Question

【题目】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（选择）. 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：大象是一种濒危动物，由于象牙制品的买卖而导致大量的大象遭到捕杀。虽然已经出台法律禁止出售象牙，但它们还不足以拯救大象。大象也通过自身的进化来拯救自己，那些长着象牙的大象设法活下来，会把它们的“无牙”基因送给他们的孩子，结果越来越多的大象现在没有牙齿就出生了，但是象牙对大象来说非常重要，科学家们希望有其他的方法来保护大象不受猎人的攻击。他们相信，当它们不太可能被杀死时，大象将能够再次长出象牙。没有市场就没有杀戮，因此保护大象的关键是阻止象牙制品的贸易。

【1】判断正误题。根据文中句子“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，大象会用象牙来提起和挖东西。A错误；根据文中句子“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，由于面临被捕杀的危险环境，大象会选择不生长象牙，故B答案正确；根据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，那些长着象牙的大象设法活下来，把他们的“无牙”基因送给他们的孩子，C答案错误；D选项文中并没有提到，故正确答案选B。

【2】词义猜测题。A. gradual change 逐渐变化；B. sudden development 突然发展；C. complete loss完全损失；D. rapid growth快速生长。根据文中句子“Evolution is all about natural selection（选择）. When an environment changes, for example, animals and plants that can deal with the change will stay alive while others won’t.” 进化都是关于自然选择的。当环境发生变化时，例如，能够应对变化的动植物会存活，而其他动物则不会存活。可知“evolution”是关于自然选择的，进化的过程是漫长的，故答案为A。

【3】主旨大意题。从短文最后两段我们可以知道，只要人们对来自濒危动植物的产品付出高昂的代价，只要有交易的市场，就会导致捕猎。没有市场就没有杀戮，因此保护大象的关键是阻止象牙制品的贸易。答案为D。