Zoo elephants don’t live as long as those in the wild, according to a study sure to cause debate about keeping the giant animals on display. Researchers compared the life spans of elephants in European zoos with those living in Amboseli National Park in Kenya and others working on a timber （木材） enterprise in Burma. Animals in the wild or in natural working conditions had life spans twice that or more of their relatives in zoos.

Animal care activists have urged in recent years to discourage keeping elephants in zoos, largely because of the lack of space and small numbers of animals that can be kept in a group.

The researchers found that the median life span for African elephants in European zoos was 16.9 years, compared with 56 years for elephants who died of natural causes in Kenya’s Amboseli Park. Adding in those elephants killed by people in Africa lowered the median life span there to 35.9 years. For the more endangered Asian elephants, the median life span in European zoos was 18.9 years, compared with 41.7 years for those working in the Burma Timber Enterprise. Median means half died younger than that age and half lived longer.

There is some good news, though. The life spans of zoo elephants have improved in recent years, suggesting an improvement in their care and raising, but “Protecting elephants in Africa and Asia is far more successful than protecting them in Western zoos.”

There are about 1,200 elephants in zoos, half in Europe, researchers concentrated on female elephants, which make up 80 percent of the zoo population. One amazing thing was that Asian elephants born in zoos had shorter life spans than those brought to the zoos from the wild.

Zoos usually lack large areas that elephants are used to in the wild, and that zoo animals often are alone or with one or two other unrelated animals, while in the wild they tend to live in related groups of 8 to 12 animals. In Asian elephants, baby death rates are two to three times higher in zoos than in the Burmese logging camps, and then, in adulthood, zoo-born animals die young. People are not sure why.

1．What is argued in this passage?

A．Zoo elephants don’t live as long as those in the wild.

B．Elephants should not be on display.

C．Asian elephants are in danger.

D．Asia is far more successful protecting elephants in zoos.

2．What does the underlined word “median” mean according to the passage?

A．Average.           B．Longest.           C．Shortest.         D．Ordinary.

3．Which of the following is NOT the disadvantage of keeping elephants in zoos?

A．Limited number of relatives.              B．Lack of space.

C．Shorter life span.                       D．Less attention.

4．Who does the writer of the passage expect to pay more attention to the issue addressed?

A．Zoologists.                                         B．Zoo Visitors.

C．Animal care activists.                          D．The public.

Teaching Boys: Developing classroom practices that work

Amanda Keddie and Martin Mills

Bridges the gap between theory and practice to offer a practical and sustainable framework for teaching boys in classrooms of all levels.

Sales points

• Teaching boys remains one of the most concerned issues in education today.

• Many books have been published analyzing why boys perform less well than girls, and why some boys struggle at school. But they don’t show teachers what will work: this book does.

• The authors offer a research-based framework for classroom strategies that work with boys—and don’t disadvantage girls.

Description

Boys’ education continues to be a focus of public anxiety among teachers. Concern about boys’ general educational under-achievement and the impact this under-achievement has on the boys themselves, as well as on the broader society, continues to fuel disagreement and debate on the best approach to take in response.

Teaching Boys provides a framework for developing practical and sustainable ways to improve boys’ education.

The book indicates how what teachers do in the classroom can enable boys’ academic and social outcomes. With detailed case studies, Keddie & Mills outline a range of practical classroom strategies that will assist teachers to meet the challenge of teaching boys, without neglecting the girls in the process.

About the Author

Amanda Keddie is a researcher at the University of Queensland. Her research interests and teaching areas focus on classroom teaching, curriculum and educational sociology.

Martin Mills is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. He has written several books, and is co-author of Teachers and Schooling Making a Difference （Allen & Unwin, 2005）.

1．The purpose of this passage is ________.

A．to promote classroom teaching

B．to advertising a book

C．to analyzing boys’ academic performance

D．to introduce two educators

2．What problem is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Boys’ general educational under-achievement and its impact.

B．Teachers’ anxiety to teach boys.

C．Lack of practical strategies for teaching boys.

D．Public opinions on classroom teaching.

3．The book Teaching Boys is intended for ________.

A．parents              B．teachers           C．students     D．boys

4．What can we know from the passage?

A．Teachers’ concern makes the disagreement and debate on the best approach more heated.

B．Teachers’ concern brings about the disagreement and debate on the best approach.

C．The strategies recommended by the book are of no benefit to girls.

D．Teaching boys to improve their achievement is a newly-raised issue.

The suit _______him well except that the color was a little bright.

A. matched         B. fitted           C. suited          D. adapted

—Will you go to the cinema tonight? 

—I’m not sure .It _________.

A. all depend         B. all depends          C. depend on it          D. all be depended

This coat, though cheap, will ______a good present for my mother.

A. make           B. give         C. turn         D. do

—Have you seen her recently?

—Yes. _______that I met her in the cinema yesterday.

A. I happened         B. it happens       C. It so happened        D. I happen

So loudly______ that even people in the next house could hear him.

A. he spoke          B. he speaks         C. does he speak       D. did he speak

—Are there any English storybooks for us students in the library?

—There are only a few,_______.

A. if some            B. if any                  C. if many           D. if ever

I don't think it's any use _____with him. You might as well _____ him alone.

A. arguing, leave                         B. to argue, leaving

C. argue, leave                          D. arguing, to leave

After the accident, the policeman did a lot of work to find some ______to get information .

A. lookers-on              B. viewers         C. people           D. witnesses