2013高考英语短文阅读：Wildlife Protection

　　Wildlife Protection

　　Dinosaurs died out because of an unexpected incident. But wildlife today disappears or is in danger just because humans do harm to it. For example, tigers are hunted for fur to make carpets so that they can only live in secure reserves; grassland is destroyed without mercy so that dust storms come into being affecting distant cities.

　　Last year, scientists saw some monkeys rubbing themselves with a certain kind of insects to protect themselves from fierce mosquitoes biting. According to the result of the inspection, they found that the insect contains a powerful drug, so local farmers were employed to catch the insects. The ending was that the insects disappeared from the whole zone. When told that it was a loss to humans, the farmers burst into laughter and responded, “Our real loss is our decreasing income.”

　　We should appreciate the natural balance and pay more attention to the importance of wildlife protection. Not until we succeed in letting wildlife live in peace, can we smile in relief.

　　恐龙因一次意外事件而灭绝，但是今天的野生动植物却是因为人类的伤害而消失或处在危险中。例如，老虎被猎杀以获取做地毯的皮毛，以致它们只能生活在安全的保护区里;草地被毫不怜悯地破坏，以致沙尘暴开始影响遥远的城市。

　　去年，科学家观察到猴子在身上擦某种昆虫来保护自己不受凶猛的蚊子的叮咬。根据检查的结果，他们发现这种昆虫含有一种具有强大效力的药物，于是，当地的农民都被雇来抓虫子。结果是，这种昆虫从这整个地区都消失了。当被告知说这是整个人类的损失时，农民们都突然大笑着回应道：“我们减少的收入才是我们真正的损失呢!”

　　我们应该意识到自然平衡的重要，更加注意野生动植物的保护。直到我们成功让野生动植物安详平静地生活，我们自己才能如释重负地笑开颜。