of books about the decline of wild animals in the countryside 【Q35】and thinking of possible causes for this.
So what did we find? Well, so much that I just won't have time to tell you about here. If you're interested in reading our more comprehensive findings, we've produced detailed graphic representations on the college web-site and of course any of the group would be happy to talk to you about them. Just email us.
What we've decided to present today is information about just three species - because we felt these gave a good indication of the processes at work in rural and urban settings as a whole.【Q36】
The first species to generate a lot of interesting information was frogs.【Q37】 And there was a clear pattern here - they proliferate where there is suitable water. Garden ponds are on the increase, rural ponds are disappearing, leading to massive migration to the towns.
Hedgehogs are also finding it easier to live in urban areas - this time because their predators are not finding it quite so attractive to leave their rural environment , so hedgehogs have a belter survival rate in cities.【Q38】 We had lots of sightings, so all in all we had no difficulties with our efforts to count their numbers precisely.【Q39】
Our final species is the finest of bird singers, the song thrush. On the decline in the countryside, they are experiencing a resurgence in urban gardens because these days, gardeners are buying lots of different plants which means there's an extensive range of seeds around, which is what they feed on. 【Q40】Another factor is the provision of nesting places — which is actually better in gardens than the countryside. Hard to believe it, but it's true. Incidentally, we discovered that a massive new survey on song thrushes is about to be launched, so you should keep an eye open for that.
Now, I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have…
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
听前预测：定位词为topic。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“某一物种的数量下降”；B 为“城市 发展的影响”；C 为“研究近期的一个现象”。本题有一定难度，根据录音：We were all very engaged by the idea of why wild animals would choose to inhabit a city garden，可排除选项A 和选项B，剩下选项C 即为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为exact proportion。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“官方文件”；B 为“大量的照片”；C 为“与调研人员讨论”。根据定位词做题，出题句为：…this was endorsed by looking at large-scale usage maps in the town land survey office，注意同义替换，题干official documents 原文替换为 maps，故选项A 为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为garden owners。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“正式面谈”；B 为“动物的记录”；C 为“看 到稀有物种”。本题难度较大，出题句为：…survey garden owners from different areas of the city. Just over 100 of them completed a survey once every two weeks for twelve months — ticking off species they had seen from a pro forma list — and adding the names of any rarer ones，描述了调研的记录过程，故选项B 为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为observations。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“有许多动物物种”；B 为“具有代表性”； C 为“稀有动物数量稳定”。出题句为：We deliberately chose smaller ones because they were by far the most typical in the city，其中“most typical”为“最为典型”的，故选项B 为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为extensive reading。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“野生动物在农村中的问题”；B 为“城 市中动物的数量”；C 为“近期的造园实践”。本题定位比较容易：…we were studying a lot of books about the decline of wild animals in the countryside. 注意同义替换，extensive reading 即 a lot of books，countryside 即rural area，故选项A 为正确答案。
听前预测：定位词为three animal species，because。
题目解析：迅速浏览一遍选项，主要区别如下：A 为“很多数据”；B 为“最有兴趣”；C 为“最能反映趋势”。出题句为：…because we felt these gave a good indication of the processes at work in rural and urban settings as a whole，故选项C 为正确答案。
