Half of world’s primates face extinction Almost 50% of the world’s 634 primate (灵长类动物) species face extinction, according to a report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Habitat loss is a major cause, but many monkeys and apes are being hunted to extinction for food, especially in forests of south-east Asia. "It’s cheaper to go into the forest and kill a monkey than to raise a chicken," says Jean-Christophe rie, deputy head of the IUCN’s species programmeand a co—author of the report. "We’ve raised concerns for years about primates being in danger, but now we have solid data to show the situation is far more severe than we imagined," says Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, which co-funded the study. The areas most at risk are in Vietnam and Cambodia, where 90% of species are being driven to extinction by demand for monkey meat and baby monkeys as pets. Most acutely affected are medium-sized monkeys such as gibbons(长臂猿), leaf monkeys and langurs, which are easy for hunters to track down and kill because of their size and the noise they make. In South America. spider monkeys and capuchin monkeys(卷尾猴)have been hit hardest. In Africa, red colobus monkeys are now critically endangered. Eleven of the 13 species assessed were listed as critically endangered or endangered. Two may already be extinct. " Among the African species, the great apes such as gorillas (大猩猩) and bonobos have always tended to grab the limelight, and even thought they’re deeply threatened, it is smaller primates such as the red colobus that could die out first," says Richard Wrangham, president of the International Primatological Society. Huge political efforts are needed now to reverse the impending losses of threatened species, says Vid. "What’s needed is national legislation to protect biodiversity, creation of protected areas with dedicated staff, crackdowns on corruption, and captive breeding programmes," he says. But it will be difficult to halt and reverse the damage done by habitat destruction and the hunters. Once habitat is gone, animals have nowhere to go. Also, killing primates rapidly depletes populations, because they have fewer young than many other mammals and take much longer to breed and raise families. Which of the following is not an effort suggested by Vié to reduce the threat to species
A. Captive breeding programmes.
B. National legislation to protect biodiversity.
Creation of protected areas with dedicated staff.
D. Stop of economic corruption.
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A. to send goods to various pans of the worldB. at any time during the yearC. has greatly promoted tradeD. is it possible to produce on a large scaleE. the transport of goodsF. it is possible to produce on a large scale The development of modem means of transport ______.
In recent years a new farming revolution has begun, one that involves the manipulation of life at a fundamental level—the gene. The study of genetics has (51) a new industry called biotcehnology. As the name suggests, it (52) biology and modern technology through such techniques as genetic engineering. Some of the new biotech companies specialize in agriculture and are working feverishly to (53) seeds that give a high yield, that (54) diseases, drought and frost, and that reduce the need for hazardous chemicals, If such goals could be achieved, it would be most (55) . But some have raised concerns about genetically engineered crops. In nature, genetic diversity is created within certain (56) . A rose can be crossed with a different kind of rose, but a rose will never cross with a potato. Genetic engineering, (57) usually involves taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to transfer a desired characteristic. This could mean, for example, selecting a gene which leads to the production of a chemical with anti-freeze (58) from an artic fish, and inserting it into a potato or strawberry to make it frost, resistant, in essence, then, biotechnology allows humans to (59) the genetic walls that separate species. Just like the green revolution, (60) some call the gene revolution contributes to the problem of genetic uniformity-some say even more so (61) geneticists can employ techniques such as cloning and (62) culture (培养) and processes that produce perfectly (63) copies. Concerns about the erosion of biodiversity, therefore, remain. Genetically altered plants, however, raise new (64) ,such as the effects that they may have on us and the environment. "We are tlying blindly into a new era of agricultural biotechnology with high hopes, few constraints, and little idea of the potential (65) ," said science writer Jeremy Rifkin.
A. skin
B. muscle
C. organ
D. tissue
在文档编辑过程中,凡是屏幕上显示的内容,都已经保存到外存储器(如硬盘)上。 ( )
A. 对
B. 错
Advertisement is often used to().
A. deceive customers
B. increase production
C. promote the sale
D. arouse suspicion