新西兰英语 405 Godwits leave New Zealand

　　Christchurch city is holding a ceremony tonight at 6.30pm to farewell the godwits. People are encouraged to come to the beach with their cameras to see the godwits leave. The day and time are chosen because of the tides at that time. Not all the godwits leave at the same time. They usually leave in groups of 5 to 30. Some will leave now and others will leave in the next few weeks. When they have all gone, the cathedral bells will ring for 30 minutes.
However, about 10% of the birds do not leave. They are the young birds which stay here during the winter. They are not ready to breed¹.
Although the godwits fly from Alaska to New Zealand without stopping, when they return to Alaska they stop on the coast of the Yellow Sea in North East China, Korea or Japan. They cannot rest on water or feed at sea so they stop on land, where there are mud flats. They have a long bill which they dig in the mud to find crabs² and other food.
Click on this link to see some photos:
godwits photos

1 breed   

n.品种，种类；vi.繁殖，产仔；vt.养殖，产生

参考例句：

• The parents are trying to breed their son a musician.这对父母尽力要把儿子培养成为音乐家。
• This breed of horses is both tall and heavily grown.这种马既高且大。

2 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》