新奇事件簿 美國搗毀6000公斤象牙
Elephants are in danger. Hunters kill them for their tusks. The hunters sell the tusks because they are made from ivory. 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 carvings and jewellery. The USA wants to send a message to poachers (people who illegally hunt and kill elephants) to stop killing 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.
大象危險了。獵人要獲取它們的長牙。偷獵者銷售長牙的目的是因為它們是由象牙制作而成。美國正在試圖搗毀這一交易。并希望能夠保護全球的大象。周四，美國政府部門燒毀了6000公斤象牙。以及象牙雕刻和首飾。美國希望給偷獵者一個信號（非法捕殺大象的犯罪分子），讓他們停止獵殺大象。在非洲，許多大象正在受到死亡威脅。非洲各國很難阻止這些獵手。周三，美國對能夠提供老撾象牙交易的犯罪團伙懸賞100萬美金的獎勵。
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 profitability 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.
保護人士（保護動物和地球人士）對美國的此次行動表示欣慰。他們認為停止獵殺的途徑之一就是使其無利可賺。如果獵手無法從售賣象牙中賺取錢財，那么他們就不會捕殺大象。美國生而自由保護基金會的亞當(dāng)·羅伯特稱：“我們可以隨時將象牙生意清除市場，這是大象的勝利，因為這是對世界宣告，售賣象牙無利可圖。如果售賣象牙不賺錢，那么獵殺大象也就不會賺取任何利益。全球從1989年開始禁止象牙交易。這保護了大象，但是我們需要做的還有很多。
