To the people of the Bijagos archipelago, the shark is sacred. In （1)_____ ceremonies youn

To the people of the Bijagos archipelago, the shark is sacred. In (1)_____ ceremonies young men from these islands (2)_____ the coast of Guinea-Bissau must spear a shark and present the liver to their (3)_____ But can this ancient ceremony (4)_____ the economic fact that a bowl of shark's fin soup can cost $150 in the Far East？

In the archipelago, and all along West Africa's coast, sharks are being "finned" to (5)_____ Fishermen can earn $50-80 (6)_____ a kilo of sharks' fins, far more than ordinary fish. By the time they (7)_____ the Far East, they could be (8)_____ $500 a kilo or more valuable (9)_____ aphrodisiacs as well as for gourmets.

The high demand is (10)_____ shark populations in West Africa and elsewhere. Most fish, vulnerable to (11)_____ eaten by bigger fish, protect their species by laying millions of eggs. But the shark has no natural enemy (12)_____ man, and gives birth to just a (13)_____ of young. (14)_____ female harks are often caught (15)_____ pregnant, the result has been predictably disastrous. Shark-like sawfish, which are also "finned", are already virtually (16)_____ off the Bijagos islands, and guitarfish are (17)_____ threat.

In some parts of West Africa, when sharks and other similar fish have been finned, the rest of the flesh is often (18)_____, salted and exported to places like Ghana, where there is a (19)_____ for lt. Dried shark is used much (20)_____ a stock cube would be elsewhere. But in the Bijagos islands, where traders are uninterested in exporting dried shark, carcasses are often left to rot on the beach.

A．beginning

B．start

C．initiation

D．initial