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【阅读理解】Reading: The Wetland and the Concrete
Lin Xiaoyu was a junior hydrologist at a provincial research institute in Hebei.
In 2016, she joined a five-year project to rehabilitate a 42-hectare wetland on the edge of the city.
The wetland had been classified as wasteland since 1998.
Domestic sewage, industrial runoff, and a falling water table had left it a foul, stiff marsh where only mosquitoes seemed to thrive.
The team's brief was to restore aeration, flush out contaminated sediment, and attract birds back.
The budget was 18.7 million yuan — enough for pumps, reed planting, and a small laboratory, but not for the extensive land acquisition that a conventional reserve would require.
Lin's mentor, Professor Chen Gang, 61, had spent his career on amphibious ecology.
"We cannot confine nature to a postage stamp," he told her. "We can only create a link."
The early results were mediocre.
In 2017, volunteers counted 11 species; in 2018, 14.
Then, in the spring of 2019, a single boulder was moved.
A drainage culvert had silted up, and the water level dropped by 30 centimetres.
Within two weeks, the mudflats emerged, and the birds came.
A flock of 60 black-tailed godwits descended on the site — a landmark moment.
Lin remembered the sound: a low, tense whistling, like a distant orchestra tuning.
The team's feedback loop was simple.
They measured water depth, dissolved oxygen, and invertebrate density.
They adjusted pumps.
They did not interfere.
By 2021, the count had reached 87 species, and the wetland had become a peripheral but distinctive stop on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.
The transformation was not a crusade.
It was a series of adjustments — some intentional, some accidental.
The cost arrived quietly.
In 2022, a property developer obtained approval for 1,200 apartments on land 400 metres from the wetland's northern boundary.
The environmental impact assessment was 22 pages long.
It mentioned "temporary noise disturbance" and "minor visual impact."
It did not mention the water table.
Lin and Chen submitted a formal critique.
They lost.
The developer's lawyer argued that the wetland's success was "an obstacle to urbanisation."
Chen, normally conservative in public, called the decision "counterproductive."
He was 62 and had recently been diagnosed with a heart condition.
He retired in January 2023.
At his farewell, he handed Lin a notebook with 14 years of handwritten water-quality data.
"Do not let them classify this as a park," he said. "It is an organ, not a sculpture."
Construction began in March 2023.
By August, the water level had dropped by 22 centimetres.
The godwits did not return that autumn.
Lin measured a 38 percent decline in invertebrate density.
She felt a cumulative sense of loss that she could not translate into a policy brief.
In October, she attended a public hearing.
A mother from a nearby neighbourhood testified that her son had developed asthma.
A developer's representative responded that the wetland had become "a mosquito breeding ground."
Lin wanted to explain the asymmetry: that the wetland had never been the problem, but the concrete was.
She did not speak.
She was afraid her voice would tremble.
In April 2024, Lin obtained a small grant — 240,000 yuan — to install three real-time sensors.
The data was posted online.
Within six months, 4,000 residents had subscribed to weekly water-quality updates.
The developer's construction proceeded.
The wetland did not recover.
But something else did.
In September 2024, a single black-tailed godwit was photographed on the remaining mudflat.
Lin saw the image on her phone at 6:40 in the morning.
She did not feel triumph.
She felt a strange, quiet recognition.
She saved the photograph, labelled it "one," and went back to work.
Now, in the winter of 2024, Lin walks the northern boundary every Friday.
The apartment towers are 11 storeys high.
The water is 8 centimetres lower than last year.
She carries a notebook, a handheld sensor, and a small bag of rice for the ducks that stay through the cold.
The birds that left have not returned in suffici
Questions
1. What was the main goal of the project Lin Xiaoyu joined in 2016?
A. To build 1,200 apartments near the wetland. B. To conduct a five-year study on mosquito populations. C. To rehabilitate a 42-hectare wetland and attract birds back. D. To create a conventional reserve with extensive land acquisition.
2. How did the water level change after construction began in March 2023?
A. It dropped by 22 centimetres by August. B. It remained stable throughout the year. C. It rose by 30 centimetres within two weeks. D. It dropped by 8 centimetres by winter.
3. What does the word "counterproductive" in paragraph 5 most nearly mean?
A. Having the opposite effect to what is intended. B. Causing a lot of noise and disturbance. C. Requiring a large amount of money. D. Being very productive and useful.
4. What can be inferred about Lin Xiaoyu's feelings when she saw the photograph of the single black-tailed godwit?
A. She felt indifferent and deleted the photograph. B. She felt triumphant and celebrated the bird's return. C. She felt a quiet recognition and continued her work. D. She felt angry and decided to confront the developer.
5. Which of the following best serves as a title for the passage?
A. A Study of Black-Tailed Godwits in Hebei B. The Success of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway C. The Fight for a Wetland: A Hydrologist's Struggle D. How to Build Apartments Near a Wetland