Indian's snake charmers (耍蛇者) are to be retrained as wildlife teachers under a plan to prevent their unique skills and knowledge from being lost. The charmers, who make snakes dance to the sound of flutes (笛子), used to be a traditional feature of Indian life, performing in towns and villages, until they were forbidden in 1972 to control the trade in snake skins.
The government is now considering a plan to train the charmers, as they are known, to visit schools and zoos to tell children about forests and wildlife. There is also a proposal to set up a “dial a snake charmer” service to help householders to deal with unwelcome intruders.
“For generations they have been a feature of Indian life but now they can't earn a living for fear of arrest,” said Behar Dutt, a conservationist behind the plans, “if a policeman doesn’t catch them, animal rights activists report them.”
Many snake charmers have continued to work clandestinely since the ban, despite the threat of up to three years in prison. But their cloth-covered baskets, hung from a bamboo pole carried across their shoulders, make them an easy target for police.
The fate of Shisha Nath, 56, from Badarpur, a village just outside of Delhi, is typical of practitioners (从业者) of the dying art. “I used to earn enough to support my family and send my children to school,” he said. “Now it's hard to earn any money a day. My children want to be snake charmers. It’s our identity. We love the work. But it’s become impossible.”
Next month Dutt’s project to train 30 snake charmers will begin at a snake park in Pune, western India, where experts will enrich their home-grown skills with some formal knowledge.
More than the law, though, it is the dishonest attitude of their fellow countryman that angers many snake charmers.
“We’re disturbed all the time but when people want a snake removed from the house, they rush to us,” said Prakash Nath, who was ordered recently to the home of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party leader.
1．According to the passage, snake charmers will be retrained as wildlife teachers mainly because___.
A．schools need large numbers of such teachers
B．most of them cannot support their families
C．their performances on the street are banned
D．the government plans to save the dying art
2．The purpose of the proposed “dial a snake charmer” telephone service is ___.
A．to give performance of snake dancing
B．to teach householders how to catch and kill snakes
C．to offer cleaning service to wealthy householders
D．to help remove unwanted snakes from the houses
3．The word “ clandestinely ” in paragraph 4 can be best replaced by the word “___”.
A．secretly B．publicly C．unwillingly D．diligently
4．Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A．Snake charmers can easily be recognized by the police on the street.
B．Children of snake charmers would not like to continue their fathers’ job.
C．Snake charmers are quite angry with the attitude of their fellow countrymen.
D．The animal rights activists take a negative attitude towards snake charmers.