For centuries, in the countries of south and Southeast Asia the elephant has been an intimate part of the culture, economy and religion, and nowhere more so than in Thailand. Unlike its African cousin, the Asian elephant is easily domesticated (馴化). The rare so-called white elephants have actually lent the authority of kingship to its rulers and until the 1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red the early Western visitors the country’s romantic name was “Land of the White Elephant”.
Today, however, the story is very different. Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles for survival in a nation that no longer needs it. The elephant has found itself more or less abandoned by previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a westernized society. And while the elephant’s problems began many years ago, now it rates a very low national priority.
How this reversal from national icon (聖像) to neglected animal came about is a tale of worsening environmental and the changing lives of the Thais themselves. According to Richard Lair, Thailand’s experts on the Asian elephant and author of the report Gone Astray, at the turn of the century there may well have beenas many as 100,000 domestic elephants in the country. In the north of Thailand alone it was estimated that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen. This was at a time when 90 per cent of Thailand was still forest—a habitat (棲息地) that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing ploughs through dense forest better than a massive but sure-footed elephant.
By 1950 the elephant population had dropped to a still substantial 13,397, but today there are probably nomore than 3,800, with another 1,350 roaming free in the national parks. But now, Thailand’s forest coversonly 20 per cent of the land. This deforestation (採伐森林) is the central point of the elephant’s difficult situation, for it has effectively put the animals out of work. This century, as the road network grew, so the elephant’s role as a beast of burden declined.
練習題：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. What can we know about African elephants from the passage?
A. It is easy to tame them.
B. It is hard to tame them.
C. They are living a better life than Asian elephants.
D. Their fate is quite similar to that of Asian elephants.
2. Thailand was once called “Land of the White Elephant” because_______.
A. white elephant is rarely seen and thus very special
B. white elephant was a national symbol until the 1920s
C. white elephant has helped kings to gain the ruling authority
D. this name was so romantic that it was popular among visitors
3. Why is the Thai elephant “out of work”, according to the author?
A. Because the elephants are no longer useful to their owners.
B. Because their owners are westernized and neglect them.
C. Because the government pays little attention to the problem.
D. Because there are too many elephants and too few jobs.
4. Which of the following statements is true about the elephant population at various times?
A. There were 100,000 tamed elephants at the turn of the century.
B. 20,000 elephants were employed in transport in Thailand at the turn of the century.
C. By 1950 the elephant population in Thailand has been quite small.
D. Today the elephant population is estimated at 5,150.
5. The passage is most probably from_______.
A. a travel magazine
B. a history book
C. a research report
D. an official announcement
答案解析：1.[B] 事實細節題。本題考查對比處。根據文章第l段第3句：和非洲象不同，亞洲象容易馴養，言下之意就是：非洲象不易馴養。答案中用tame替代原文的domesticate，意思相同。選項A與原文意思正好相反;選項C，D原文根本未提到。
2.[B] 推理判斷題。根據文章第l段第4句中的“until the 1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red background.”可知當時白象是泰國的國家象徵，因此B為正確選項。本題最具干擾性的是選項D，在形式上，選項D與第1段最後一句極為相似，但是，遊客這樣稱呼泰國，原因也是因為白象是泰國的象徵，而不只是因為這個名字浪漫，因此，選項D是對原文的曲解;選項A和選項C雖然也來自文章，但不是原因，不能回答所提問題。
3.[A] 推理判斷題。文章有幾處解釋了大象失業的`原因，如第2段的第2句“a nation that no longer needs it (Thai elephant)”及最後一段的最後一句“the elephant’s role as a beast of burden declined”等。選項A是對這些解釋的一個基本概括。選項B中westernized和neglect雖在文章中出現，但選項B只是對想像的描述，不能解釋大象“失業”的原因。選項C來自第2段最後一句話，但這句話只能說明大象不再受重視，不能作為大象“失業”的理由。選項D原文未提及，而且，從第3、4段可以看出：大象的數量急劇下降，談不上“太多”。
4.[D] 事實細節題。此題考查的是大象數量變化的情況。四個選項中的數字惟有選項D沒有直接出現，但根據第4段第l句很容易推算出來。選項A和B雖用了原文的資料，但選項A忽略了may這個詞，而且未點明泰國，故不妥。B則忽略了in the north of Thailand及more than這兩處。選項C中的small與原文substantial(大量的)衝突，也不對。
5.[C] 主旨大意題。從本文所用的大量客觀的資料和數字可以推斷這是一篇研究報告。本文趣味性不足，因此不能選A。選項B不能選，是因為歷史書不可能如此大篇幅的描述大象的問題。選項D也不是正確答案，因為政府公告通常是一些規定，而不是客觀的陳述。
