单选题
Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but
only because they's been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years
ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe. Now lions hold a small fraction of
their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that spit from African
lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of
their former territory. India is the proud steward of these 300
or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile sanctuary (保护区). It took
me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest-and no
time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A
tiger will hide in the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and
unafraid—lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close,
Gir's lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months
in the forest. It's odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has
as many lions as it can hold—too many, in fact. With territory in short supply,
lions move about near the boundary of the forest and even leave it altogether,
often clashing with people. That's one reason India is creating a second
sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural
disasters. In 1994 a serious disease killed more than a third of Africa's
Serengeti lions—a thousand animals—a fate that could easily happen to Gir's
cats. These lions are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from
as few as a dozen individuals. "If you do a DNA test, Asiatic lions actually
look like identical twins," says Stephen O' Brien, a geneticist (基因学家) who has
studied them. Yet the dangers are hidden, and you wouldn't suspect them by
watching these lords of the forest. The lions display vitality, and no small
measure of charm. Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes
when it's time to eat, meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs. For a
mother and her baby lion sharing a deer, or a young male eating an antelope(羚羊),
there's no need to fight for a cut of the kill. The animals they hunt for food
are generally smaller in Gir than those in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be
smaller as well.
单选题
In the first paragraph, the author tells us that Asiatic lions ______ .
A. have killed off other lions
B. have descended from African lions
C. used to span vast sections of the globe
D. have lost their habitat
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 第一段中作者告诉我们亚洲狮来自于非洲。
单选题
What impressed the author most when he went to watch the lions in the
Gir Forest?