2014届高三英语二轮专题步步提升：阅读理解46.docVIP

2014高考英语二轮复习专题步步提升：阅读理解 阅读理解A Elephants scored a big win in Dohar，Qatar，on March 22,2010.Representatives from 175 countries met in the Middle Eastern country.They voted to continue a ban on the sale of ivory(象牙)．Two African nations，Tanzania and Zambia，had asked to open up the ivory trade. People feared that weakening a 21-year-old ban on the sale of ivory would encourage illegal hunting and hurt elephant populations.African elephants once numbered in the millions.Today，there are fewer than 500,000. “People born in 100 years should be able to see an elephant，” said Noah Wekesa，Kenya’s minister of forest and wildlife.His country voted to keep the ban. In the 1980s，as many as 1 million elephants were killed throughout Africa.Hunters killed the animals for their ivory tusks，which were used to make jewelry and other things.“The slaughter of elephants in Africa was terrible，” says Paul Todd of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.The group works to protect animals. The ivory wars continued until 1989，when the United Nations voted to ban all trade in ivory.With trade controlled，demand for ivory fell.Governments punished hunters.Elephant populations began slowly to increase. Tanzania and Zambia asked to allow ivory sales from government stockpiles(库存)．Ivory is so expensive that it’s known as “white gold”．Tanzania holds almost 200,000 pounds of ivory，which is worth as much as $20 million.Zambia has 48,000 pounds of the white gold.The countries said they need the money the ivory would bring.They say it was taken from hunters or came from animals that died naturally. Experts believe that trading ivory encourages illegal hunting.They felt happy about the decision which forbids the sales.“This is a rare victory for elephants，” said Jason Bell.He works to protect animals. 5．The text is mainly about ________. A．continuing a ban on the ivory sale to protect elephants B．protecting endangered animals around the world C．the effects of the ivory wars of the 1980s D．the life of e