The Living Planet Index (LPI) report shows that wildlife numbers have dropped sharply since 1970. It says that, on average, wildlife populations dropped by 69% in the 48 years from 1970 to 2018. That’s a huge drop. Marco Lambertini, who leads the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said, “The message is clear and the lights are flashing red.”

The LPI is reporting the average change in the size of animal populations over time. Some kinds of animals are in worse trouble than others. Populations of vertebrates (脊椎动物) that live in fresh water (not oceans) have dropped by 83%. The numbers of sharks and rays in the oceans have gone down by 71%. Central and South America and the Caribbean had the greatest population losses — a drop by 94%. Next came Africa, with a 66% drop, followed by Asia and the Pacific with a 55% drop. Europe and North America showed smaller losses. These areas probably had greater losses before 1970.

The biggest problem is the loss of wild areas to growing cities, and activities like farming and deforestation. Hunting, poaching (偷猎), overfishing, and pollution are also big challenges. Climate change is a growing problem, and may soon be the biggest one.

But there are some hopeful signs. About half of the populations are jarless or growing. In some cases, human efforts to protect animals are working. For example, nests of loggerhead turtles in Chrysochou Bay, Cyprus rose by 500% from 1999 to 2015 because of efforts to protect them.

An international meeting on biodiversity this December is seen as extremely important. The meeting, called COP15, is being run by the United Nations in Montreal, Canada. The meeting’s goal is to get countries to agree to new guidelines to help stop the loss of animals, plants and wild lands by 2030. “Our future depends on reversing (逆转) the loss of nature just as much as it depends on addressing climate change,” says Carter Roberts, who leads WWF in the US. “And you can’t solve one without solving the other.”

【小题1】What does Marco Lambertini say about the drop of wildlife numbers?

A．It’s alarming.	B．It’s unreal.
C．It’s tolerable.	D．It’s puzzling.

【小题2】What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Fast development of big cities.

B．Effects that climate change brings.

C．Causes for wildlife populations’ decline.

D．Challenges of protecting wild animals.

【小题3】What does the underlined word “jarless” mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Stable.	B．Considerable.
C．Imbalanced.	D．Shrinking.

【小题4】Why is the meeting in the last paragraph considered important?

A．It is hosted by the UN for the first time.

B．It reports the main threats to humankind.

C．It offers a way to deal with climate change.

D．It aims to make new rules to protect nature.