Watching bison up close is fascinating, like watching a grass fire about to leap

Watching bison up close is fascinating, likewatching a grass fire about to leap out of control. With their huge,wedge-shaped heads and silver-dollar-size brown eyes, the 2,000-pound animalsare symbols of another place and time. More than 100 bison now roam the 30,000-acreAmerican Prairie Reserve in eastern Montana — the first time they’ve inhabitedthat region in a century. Direct descendants of the tens of millions of bisonthat once populated the Western plains, they represent an epic effort： to restore a piece of America’s prairie to the national grandeur that Lewis and Clark extolled two centuries ago.During that famous expedition across the Western states to the Pacific, the twoexplorers encountered so many bison that they had to wait hours for one herd topass.

In order to protect what’s here andreintroduce long-gone wildlife (something the World Wildlife Fund is helpingwith), the American Prairie Foundation began purchasing land from localranchers in 2004. It now owns 30,000 acres and has grazing privileges onanother 57,000. Its goal over the next 25 years is to assemble three millionacres, the largest area of land devoted to wildlife management in thecontinental United States.

Already, herds of elk, deer, and pronghornantelope roam the grasslands, where visitors can camp, hike, and bike.Cottonwoods and willows are thriving along streams, creating habitats forbobcats, beavers, and other animals.

Not everyone shares APF’s vision. Someresidents of Phillips County (pop. 3,904) worry that the area could become aprairie Disneyland, overcrowded with tourists. But the biggest obstacle is theranchers themselves, whose cattle compete with prairie dogs and bison for grassand space.

“People like me have no intention of sellingtheir ranches,”says Dale Veseth, who heads the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance of 35families in Phillips County and whose family has been ranching here since 1886.“They’ve been a labor of love through the generations.”Instead, he wants APF to pay or subsidize ranchers to raise bison.This would be far less costly for the foundation, he argues, than buying theland directly.

1.If yougo to the American Prairie Reserve in eastern Montana, you will see ________.

    A．the burning fire movingacross the grassland

    B．hundreds of bisontravelling through the prairie

    C．tens of millions of bisonoccupying the farmland

    D．groups of expertsexamining the dead bison

2.Whatmeasures have been taken to protect the wildlife by APF?

    A．They have borrowed muchmoney and developed new habitat.

    B．They have hired manyfarmers to raise bison on their farms.

    C．They have turned grasslandinto Disneyland to attract tourists.

    D．They have bought largeland from farmers for bison to live on.

3.Theunderlined word“subsidize”in this passage means ________.

    A．give money to                    B．borrow money from

C．provide land to                  D．exchange land with

4.Whichwould be the best title for this passage?

    A．The exciting scenery ineastern Montana

    B．Great changes in raisingbison in America

    C．The return of the Americanprairie

    D．The challenge inprotecting the grassland

试题答案

【答案】

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C