专题4 研究人员：非洲象数量大幅下降-2025年高考英语阅读理解拔尖与突破（全国通用）

专题4 研究人员：非洲象数量大幅下降 Researchers: Huge Drop in African Elephants African elephants are Earth's largest land animals. They are very intelligent and highly social. A recent study also says that numbers of African elephants sharply decreased over about fifty years. The researchers described their work as the most comprehensive study of the two African elephant species - the savanna elephant and forest elephant. The study used data gathered at 475 areas in 37 countries from 1964 through 2016. It found that savanna elephant populations fell by about 70 percent on average and forest elephant populations dropped by about 90 percent on average. The researchers mainly blame the decline on illegal hunting and the loss of the animals' natural environment. FILE - Elephants walk at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, April 4, 2024. (REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo) However, the report also says populations of each species increased in other places because of wildlife protection programs. "A lot of the lost populations won't come back, and many low-density populations face continued pressures. We likely will lose more populations going forward,” said George Wittemyer. He is a Colorado State University professor who works with the conservation group Save the Elephants. Wittemyer helped lead the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Illegal hunting of animals is also called poaching. Elephant poachers usually kill the animals in order to remove their tusks. These prized objects are then sold on illegal markets, driven mostly by demand in China and other parts of Asia. The research says agricultural expansion is mainly responsible for the loss of elephant habitat, meaning the natural areas where the animal lives. Poaching has mostly affected forest elephants. Its population is estimated to be about one-third that of savanna elephants. Poaching has been especially damaged populations in northern and eastern Africa, such as Mali, Chad and Nigeria. But, in southern Africa, elephant populations rose at 42 percent of the studied areas. "We have seen real success in a number of places across Africa, but particularly in southern Africa, with strong growth in populations in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia,” Wittemyer said. He credited conservation efforts by governments and independent organizations for the growth. The study did not provide a continent-wide population count. It says the different methods used for counting over different periods made it impossible to keep a unified count of the African elephants. Instead, it estimates population trends in each of the studied areas. A separate report from conservationists places the population of African elephants at between 415,000 and 540,000 as of 2016, the last year of the study period. It remains the most recent comprehensive continent-wide estimate. Colorado State's Wittemyer said, "While the trends are not good, it is important to recognize the successes we have had and continue to have. Learning how and where we can be successful in conserving elephants is as important as recognizing the severity of the decline they have experienced." Words in This Story comprehensive - adj. including many, most or all species - n. a group of animals or plants that are similar decline - n. the change to a lower number trend - n. the general direction of change 【阅读任务】 1. What’s the main idea of this passage? (Write it down in 50 words or less) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. 读完上面文章后，请把自己认为非常好的单词、短语或表达写下来。认真体会它们的用法并熟记，之后再思考哪些词汇可以在写作文时使用。 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 中文译文： 研究人员：非洲象数量大幅下降 作者：海多 二零二四年十一月十三日 非洲象是地球上最大的陆地动物。它们非常聪明，而且高度社会化。最近的一项研究还表明，非洲象的数量在过去50年里急剧减少。 研究人员称他们的工作是对两种非洲象——热带草原象和森林象——最全面的研究。该研究使用了从1964年到2016年在37个国家的475个地区收集的数据。 研究发现，热带草原象的数量平均下降了约70%，森林象的数量平均下降了约90%。研究人员主要将这种下降归咎于非法狩猎和动物自然环境的丧失。 2024年4月4日，肯尼亚，大象在安博塞利国家公园散步。 然而，该报告还表示，由于野生动物保护计划，每种物种的数量在其他地方都有所增加。 “很多失去的种群不会再回来，许多低密度的种群面临着持续的压力。我们可能会失去更多的人口，”乔治·维特梅尔说。他是科罗拉多州立大学的教授，在保护组织“拯救大象”工作。Wittemyer帮助领导了这项发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上的研究。 非法狩猎动物也被称为偷猎。偷猎者通常会为了取象牙而杀死大象。这些珍贵的物品然后在非法市场上出售，主要是由中国和亚洲其他地区的需求推动的。 该研究称，农业扩张是大象栖息地丧失的主要原因，大象栖息地是指动物生活的自然区域。 偷猎主要影响森林象。据估计，它的数量约为热带草原象的三分之一。在马里、乍得和尼日利亚等非洲北部和东部地区，偷猎尤其严重。但是，在非洲南部，大象数量增加了42%的研究区域。 维特梅尔说：“我们在非洲许多地方看到了真正的成功，尤其是在南部非洲，博茨瓦纳、津巴布韦和纳米比亚的人口增长强劲。”他将这一增长归功于政府和独立组织的保护努力。 该研究没有提供整个大陆的人口统计。该组织表示，在不同时期使用不同的计数方法使得不可能保持非洲象的统一数量。相反，它估计了每个研究地区的人口趋势。 环保主义者的另一份报告显示，截至2016年，非洲大象的数量在41.5万至54万头之间，这是研究期间的最后一年。它仍然是最近的全大陆综合估计。 科罗拉多州立大学的Wittemyer说：“虽然趋势并不好，但重要的是要认识到我们已经取得并将继续取得的成功。了解我们如何以及在哪里可以成功地保护大象，与认识到它们所经历的衰退的严重性同样重要。” 原创精品资源学科网独家享有版权，侵权必究！1 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$