Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and
the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words
as far as possible.
Wildlife Protection, Anything
Wrong?
Some
of the Earth's creatures die mainly because of humans' choices. These choices
have nothing to do with food or shelter or anything else that helps humans
survive. What kills millions of animals all over the world is that humans want
to make money by doing so. People use parts of animals for everything from hats
to handbags, from jewelry to ashtrays and to make powders that supposedly
improve a person's life.
It
is comforting to note that in the past decades, saving endangered animals has
become a popular cause. Let's take saving elephants as an example. For a long
while in the late 1980s, wildlife protection groups made sure everyone saw
pictures or films of elephants with their faces cut off for their ivory. These
groups also proved that certain populations of elephants are decreasing. As a
result, most people stopped buying objects made of ivory. Laws against poaching
(偷猎) were made stronger. Many countries
made importing ivory illegal. Killing elephants for their ivory became more
risky and less profitable.
However,
deciding that a species is endangered and protecting it by law are not always
enough, as concern for certain species will become weak after a while. In the
late 1970s, people protested against the killing of seal babies. Everyone was
shocked to see young seals being killed in their icy habitat. The cruel
activity stopped. But ten years later, the number of seal babies killed was
higher than ever.
Other
animal protecting movements have come and gone, such as saving the whales and
protecting dolphins. The whale population appears to have increased for now.
And the laws are finally changed in America to protect the dolphins that swim
with tuna fish in parts of the Pacific Ocean. In the years to come, people's
focus will probably turn to some other endangered species. During this time,
will the elephants be forgotten?
答案: Humans' greed for wealth is chiefly responsible for some species' being endangered. Luckily, people have taken steps to protect them. However, as people's attention to endangered animals shifts, the efforts are far from enough, and it is essential to do constant work to protect them.