题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
河南省郑州市第一中学2018届高三上学期英语12月月考试卷
For centuries, elephants have played a big role in the world's economies, culture and religion. The African elephant used to be found all over Africa and the Asian elephant moved from Syria to China to Indonesia. Nowadays, elephants are found in small groups in the south of the Sahara Desert and scarcely in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and India.
In the early twentieth century, there were close to ten million elephants, and now the elephant number is as low as 252,000 and expected to drop down to 160,000 by 2025. Between 2007 and 2014, the elephant population fell by at least 30%, or 144,000 elephants. As researchers have traveled over the African plains, they only spotted one herd of 36 elephants in an area like the size of Mexico. It is clear that these gentle mammals are disappearing right before our eyes.
There are many reasons why the elephant population has been decreasing, one of which is their habitat. Humans are competing with elephants for living space, and as more and more humans clear the land that is being used by elephants, the elephants have less space. Elephant hunting or “poaching” has been a major factor for the disappearance of this species, and they are killed only for their valuable ivory tusks. Although the trade of tusks is illegal, it is still a common practice in many places.
Often, all the local people living among elephants would be farmers, and found that they could make more money by selling the tusks of one elephant, than doing manual labor for twelve years. That alone makes it really hard to prevent them from killing the elephants.
Some places such as Botswana, have put in extra effort to protect their wildlife from poachers by founding their Botswana Defense Force, which is made up of around 700 specially-trained soldiers that are stationed in 40 different areas. You may feel worried about the present situations elephants are in, but there are ways to help. To find out how you can help elephant conservation, adopt an elephant, or donate, click here.
China is making great effort to protect its cultural relics. In early May, State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) added 1,943 unmovable cultural relics sites to the list. So the number of these sites on this list will increase to 4,295.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}The newly added sites were reviewed(评审) by more than 130 experts. They spread around Shanxi, Henan, Hunan, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces, including 795 pieces of ancient architecture and 516 ancient ruins.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}In an interview, the head of the SACH said that new types of cultural relics sites have been newly listed to get protection at first, including industrial relics, rural architecture and cultural landscapes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}For example, some are in the north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.Despite great achievements during the years of effort, problems still exist.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Historic relics get stolen and antiques are taken abroad secretly.The head of the SACH said that people has faced a challenge to the protection of cultural relics for a long time. So, balancing the relationship between economic development and protection of history is important. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He also used good examples of protection, describing how some cultural relics sites have become education bases for young people and popular tourist places, where a lot of people spend their holiday.
A. All of them need protecting as quickly as possible. B. They also include outstanding modern architecture. C. The SACH has found a total of 4,295 cultural relics. D. Many relics have been destroyed in the process of urban construction. E. Cultural relics sites should become positive factors to improve economic development. F. When talking about protecting the cultural relics, the head of SACH ordered some to be saved. G. Moreover, many of the new sites also include valuable cultural relics from ethnic minority regions(少数民族地区). |
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