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  3. The koala, cuddly symbol of a nation and one of the most beloved animals on the planet, is in crisis. Before Europeans settled A

The koala, cuddly symbol of a nation and one of the most beloved animals on the planet, is in crisis. Before Europeans settled A

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问题     The koala, cuddly symbol of a nation and one of the most beloved animals on the planet, is in crisis. Before Europeans settled Australia more than two centuries ago, about ten million koalas lived in a 1, 500-mile-long swath of the east coast eucalyptus forests. Hunted for their luxurious fur, koalas were brought to the edge of extinction in the southern half of their range. In the northern half, Queensland, a million were killed in 1919 alone. After the last open season in Queensland was held in 1927, only tens of thousands remained.
    Through the next half century their numbers slowly rebounded, in part due to efforts to relocate and recolonize them. Then urbanization began to take its loll. Habitat was lost, and diseases spread. With urbanization came the threat of dogs and highways. Since 1990, when about 430,000 koalas inhabited Australia, their numbers have dropped sharply. Because surveys are difficult, current population estimates vary widely— from a low of 44,000 by advocacy groups to a high of 300,000 by government agencies. More than a decade ago a survey of the Koala Coast, a 93,000-acre region in southeastern Queensland, estimated a koala population of 6,200; today there are believed to be around 2,000.
    "Koalas are getting caught in fences and dying, being killed by dogs, struck by vehicles, even dying simply because a homeowner cut down several eucalyptus trees in his backyard," says Deidre de Villiers, one of the chief koala researchers at the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. De Villiers insists that koalas and humans can coexist in urban environments, if developers get on board with koala-sensitive designs, such as lower speed limits for streets, green corridors for koala movement, and, most especially, preserving every precious eucalyptus tree. Unfortunately, koalas have another problem.
    "Disease is the other huge issue," says veterinarian Jon Hanger, 42, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Queensland. Hanger has discovered that as much as half of Queensland’s koala population may be affected by the sexually transmitted disease chlamydiosis. In some wild koala populations more than 50 percent of the sexually mature females are infertile. The genesis of the disease is unknown, but it manifests itself as urogenital and ocular disease and is transmitted through mating and birthing, as well as fighting among males. Unlike in humans, chlamydiosis in koalas is often fatal.
    "Koala populations that used to be vibrant and sustainable are becoming extinct," says Hanger, who puts the blame squarely on the provincial government. "Queensland has failed miserably to do anything meaningful about the decline. The federal government needs to get involved and do it properly, listing the koala as vulnerable to extinction. " Such a designation might save the last remnants of critical koala habitat, he argues. Hanger is also part of a research team developing a chlamydia vaccine.
    A recent report presented to the Australian Senate made several recommendations to save the koalas, including listing the animals as threatened and vulnerable, funding a program to monitor koala populations, mapping their habitat, and managing federal and private lands to protect the koalas. Until such measures are taken, the efforts of grassroots koala emergency squads will continue to be essential.
Which one of the following most accurately identifies the attitude shown by Jon Hanger in the fifth paragraph toward government’s role in saving Koalas?
选项 A、Scholarly appreciation for its longstanding efforts
B、Strong rebuke that it has failed miserably to do anything meaningful about the decline
C、Mild disappointment that it did not list the koala as vulnerable to extinction
D、Open approval of its resistance to get involved
答案B
解析 本题考查考生通过人物所说的话时人物所持的态度进行判断能力。在第五段中。一开始汉格尔就直截了当的指责省政府，认为昆士兰州政府没有采取任何行动是非常差劲的。关键词是“blame(指责)”，“squarely(直截了当)”，“failed(失败的)”，“miserably(糟糕的)”，“anything(任何事)”．从这些感情色彩非常强烈的用词当中，我们可以看出乔恩·汉格尔对于政府在拯救考拉过程中所扮演的角色是强烈的不满和谴责，因此B项正确。AD都是恰恰相反的选项，汉格尔认为政府不作为，并且表示强烈不满。C项错在“轻微的失望”，从文字当中可以看出汉格尔感情色彩强烈，不是轻微的不满。
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