Hunting

The days of the hunter are almost over in India．This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken, mainly by banning tiger-shooting, to protect those animals which still survive.

Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely out earliest forefathers, who at forest possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.

I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauties of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.

The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives（动机）.One of them wrote.

“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it cleanly and on the animal’s own territory（领地）。You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals, Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”

I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears（矛） and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger―shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used. The so―called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits.

72．There is no more hunting in India now partly because___.

A．it is dangerous to hunt there

B．hunting is already out of date

C．hunters want to protect animals

D．there are few animals left to hunt

73．The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly____.

A．to make the countryside safe

B．to earn people’s admiration

C．to gain power and influence

D．to improve their health

74．What do we learn about the big-game hunters?

A．They hunt old animals

B．They mistreat animals

C．They hunt for food

D．They hunt for money

75．What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?

A．Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face

B．Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons

C．Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers

D．Modern hunters should put their safety first

C

The Tasmanian devil is a rare marsupial(有袋动物)that lives only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The doglike animal is rapidly disappearing. The Tasmanian state government estimates that the number of devils has dropped from around 150,000 in the mid-1990s to between 20,000 and 50,000 at the end of 2007.

The devil was declared an endangered species last week. It is being wiped out by a rare cancer called devil facial tumor(肿瘤)disease(DFTD). It spreads like a cold or flu from animal to animal. The disease is passed when one devil bites another. When the marsupial is infected with DFTD, large tumors develop around its mouth and neck. These growths make it impossible for the devil to eat. Many finally die from starvation within six months of being infected. As the name implies, the disease occurs only in Tasmanian devils and cannot be passed to humans.

You’ve got to remember that devils are scavengers(清扫工). They search through garbage for food. Throughout Tasmania people maintain outdoor dumps. If somebody threw out a carcass(兽类尸体), then the devils might actually consume quite large quantities of it.

The disease has not yet appeared in the devil population that lives in the northwest region of Tasmania. Conservationists have captured some of the healthy devils and sent them to a new home on the mainland of Australia. They hope these DFTD-free marsupials can be used to start a captive-breeding population. Once there are more disease-free devils, they can then repopulate the areas of Tasmania where the species are being wiped out.

Tasmanian devils play an important role in keeping the state’s ecosystem in balance. They keep the population of other predators, such as foxes and wild cats, in check. Ray Nias, head of World Wildlife Federation—Australia’s conservation program, says all Tasmanian wildlife will suffer if the devil becomes extinct. “If the devils go and the foxes and cats increase, it would be all over for a good dozen or more species of mammals, many of which are unique to Tasmania.”

46. It can be inferred that the Tasmanian devil is __________.

A. a hard-working street-cleaner                        B. a grass-eating animal

C. a meat-eating marsupial                                D. A DFTD origin

47. What’s the reason for making the Tasmanian devil endangered?

A. A rare disease called DFTD occurs in Tasmanian devils.

B. Dogs like to attack Tasmanian devils.

C. Tasmanian people try to wipe out Tasmanian devils.

D. The region of Tasmania is becoming hard for Tasmanian devils to breed.

48. To which question does the last paragraph give the answer?

A. How should people protect the devils?

B. What do the Tasmanian people do with the devils?

C. What happens if the devils disappear?

D. Which animal is closely related to the devils?

49. What measures do Tasmanian people take to stop the devils from being wiped out?

A. Trapping disease-free devils in a new place to breed more young devils.

B. Searching the cause of the disease and finding an effective treatment.

C. Developing new chemicals for the infected animals.

D. Moving all the devils to a new home on the mainland of Australia.

50. What’s true about DFTD?

A. It’s a disease that can be spread to human beings.

B. It’s a cold that occurs only in Tasmanian devils.

C. It’s a flu that Tasmanian devils get from their companions.

D. It’s a cancer that can be passed from one Tasmanian devil to another.

Detectives often look for footprints when they try to solve crimes. Scientists use footprints, too—dinosaur footprints when they try to figure out how dinosaurs lived and moved.

Dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. Today scientists work to solve the mysteries of these ancient animals.

Footprints, or tracks(脚印), are an important way to learn about dinosaurs. Christian Meyer of the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland, calls dinosaur tracks “the closest thing to a movie” of dinosaurs.

“They tell us something about the size of the animal, the way they were walking…they tell us something about their speed,” Meyer said.

Tracks also show that dinosaurs sometimes traveled in groups. Traveling in groups probably helped dinosaurs protect themselves from enemies. Plus, some meat-eating dinosaurs may have hunted in groups, much like wolves do today. Being in a group could help dinosaurs work together to kill large animals.

Dinosaur footprints can be as small as a few inches across, but they can also be as big as a few feet across. Dinosaur footprints have been found throughout the world at over 1,500 sites, including a T. Rex footprint in New Mexico. “Trackways” are groups of footprints.

And scientists aren’t the only ones finding dinosaur tracks—kids can, too! Eleven-year-old Mark Turner and nine-year-old Daniel Helm discovered dinosaur tracks in British Columbia, anada. Soon scientists began studying the tracks.

Scientists and other people interested in studying dinosaurs are working to save the trackways from activities like construction and mining.

1.The passage mainly tells us that_______.

A.  there were really dinosaurs on the earth millions of years ago

B.  dinosaurs were the most frightening animals in the past

C. dinosaur footprints are important in learning about dinosaurs

C.  why dinosaurs died out millions of years ago

2.By studying footprints scientists can know the following EXCEPT _______.

A. how big the dinosaur was             B. what color the dinosaur was

C. how fast the dinosaur could run        D. how the dinosaur walked

3. By working in groups, some meat-eating dinosaurs_______.

   A. made the hunting of large animals easily

   B. could travel a long way without being lost

   C. could protect themselves from being hunted by wolves

   D. could get to a place faster

4. From the last paragraph we can infer that some human activities like mining_______.

   A. are helpful to the study of dinosaurs

   B. can help scientists solve many mysteries

   C. can lead to the discovery of the footprints

   D. can destroy the footprints of the dinosaur

Last spring, members of Alaska’s Troop 34, based in Fairbanks, trudged (跋涉) out into the snowy wilderness to take part in their state’s Take a Kid Trapping program. In many parts of the state, beavers （海狸）are pests and need to be controlled.

The 10－to－12－year－old girls found out where beavers lived, set traps, and skinned the two animals they caught. The girls hope to catch ten more beavers so that the entire troop can make mittens and hats with the fur. They also want to cook beaver meat.

Troop leaders and members say the Scouts are doing a good deed by helping control the state’s beaver population. But animal－rights activists say trapping is cruel. They want the Girl Scouts to stop in their tracks.

Beavers aren’t only causing a problem in Alaska. Residents in Sampson County, N.C., have turned to a local committee to help them battle the growing beaver population there.

County landowners are frustrated after the county spent more than $ 50,000 in eight years trying to reduce the beaver population through a government program. The joint state and federal program included paying money to trappers for every beaver carcass they trapped.

Many local residents say that the program didn’t work because there were too few trappers. That’s why the county set up its own committee to investigate other ways to control the area’s beaver population.

The county will rely on its own beaver－trapping program. It has hired a trapper to set traps in various areas. The county will pay $10 for every beaver carcass.

Why do many people say that beavers are a nuisance? For beavers to survive, they need lots of water. Water provides the large rodent （啮齿动物）with a place to hide from meat – eating animals. Beavers also store food underwater for the winter. When there’s not enough water in a particular area, beavers get busy building dams.

Beaver dams can cause major flooding and damage to the surrounding countryside as the animals cut down trees to use in their construction projects. Beavers build canals to transport heavy objects.

1.What is Alaska’s Troop 34?

A．A team of the Boy Scouts.                 B．An army.

C．A team of the Girl Scouts.                 D．A sports team.

2.Why does the troop hope to catch ten more beavers?

A．To fulfill their task.

B．To sell them for money.

C．To get enough fur.

D．To exchange them for mittens and hats.

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Sampson County has to find a new way to control the beaver population there.

B．The government program in Sampson County has proved to be a success.

C．The local government has controlled the number of beavers in the County.

D．More and more trappers now start to set traps in Sampson County.

4.Local residents hate beavers because they can ___________.

A．cause damage to dams

B．block up canals with heavy objects.

C．do great harm to construction projects.

D．badly damage the environment and cause floods.

Last spring, members of Alaska’s Troop 34, based in Fairbanks, trudged (跋涉) out into the snowy wilderness to take part in their state’s Take a Kid Trapping program. In many parts of the state, beavers （海狸）are pests and need to be controlled.
The 10－to－12－year－old girls found out where beavers lived, set traps, and skinned the two animals they caught. The girls hope to catch ten more beavers so that the entire troop can make mittens and hats with the fur. They also want to cook beaver meat.
Troop leaders and members say the Scouts are doing a good deed by helping control the state’s beaver population. But animal－rights activists say trapping is cruel. They want the Girl Scouts to stop in their tracks.
Beavers aren’t only causing a problem in Alaska. Residents in Sampson County, N.C., have turned to a local committee to help them battle the growing beaver population there.
County landowners are frustrated after the county spent more than $ 50,000 in eight years trying to reduce the beaver population through a government program. The joint state and federal program included paying money to trappers for every beaver carcass they trapped.
Many local residents say that the program didn’t work because there were too few trappers. That’s why the county set up its own committee to investigate other ways to control the area’s beaver population.
The county will rely on its own beaver－trapping program. It has hired a trapper to set traps in various areas. The county will pay $10 for every beaver carcass.
Why do many people say that beavers are a nuisance? For beavers to survive, they need lots of water. Water provides the large rodent （啮齿动物）with a place to hide from meat – eating animals. Beavers also store food underwater for the winter. When there’s not enough water in a particular area, beavers get busy building dams.
Beaver dams can cause major flooding and damage to the surrounding countryside as the animals cut down trees to use in their construction projects. Beavers build canals to transport heavy objects.
【小题1】What is Alaska’s Troop 34?