Asian elephants in China face extinction

时间：2006-09-16 07:08:34

（单词翻译:单击）


Asian elephants are loved in all the countries for being good helper to humans where they can be found. However, their valuable tusks1 make them fall the victim of poachers, too.
 
Chinanews, Beijing, September 15 – Chinese zoologists2 have found from a recent probe that fewer than 150 wild Asian elephants currently live in China, all of which are distributed in Xishuangbannan, Lingcang and Simao in Yunnan Province. Their ivories make them major targets of poachers, and they will surely die out in the next few years, if poaching remains3 uncontrolled.

 

Being the biggest terrestrial animal extant, Asian elephants are tamer than they appear. They are loved in all the countries for being good helper to humans where they can be found.

 

They are usually called "living cranes", helping4 people in heavy work like opening up wastelands, building roads, transportation, lumbering5, etc. An elephant can usually do the work of 20 to 30 people.

 

One might not know that elephants are very good swimmers. They can keep swimming for 5 to 6 hours at the speed of 2 to 3 km per hour. No river can stop them.

 

There is even a school for elephants in Xishuangbanna, training elephants to do a wide range of tricks on stage, which has attracted many tourists since it was founded in 1996. Nearly all the circus elephants in China are the graduates of that school.

 

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1 tusks d5d7831c760a0f8d3440bcb966006e8c     
n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头
参考例句：
  • The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
  • Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）
2 zoologists f4b4b0086bc1410e2fe80f76b127c27e     
动物学家( zoologist的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • Zoologists refer barnacles to Crustanceans. 动物学家把螺蛳归入甲壳类。
  • It is now a source of growing interest for chemists and zoologists as well. 它现在也是化学家和动物学家愈感兴趣的一个所在。
3 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
4 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的
参考例句：
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
5 lumbering FA7xm     
n.采伐林木
参考例句：
  • Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
  • Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

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