(2020·厦门模拟)
While elephants born without tusks (长牙) are not unheard of, they normally form just 2 to 6 percent of the population. However, that is not the case at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, where an astonishing 33 percent of female elephants born after the country’s civil war ended in 1992 are tuskless. While that may appear to be just a coincidence, Joyce Poole, an elephant behavior expert, has another theory. The researcher thinks we may be witnessing unnatural evolution of the species due to the constant hunting of elephants for valuable ivory.
Poole says before the country’s 15-year-long civil war, the 100, 000-acre park was home to over 4, 000 elephants. However, by the time the conflict ended in 1992, about 90 percent of them had been killed for ivory to help finance weapons (武器) and meat to feed the soldiers. Of the less than 200 survivors, over 50 percent of adult females had no tusks. Therefore, it is not surprising that the park’s tuskless elephant population has grown greatly.
This is not the first time researchers have observed a great change in the population of elephants. At Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park and Lupande Game Management Area, which were heavily hunted in the 1970s and 1980s, 35% of elephants 25 years or older and 13% of those younger than 25 are now without tusks. A 2008 study published in the African Journal of Ecology found that the number of tuskless females at the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania went from 10. 5 percent in 1969 to almost 40 percent in 1989, largely due to illegal hunting for ivory.
The recent ban on ivory in both the US and China should help get rid of, or at least reduce, elephant hunting. However, scientists are not sure how long it will take for elephants with a higher rate of tuskless females, to change the trend.
【文章大意】你见过没有象牙的大象吗? 由于人们大量捕杀大象以获取值钱的象牙, 这样的现象在不断地增多。虽然有些国家采取了一定的措施, 但是没有人知道需要多长时间才能恢复正常。
1. What is the probable cause of the phenomenon mentioned in Paragraph 1?
A. Illegal hunting.
B. Constant farming.
C. A pure coincidence.
D. Natural evolution.
【解析】选A。推理判断题。根据第一段中的后半部分可知, 人们不断地猎杀大象来获得象牙, 可推知为非法猎捕导致的没有象牙的大象数量的增多。故选A。
2. Why did people kill so many elephants during the civil war in Mozambique?
A. To get funds by selling ivory.
B. To develop new weapons.
C. To provide food for local people.
D. To make ivory products.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段中的about 90 percent of them had been killed for ivory to help finance weapons and meat to feed the soldiers. 可知, 为了给士兵购买武器和肉食而猎捕大象的象牙。故选A。
3. Which of the following had the earliest record on tuskless elephants?
A. Gorongosa National Park.
B. South Luangwa National Park.
C. The Ruaha National Park.
D. Lupande Game Management Area.
【解析】选C。细节理解题。第一段提到了A选项中的公园, 记录时间在九十年代; 第三段前面提到了B、D项中的公园, 记录时间在七八十年代, 而C选项中的公园在第三段的后半部分, 记录时间从六十年代开始, 故选C。
4. What does the underlined phrase “the trend” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. Elephants facing greater danger.
B. Elephants growing more slowly.
C. Fewer female elephants staying alive.
D. More female elephants being tuskless.
【解析】选D。推理判断题。通过最后一句话的句意可知, the trend指代的是上文提到的a higher rate of tuskless females, 故选D。
【知识拓展】长难句分析
However, that is not the case at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, where an astonishing 33 percent of female elephants born after the country’s civil war ended in 1992 are tuskless.
分析: 主句为that is not the case; at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park是地点状语, 后跟一个where引导的非限制性定语从句。定语从句的主干为an astonishing 33 percent of female elephants are tuskless, 而born after the country’s civil war ended in 1992为后置定语修饰前面的elephants; after引导一个时间状语从句。
翻译: 然而在莫桑比克的Gorongosa 国家公园情况并不是这样的。在这里, 1992年国家内战结束后出生的33%的母象都是没有象牙的。
