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  3. The elephants of Thailand used never to be short of work hauling timber. But most of the country’s forests have been cut down, a

The elephants of Thailand used never to be short of work hauling timber. But most of the country’s forests have been cut down, a

admin2010-09-06  97
问题     The elephants of Thailand used never to be short of work hauling timber. But most of the country’s forests have been cut down, and logging is now banned to save the few that are left. The number of domesticated elephants left in the country is now only 2,500 or so, down from about 100,000 a century ago. Though being the national animal of Thailand earns an elephant plenty of respect, this does not put grass on the table. Thai elephants these days take tourists on treks or perform in circuses, and are sometimes to be seen begging for bananas on the streets of Bangkok.
    Some of the 46 elephants living at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, a former government logging camp near Lampang, have found a new life in music. The Thai Elephant Orchestra is the creation of two Americans, Richard Lair, who has worked with Asian elephants for 23 years, and David Soldier, a musician and neuroscientist with a taste for the avant-garde. They provided six of the center’s elephants, aged 7 to 18, with a variety of percussion and wind instruments. Those familiar with Thai instruments will recognize the slit drums, the gong, the bow bass, the xylophone-like rants, as well as the thunder sheet. The only difference is that the elephant versions are a bit stronger.
    The elephants are given a cue to start and then they prepare. They clearly have a strong sense of rhythm. They flap their ears to the beat, swish their tails and generally rock back and forth. Some add to the melody with their own trumpeting. Elephant mood-music could have a commercial future, Mr. Soldier believes. He has even produced a CD on the Mulatta label—it is available at www.mulatta.org—with 13 elephant tracks. It is real elephant music, he says, with only the human noises removed by sound engineers. But is it music? Bob Halliday, music critic of the Bangkok Post, says it is. He commends the elephants for being "so communicative". Anyone not knowing that it was elephant music, he says, would assume that humans were playing.
    Some of the elephants in the band have also tried their hand at painting, tending to favor the abstract over the representational style. Their broad-stroke acrylic paintings last year helped raise some $25,000 at a charity auction at Christie’s in New York, and a London gallery has also taken some of their work. These art sales, together with profits from the CD, are helping to keep the centre going. A second CD is on the way. It will be less classical, more pop.
选项 A、they are trained to take tourists on trek
B、they are trained to play music
C、the forest-cutting is illegal
D、there is not enough timber for them to haul
答案C
解析 推理判断题。从文章第一段"The elephants of Thailand used never to be short of work hauling timber. But most of the country’s forests have been cut down, and logging is now banned to save the few that are left". (泰国大象过去从不缺少卷树桩的活儿，但由于大片森林被砍伐，如今伐木被禁止了。)可以推断，大象不能像以前那样伐木是因为相关的法律政策出台。在选项"他们被驯服去驮游客"，"它们被驯服去演奏音乐"，"砍伐森林是违法行为"，"木桩不够了"中；答案选项是正确的。
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