阅读理解。
Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies
like a fat chicken, eats green leaves, has the stomach of a cow and has claws (爪) on its wings when young.
They build their homes about 4.6m above the river, an important feature (特征) for the safety of the young.
It is called the hoatzin.
In appearance, the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red
on the underside. The head is small, with a large set of feathers on the top, bright red eyes, and blue skin. Its
nearest relatives are the common birds, cuckoos. Its most striking feature, though, is only found in the young.
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip. Using
these four claws, together with the beak (喙), they can climb about in the bushes, looking very much like
primitive birds must have done. When the young hoatzins have learned to fly, they lose their claws.
During the drier months between December and March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30
birds, but in April, when the rainy season begins, they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven
birds for producing purposes.
1. What is the text mainly about? [ ]
A. Hoatzins in dry and rainy seasons.
B. The relatives and enemies of hoatzins.
C. Primitive birds and hoatzins of the Amazon.
D. The appearance and living habits of hoatzins.
2. Young hoatzins are different from their parents in that _____. [ ]
A. they look like young cuckoos
B. they have claws on the wings
C. they eat a lot like a cow
D. they live on river banks
3. What can we infer about primitive birds from the text? [ ]
A. They had claws to help them climb.
B. They could fly long distances.
C. They had four wings like hoatzins.
D. They had a head with long feathers on the top.
4. Why do hoatzins collect together in smaller groups when the rainy season comes? [ ]
A. To find more food.
B. To protect themselves better.
C. To keep themselves warm.
D. To produce their young.
