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  3. In parts of Brazil’s poor northeast, snakes and parrots are on sale by the roadside for a few reais. In Brazil, as elsewhere in

In parts of Brazil’s poor northeast, snakes and parrots are on sale by the roadside for a few reais. In Brazil, as elsewhere in

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问题     In parts of Brazil’s poor northeast, snakes and parrots are on sale by the roadside for a few reais. In Brazil, as elsewhere in Latin America, wild animals have been kept as pets for centuries. But in recent years they have become the target of a vast and flourishing illegal trade that is threatening the survival of some species. Governments and others are now trying to do more to end the trafficking.
    In Brazil alone, the trade in animals is worth $1 billion a year, according to the National Network Against the Trafficking of Wild Animals (RENCTAS), a coalition of NGOs. Some of the sellers are simply the rural poor, seeking a means of subsistence. Others, especially those involved in exports, are organised networks. The buyers include pet shops, pharmaceutical laboratories and foreign collectors.
    The international trade in animals is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which most Latin American countries have signed. Brazil has gone further, banning all trade in wild animals, whether endangered or not. Critics say that by pushing the trade underground, this has made it harder to regulate. In any event, Brazil lacks inspectors, and perhaps the will, to enforce the ban.
    Some of Brazil’s neighbours have looser rules. Many Brazilian animals are smuggled across the country’s long northern borders to Venezuela, Colombia or the Guyanas, whence they are exported with fake documentation. Efforts are now under way to improve regional co-operation. In July, in the first meeting of its kind, representatives from the United States government, Interpol and CITES met Latin American officials and NGOSA in Brasilia.
    What about the importing countries? The United States Fish and Wildlife Service carries out inspections at airports, and investigates smuggling networks. Each year it handles 4,500 cases involving the import or export of animals. Under the Lacey act, American animal traffickers who break foreign laws can be prosecuted at home. Smugglers are regularly picked up in Miami: a Nicaraguan was caught last year at the airport with "Christmas gifts" that included over 1,100 sea turtles’ eggs. Tony Silva, a well-known exotic-bird fancier based in Chicago, was jailed in the mid-1990s for heading a ring importing rare parrots from South America.
    In an effort to deter would-be buyers, RENCTAS is working with tourism bodies to teach unsuspecting foreigners visiting Brazil that they should forget about wild life souvenirs. But in the long run the trade will be stopped only if incentives are generated to deter the rural poor from providing the raw material. Eco-tourism projects have spread across Latin America over the past decade, and the CITES secretariat is backing plans for more. The best hope for parrots is to become more valuable in the wild than in a plastic tube.
The purpose of the meeting between the U. S. and Latin American officials is to
选项 A、make the countries sign CITES.
B、strengthen regional co-operation.
C、lift the ban on trade in wild animals.
D、require documentation for wild animal export.
答案B
解析 细节题。题目问的是“美国和拉丁美洲官员的会面的目的是什么?”。由文章第四段第三句“Efforts are now under way to improve regional co-operation. ”可知：其会面的目的是促进地区合作，共同解决野生动物贸易问题，这与B项内容相符，故选B。
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