限时练8 阅读理解+语法填空+应用文写作-【红对勾】2023版新高考英语二轮复习讲与练

　 　 　 　 讲与练 高三二轮·英语 限时练 8　 阅读理解+语法填空+应用文写作 (时间:40 分钟) Ⅰ、阅读理解 (2022·益阳模拟) The red siskin holds a special place in Venezuela. Pictures of the bird appear on the country􀆳s money, on products and in school textbooks. The “Little Cardinal”, as the bird is affectionately called, is loved by Venezuelans. However, this brilliantly colored songbird is now in danger. It has been vanishing at an alarming rate from the wild because of shrinking habitat and poachers cashing in on its red feathers prized around the world by breeders of exotic birds. Once flourishing in the millions, as few as about 300 remain in the wild in Venezuela. That threat has brought together an international team that includes scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C. , and poor coffee farmers in Venezuela. They are all set on rescuing the red siskin from extinction. “They don􀆳t have many years left, unless we do something right now,” said Miguel Arvelo, a vet for the non-profit organization Provita. The Red Siskin Initiative began about three years ago. The plan is to persuade farmers to plant organic coffee plants with layers of thick branches that are inviting to the endangered bird. In the meantime, a red siskin breeding center is being built at a private zoo in Venezuela. The zoo expects to hatch 200 of the birds next year, which will be introduced into the coffee plant habitats. The coffee initiative has been showing positive results. Some 40 farmers in the coastal mountains of Carayaca have stopped cutting dow