Question

【題目】Elephants losing tusks

People killing elephants for their tusks has long been a problem worldwide. Although laws have been introduced to ban the selling of tusks, they have not been enough to save the elephants.

But the giant animals have now “developed” their own solution to stay safe from hunters----by not growing tusks at all.

Scientists found that among female African elephants, as many as 98 percent of them now have no tusks, reported The Independent newspaper. The number was 15 percent in 1998 and only 1 percent in 1930, according to the BBC.

But this solution has less been developed by elephants themselves, and more by evolution.

Evolution is all about natural selection（選擇）. When an environment changes, for example, animals and plants that can deal with the change will stay alive while others won’t. And for elephants, the change came when hunters started killing them for their tusks. As a result, elephants with big tusks couldn’t stay alive because hunters wanted to shoot them. Those born with tusks managed to stay alive and give their “tuskless” genes（基因）to their babies. As a result, more and more elephants are now being born without tusks.

But this solution, as effective（有效地）as it might be, is a high price to pay for elephants. Tusks are important and play a number of roles, especially for male elephants, including fighting with other males, lifting and digging things up.

This is why scientists hope there can be other ways to protect elephants against hunters. They believe that when they are less likely to be killed , elephants will be able to grow tusks again.

To David Cowdrey, head of Policy and Campaigns at the International Found for Animal Welfare UK, however, this is not very likely to happen in the near future.

“Unfortunately, it comes down to the markets,” he told The Guardian. “As long as people will pay high prices for products that come from endangered animal and plants, they’re going to have price on them and that causes the hunting.”

【1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Elephants learned to lift and dig things up without tusks.

B. Elephants chose not to grow tusks because of their dangerous environment.

C. Elephants with no tusks had a greater chance of passing down their genes.

D. A tuskless elephant gives birth to more baby elephants than an elephant with big tusks.

【2】The underlined word “evolution” in paragraph 4 means “_________” ?

A. gradual change B. sudden development C. complete loss D. rapid growth

【3】What can you learn from the last two paragraphs?

A. We should work out a better solution to protect elephants.

B. People should pay lower prices for products made with elephant tusks.

C. Elephants’ living environments will soon be improved.

D. The key to elephant protection is stopping the trade in tusk products.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】D

【解析】短文大意：大象是一種瀕危動(dòng)物，由于象牙制品的買(mǎi)賣(mài)而導(dǎo)致大量的大象遭到捕殺。雖然已經(jīng)出臺(tái)法律禁止出售象牙，但它們還不足以拯救大象。大象也通過(guò)自身的進(jìn)化來(lái)拯救自己，那些長(zhǎng)著象牙的大象設(shè)法活下來(lái)，會(huì)把它們的“無(wú)牙”基因送給他們的孩子，結(jié)果越來(lái)越多的大象現(xiàn)在沒(méi)有牙齒就出生了，但是象牙對(duì)大象來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要，科學(xué)家們希望有其他的方法來(lái)保護(hù)大象不受獵人的攻擊。他們相信，當(dāng)它們不太可能被殺死時(shí)，大象將能夠再次長(zhǎng)出象牙。沒(méi)有市場(chǎng)就沒(méi)有殺戮，因此保護(hù)大象的關(guān)鍵是阻止象牙制品的貿(mào)易。

【1】判斷正誤題。根據(jù)文中句子“Tusks are important and play a number of roles, especially for male elephants, including fighting with other males, lifting and digging things up.”可知，大象會(huì)用象牙來(lái)提起和挖東西。A錯(cuò)誤；根據(jù)文中句子“And for elephants, the change came when hunters started killing them for their tusks. As a result, elephants with big tusks couldn’t stay alive because hunters wanted to shoot them.” 可知，由于面臨被捕殺的危險(xiǎn)環(huán)境，大象會(huì)選擇不生長(zhǎng)象牙，故B答案正確；根據(jù)Those born with tusks managed to stay alive and give their “tusk less” genes（基因）to their babies. As a result, more and more elephants are now being born without tusks. 可知，那些長(zhǎng)著象牙的大象設(shè)法活下來(lái)，把他們的“無(wú)牙”基因送給他們的孩子，C答案錯(cuò)誤；D選項(xiàng)文中并沒(méi)有提到，故正確答案選B。

【2】詞義猜測(cè)題。A. gradual change 逐漸變化；B. sudden development 突然發(fā)展；C. complete loss完全損失；D. rapid growth快速生長(zhǎng)。根據(jù)文中句子“Evolution is all about natural selection（選擇）. When an environment changes, for example, animals and plants that can deal with the change will stay alive while others won’t.” 進(jìn)化都是關(guān)于自然選擇的。當(dāng)環(huán)境發(fā)生變化時(shí)，例如，能夠應(yīng)對(duì)變化的動(dòng)植物會(huì)存活，而其他動(dòng)物則不會(huì)存活�？芍�“evolution”是關(guān)于自然選擇的，進(jìn)化的過(guò)程是漫長(zhǎng)的，故答案為A。

【3】主旨大意題。從短文最后兩段我們可以知道，只要人們對(duì)來(lái)自瀕危動(dòng)植物的產(chǎn)品付出高昂的代價(jià)，只要有交易的市場(chǎng)，就會(huì)導(dǎo)致捕獵。沒(méi)有市場(chǎng)就沒(méi)有殺戮，因此保護(hù)大象的關(guān)鍵是阻止象牙制品的貿(mào)易。答案為D。