Forcenturies,inthecountriesofsouthandSoutheastAsiatheelephanthasbeenanintimatepartoftheculture,economyandreligion,andnowheremoresothaninThailand.UnlikeitsAfricancousin,theAsianelephantiseasilydomesticated(驯化).Therareso-calledwhiteelephantshaveactuallylenttheauthorityofkingshiptoitsrulersanduntilthe1920sthenationalflagwasawhiteelephantonaredbackground.TotheearlyWesternvisitorsthecountry’sromanticnamewas“LandoftheWhiteElephant”.
Today,however,thestoryisverydifferent.Outofworkandoutofland,theThaielephantstrugglesforsurvivalinanationthatnolongerneedsit.Theelephanthasfounditselfmoreorlessabandonedbypreviousownerswhohavemovedontoadifferenteconomicworldandawesternizedsociety.Andwhiletheelephant’sproblemsbeganmanyyearsago,nowitratesaverylownationalpriority.
Howthisreversalfromnationalicon(圣像)toneglectedanimalcameaboutisataleofworseningenvironmentalandthechanginglivesoftheThaisthemselves.AccordingtoRichardLair,Thailand’sexpertsontheAsianelephantandauthorofthereportGoneAstray,attheturnofthecenturytheremaywellhavebeenasmanyas100,000domesticelephantsinthecountry.InthenorthofThailandaloneitwasestimatedthatmorethan20,000elephantswereemployedintransport,1,000ofthemaloneontheroadbetweenthecitiesofChiangMaiandChiangSaen.Thiswasatatimewhen90percentofThailandwasstillforest—ahabitat(栖息地)thatnotonlysupportedtheanimalsbutalsomadethemnecessarytocarrygoodsandpeople.Nothingploughsthroughdenseforestbetterthanamassivebutsure-footedelephant.
By1950theelephantpopulationhaddroppedtoastillsubstantial13,397,buttodaythereareprobablynomorethan3,800,withanother1,350roamingfreeinthenationalparks.Butnow,Thailand’sforestcoversonly20percentoftheland.Thisdeforestation(采伐森林)isthecentralpointoftheelephant’sdifficultsituation,forithaseffectivelyputtheanimalsoutofwork.Thiscentury,astheroadnetworkgrew,sotheelephant’sroleasabeastofburdendeclined.
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.WhatcanweknowaboutAfricanelephantsfromthepassage?
C.TheyarelivingabetterlifethanAsianelephants.
D.TheirfateisquitesimilartothatofAsianelephants.
2.Thailandwasoncecalled“LandoftheWhiteElephant”because_______.
A.whiteelephantisrarelyseenandthusveryspecial
B.whiteelephantwasanationalsymboluntilthe1920s
C.whiteelephanthashelpedkingstogaintherulingauthority
D.thisnamewassoromanticthatitwaspopularamongvisitors
3.WhyistheThaielephant“outofwork”,accordingtotheauthor?
A.Becausetheelephantsarenolongerusefultotheirowners.
B.Becausetheirownersarewesternizedandneglectthem.
C.Becausethegovernmentpayslittleattentiontotheproblem.
D.Becausetherearetoomanyelephantsandtoofewjobs.
4.Whichofthefollowingstatementsistrueabouttheelephantpopulationatvarioustimes?
A.Therewere100,000tamedelephantsattheturnofthecentury.
B.20,000elephantswereemployedintransportinThailandattheturnofthecentury.
C.By1950theelephantpopulationinThailandhasbeenquitesmall.
D.Todaytheelephantpopulationisestimatedat5,150.
5.Thepassageismostprobablyfrom_______.
1.[B]事实细节题。本题考查对比处。根据文章第l段第3句：和非洲象不同，亚洲象容易驯养，言下之意就是：非洲象不易驯养。答案中用tame替代原文的domesticate，意思相同。选项A与原文意思正好相反;选项C，D原文根本未提到。
2.[B]推理判断题。根据文章第l段第4句中的“untilthe1920sthenationalflagwasawhiteelephantonaredbackground.”可知当时白象是泰国的国家象征，因此B为正确选项。本题最具干扰性的是选项D，在形式上，选项D与第1段最后一句极为相似，但是，游客这样称呼泰国，原因也是因为白象是泰国的象征，而不只是因为这个名字浪漫，因此，选项D是对原文的曲解;选项A和选项C虽然也来自文章，但不是原因，不能回答所提问题。
3.[A]推理判断题。文章有几处解释了大象失业的原因，如第2段的第2句“anationthatnolongerneedsit(Thaielephant)”及最后一段的最后一句“theelephant’sroleasabeastofburdendeclined”等。选项A是对这些解释的一个基本概括。选项B中westernized和neglect虽在文章中出现，但选项B只是对想像的描述，不能解释大象“失业”的原因。选项C来自第2段最后一句话，但这句话只能说明大象不再受重视，不能作为大象“失业”的理由。选项D原文未提及，而且，从第3、4段可以看出：大象的数量急剧下降，谈不上“太多”。
4.[D]事实细节题。此题考查的是大象数量变化的情况。四个选项中的数字惟有选项D没有直接出现，但根据第4段第l句很容易推算出来。选项A和B虽用了原文的数据，但选项A忽略了may这个词，而且未点明泰国，故不妥。B则忽略了inthenorthofThailand及morethan这两处。选项C中的small与原文substantial(大量的)冲突，也不对。
5.[C]主旨大意题。从本文所用的大量客观的数据和数字可以推断这是一篇研究报告。本文趣味性不足，因此不能选A。选项B不能选，是因为历史书不可能如此大篇幅的描述大象的问题。选项D也不是正确答案，因为政府公告通常是一些规定，而不是客观的陈述。
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