I knew they were out there somewhere, and I was determined to find them．

　　Like most tourists who visit Ranthambore National Park in India, I went with just one goal in mind：to see tigers in the wild．

　　Twice a day, all year round, 10 open-topped trucks are allowed to rumble along the park’s dirt roads for a few hours．It costs 360 rupees(about ＄8, U．S．)to buy a seat on one of the trucks．Glimpses of tigers are free．

　　Of course, nothing is guaranteed．Forty tigers wander Ranthambore’s 388 square miles．But tigers hear and smell us long before we can see them．Some tourists I met near the park were lucky enough to see a handful of tigers up close during just one trip．Other people saw none, even after going out six or more times．

　　Still, I couldn’t pass up(miss)the excursion(short journey)．It was an opportunity that might someday disappear．Tigers are among the most endangered animals on Earth．In India, where about half of the planet’s remaining 7000 wild tigers live, tigers face a number of threats, especially from a growing human population．More than a billion people live in India today, and development is rapidly expanding into what was once largely tiger territory．

　　Conservationists nonetheless(in spite of that)remain optimistic．“The tiger will not disappear,”said P．K．Sen, director of the Tiger and Wildlife Program for World Wildlife Fund-India(WWF-India)．He was kind enough to meet with me in his New Delhi office on a Sunday, the only day I spent in the city during a recent 3-week trip to India．

　　There’s no way, Sen said, that people will ever let the majestic cats die out．“The tiger has been a symbol of strength and might for thousands of years,”he said．

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阅读理解

　　Scientists have found that regular but moderate consumption of alcohol by the middle-aged can protect against some of Britain’s biggest killers, including heart disease, stroke(中风)．

　　The effect of up to two drinks a day for women and three for men is so marked that some researchers believe that middle-aged people should treat alcohol like a dietary supplement(补充)．

　　“The results show that alcohol can be good for your health provided that you adopt a careful drinking style,”said Professor Morten Cronbaek from the Centre for Alcohol Research in Denmark．

　　“Age-related diseases like thrombosis(血栓)take a long time to develop but alcohol seems able to delay it by years．”

　　In his study, Cronbaek mentioned 57, 000 Danes, aged 55～65, to find links between their drinking habits and death rates．He found that people who drank little often had a significant reduction in mortality(死亡率)．

　　The study is still following the Danes but early sighs are that such drinkers will live up to several years longer than heavy drinkers or teetotallers(绝对戒酒者)．

　　Alcohol also reduced blood’s tendency to form clots, a crucial factor in strokes and heart attacks．However, both benefits disappeared in heavy or binge drinkers．

　　Older research had suggested that it is only red wine that has health benefits, but the new studies indicate that the effect can be seen with any alcohol．One, led by Professor Eric Rimm of Harvard medical school, shows that for middle-aged men up to two drinks a day could have the risk of heart attack-and that whisky and beer are just as effective as wine．

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