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四级干货》》 作文 |阅读 |翻译 |听力
Jaguars Don't Live Here Anymore
A)Earlier this month, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced
it would appoint" critical habitat" for the endangered jaguar. Jaguars--the
world's third-largest wild cats, weighing up to 250 pounds, with distinctive
black rosettes ( 玫瑰花色 ) on their fur--are a separate species from the smaller,
tawny (黄褐色的 ) mountain lions, which still roam large areas of the American West
in the United States and take the first steps toward mandating (批准) a jaguar
recovery plan. This is a policy reversal and, on the surface, it may appear to
be a victory for the conservation community and for jaguars, the largest wild
cats in the Western Hemisphere.
B) But as someone who has studied jaguars for nearly three decades, I can
tell you it is nothing less than a slap in the face to good science. What's
more, by changing the rules for animal preservation, it stands to weaken the
Endangered Species Act.
C)The debate on what to do about jaguars started in 1997, when, at the
urging of many biologists ( including me), the Fish and Wildlife Service put the
jaguar on the United States endangered species list, because there had been
occasional sightings of the cats crossing north over the United States-Mexico
border. At the same time, however, the agency ruled that it would not be
"prudent" (谨慎的 ) to declare that the jaguar has critical .habitat--a geographic
area containing features the species needs to survive--in the United States.
Determining an endangered species' critical habitat is a first step toward
developing a plan for helping that species recover.
D)The 1997 decision not to determine critical habitat for the jaguar was
the right one, because even though they cross the border from time to time,
jaguars don't occupy any territory in our country--and that probably means the
environment here is no longer ideal for them.
E)In prehistoric times, these beautiful cats inhabited significant areas of
the western United States, but in the past 100 years, there have been few, if
any, resident breeding populations here. The last time a female jaguar with a
cub ( 幼兽 ) was sighted in this country was in the early 1900s.
F)Two well-intentioned conservation advocacy groups, the Center for
Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, sued the Fish and Wildlife
Service to change its ruling. Thus in 2006, the agency reassessed the situation
and again determined that no areas in the United States met the definition of
critical habitat for the jaguar. Despite occasional sightings, mostly within 40
miles of the Mexican border, there were still no data to indicate jaguars had
taken up residence inside the United States.
G ) After this second ruling was made, an Arizona rancher ( 牧场主 ), with
support from the state Game and Fish Department, set infrared-camera (红外摄像机 )
traps togather more data, and essentially confirmed the Fish and Wildlife
Service's findings. The cameras did capture transient jaguars, including one
male jaguar, nick named Macho, B, who roamed the Arizona borderlands for more
than a decade. But Macho B, now dead, might have been the sole resident American
jaguar, and his extensive travels indicated he was not having an easy time
surviving in this dry, rugged region.
H) Despite the continued evidence, the two conservation advocacy groups
continued to sue the government. Apparently, they want jaguars to repopulate the
United State seven if jaguars don't wan! to. Last March, a federal district
judge in Arizona ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to revisit its 2006
determination on critical habitat.
I)The facts haven't changed: there is still no area in the United States
essential to the conservation of the jaguar. But, having asserted this twice
already, the service, nowunder a new president, has bent to the tiresome
litigation (诉讼). On Jan. 12, Fish and Wildlife officials, claimed to have
evaluated new scientific information that had become available after the July
2006 ruling. They determined that it is now prudent to appoint critical habitat
for the jaguar in the United States.
J)This means that Fish and Wildlife must now also formulate a recovery plan
for the jaguar. And since jaguars have not been able to reestablish themselves
naturally over the past century, the government will likely have to go to
significant expense to attempt to bring them back--especially if the cats have
to be reintroduced.
K)So why not do everything we can, at whatever cost, to bring jaguars back
into the United States? To begin with, the American Southwest is, at best,
marginal habitat for the animals. More important, there are better ways to help
jaguars. South of our border, from Mexico to Argentina, thousands of jaguars
live and breed in their true critical habitat. Governments and conservation
groups (including the one I head) are already working hard to conserve jaguar
populations and connect them to one another through an initiative called the
Jaguar Corridor.
L).The jaguars that now and then cross into the United States most likely
come from the northernmost population of jaguars, in Sonora, Mexico. Rather than
demand jaguars return to our country, we should help Mexico and other
jaguar-range countries conserve the animals' true habitat it
M )The recent move by the Fish and Wildlife Service means that the rare
federal funds devoted to protecting wild animals will be wasted on efforts that
cannot help save jaguars. It also stands to weaken the Endangered Species Act,
because if critical habitat is redefined as any place where a species might ever
have existed, and where you or I might want it to exist again, then the door is
open for many other sense less efforts to bring back long-lost creatures.
N)The Fish and Wildlife officials whose job is to protect the country's
wild animals need to grow a stronger backbone--stick with their original,
correct decision and save their money for more useful preservation work.
Otherwise, when funds are needed to preserve all those small, ugly,
non-charismatic endangered species at the back of the line, there may be no
money left.
1. It is still a fact that there is no suitable place for jaguars to live
safely in the United States.
2. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service should be more determined
and saving for the conservation work.
3. Jaguars were regarded as endangered species because of their rare
appearance at the United States-Mexico border.
4. Money was not spent effectively in helping save jaguars in the recent
move by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
5. It can be inferred that the United States is not the best choice for
jaguars to live from the evidence that they don't settle anywhere here.
6. South of the United States' border, from Mexico to Argentina, is the
true critical habitat for jaguars.
7. The number of jaguars breeding populations in significant areas of the
western United States has deceased in the past century.
8. It is necessary for the government to invest lots of funds in order to
help jaguars to reestablish.
9. It didn't indicate that jaguars had settled down in the United States
even though they were seen within 40 miles of the Mexican border at times.
10. Fish and Wildlife officials were sure enough to appoint critical
habitat for the jaguar in the United States.
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发表于 2018-12-8 10:33:35