新奇事件簿 美国捣毁6000公斤象牙

Elephants are in danger. Hunters kill them for their tusks¹. The hunters sell the tusks because they are made from ivory². The USA is working to stop this trade. It wants to protect the world's elephants. On Thursday, the U.S. government burnt almost 6,000 kilograms of ivory tusks. They also destroyed ivory carvings³ and jewellery. The USA wants to send a message to poachers (people who illegally hunt and kill elephants) to stop killing⁴ elephants. More and more elephants in Africa are dying. It is difficult for African countries to stop the poachers. On Wednesday the USA offered a $1 million reward for anyone who has information about a group in Laos that buys and sells ivory.

大象危险了。猎人要获取它们的长牙。偷猎者销售长牙的目的是因为它们是由象牙制作而成。美国正在试图捣毁这一交易。并希望能够保护全球的大象。周四，美国政府部门烧毁了6000公斤象牙。以及象牙雕刻和首饰。美国希望给偷猎者一个信号（非法捕杀大象的犯罪分子），让他们停止猎杀大象。在非洲，许多大象正在受到死亡威胁。非洲各国很难阻止这些猎手。周三，美国对能够提供老挝象牙交易的犯罪团伙悬赏100万美金的奖励。

Conservationists (people who want to protect animals and the Earth) are happy with the USA's actions. They say one way to end poaching is to make it unprofitable. If poachers know they cannot make money from ivory, they will not kill elephants. Adam Roberts of the Born Free USA conservation group said: "Any time we can remove ivory from the marketplace, it's a win for elephants, because it suggests to the world that there isn't profitability⁵ to be had by selling ivory. And if there's no profitability in selling ivory, there's no profitability in poaching elephants." A worldwide ban on trading ivory started in 1989. It has helped to protect elephants, but the world needs to do a lot more.

保护人士（保护动物和地球人士）对美国的此次行动表示欣慰。他们认为停止猎杀的途径之一就是使其无利可赚。如果猎手无法从售卖象牙中赚取钱财，那么他们就不会捕杀大象。美国生而自由保护基金会的亚当·罗伯特称：“我们可以随时将象牙生意清除市场，这是大象的胜利，因为这是对世界宣告，售卖象牙无利可图。如果售卖象牙不赚钱，那么猎杀大象也就不会赚取任何利益。全球从1989年开始禁止象牙交易。这保护了大象，但是我们需要做的还有很多。

1 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

2 ivory   

n.象牙，乳白色；adj.象牙制的，乳白色的

参考例句：

• My grandmother has some jewelry made of ivory.我祖母有一些象牙首饰。
• It is carved from ivory.它是用象牙雕成的。

3 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 profitability   

n.赢利

参考例句：

• These costs will impact on our profitability. 这些费用会影响到我们的利润。
• A product manager is responsible for product profitability. 产品经理对产品的盈利状况负责。