备战英语六级听力练习题第19期

 

Passage Two 

14.

A) The Asian elephant is easier to tame. 

B) The Asian elephant's skin is more valuable. 

C) The Asian elephant is less popular with tourists. 

D) The Asian elephant produces ivory of a better quality.

15. 

A) From the captured or tamed elephants. 

B) From the British wildlife protection group. 

C) From elephant hunters in Thailand and Burma. 

D) From tourists visiting the Thai-Burmese border.

16.

A) Their taming for circuses and zoos. 

B) The destruction of their natural homes. 

C) Man's lack of knowledge about their behavior. 

D) The greater vulnerability to extinction¹ than other species.

答案及参考原文：

AAB

The Asian elephant is one of the world's rarest animals. Unfortunately, its sad condition is not as well popularized as that of the African elephant. This is because Asian elephant's ivory supplies only a small percentage of the world's ivory trade, besides we know very little about Asian elephants. They live in the remote forests of southern Asian. And it's therefore very difficult to study them. Most knowledge of Asian elephants is from those that have been captured or tamed(15). Asian elephants are easier to tame than African elephants(14). The elephants you see in the circuses and zoos are nearly always Asian. The major reason for the decline of Asian elephants is the loss of their forests. The huge increase in human population has caused the destruction of Asian forests(16) for human occupation. As a result, Asian elephants are compelled to scatter² in different areas. Originally, they lived all over the continent. But now there are only small isolated³ populations left. These isolated elephant populations are more vulnerable to extinction. Wild Asian elephants are threatened by illegal capture for taming. They are also killed for ivory and skin. In July, 1990, a British wildlife group uncovered a black market in elephant's skin gifts. Elephants are shot in the forests along the border between Thailand and Burma. And their skins are sold to factories and Bangkok. The skin is made into shoes, boots, suitcases, wallet, etc. for sale to tourists.

14. What's the difference between the Asian elephant and the African elephant?

15. Where does most knowledge of Asian elephants come from?

16. What the major cause of the decline in Asian elephants?

1 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

2 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。