听力原文：The European cuckoo is notorious for its odd way of raising its young. The parent

听力原文： The European cuckoo is notorious for its odd way of raising its young. The parents normally live in various regions of Asia or Africa, but migrate to England in the warm months. The first cuckoos reach England in April, and each year people write to newspapers to claim that they have heard the first cuckoo. The bird's call "Cue-coo" is regarded in North Europe as a sign that summer has nearly arrived. After the ice and snow of winter, the sound "Cue-coo" is most welcome, so the bird has a special significance for many Europeans.

The female cuckoo manages to reproduce her species by laying eggs which she then abandons. Each cuckoo tends to lay her eggs in the nest of one particular species. It is amazing that the female will lay eggs which have very similar colours and markings to the eggs of the host bird. This ability helps to prevent the host bird from rejecting the cuckoo's egg.

The cuckoo lays about a dozen eggs altogether at about two-day intervals. Each egg is in a different nest. Having laid her eggs for the year, the female's role as mother is completed. In late July or early August, she flies to the south to a warmer climate.

Meanwhile, each young cuckoo is busy looking after itself and doing the job quite well. The chicks hatch after 12 or 13 days, which is usually much sooner than any of the foster-mother's brood. The young cuckoos lift up any other eggs or chicks so that they fall over the side of the nest. In this way, the cuckoo removes any competition for the foster-mother's attention.

The young cuckoo grows much faster than the foster-mother's own chicks. It gets most of the food brought back to the nest by the foster-mother. After a few weeks, the cuckoo chick grows too big to sit in the nest, and much bigger than the foster-mother. But it is still not ready to fly, and remains on the nest, screaming for the food. The foster-mother is stimulated by this noise and has to work hard all day searching for the food.

After about three weeks, the cuckoo chick starts to fly. But it still stays at the nest most of the time for a further one or two weeks, until it is completely independent. And at this time, it can fly well and find its own food. The bird then remains in Britain until September. And then it too, like its parents, migrates for the winter to the warmer countries of the south.

Questions:

16. How long does a cuckoo stay in Britain according to the talk？

17.What does the bird's call "Cuc-coo" suggest for North Europeans？

18.Where does a female cuckoo lay her eggs？

19.When will a young cuckoo leave its foster-mother's nest？

20.which of the following is TRUE about the cuckoos？

(36)

A．All the year around.

B．For 10 months.

C．For about half a year.

D．For three or four months in summer.