外研版选修二册第五单元阅读讲解

Unit 5 A delicate world

第50页阅读讲解

MACQUARIE ISLAND: from Chaos to Conservation
麦夸里岛：从混乱不堪到精心保护

1 I am standing on Macquarie Island, in the South-west Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and Antarctica. Strong winds and stormy seas have helped sculpt its long, thin shape. The green grass and bare rock of its landscape contrast dramatically, giving it a wild and natural beauty. No visitor would think it surprising that the island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nor would they fail to imagine how its native inhabitants, including royal penguins, king penguins, and elephant seals, existed in perfect harmony with their natural habitat for thousands of years.
我正站在麦夸里岛上，这里位于太平洋的西南部，澳大利亚和南极洲的中间。强风和惊涛骇浪将海岛塑成现在狭长的形状。绿草和光秃的岩石形成的景观反差巨大，使海岛呈现出一种狂野和天然的美。这座岛是联合国教科文组织确立的世界遗产，游客们都认为其名副其实。他们也不难想象出，数千年来，包括帝企鹅、王企鹅和象海豹在内的当地动物是如何与其自然栖息地完美地和谐共存的。

2 But the island's more recent history tells a different story. It's a tragic story that began in 1810 when humans arrived on the island. In their ships they unknowingly brought rats and mice. These small animals quickly took over the island, eating the birds' eggs and attacking baby birds. Cats were brought to the island to control the rats and mice. Unfortunately, the cats subsequently developed an appetite for the birds, too.
但是，这座岛近些年的遭遇则是截然不同的故事。悲剧从人类1810年来到这座岛屿开始。他们不经意间随船带来了大鼠和小鼠。这些小动物很快就占领了岛屿，它们吃鸟蛋并攻击幼鸟。为控制鼠患，人们带来了猫，但不幸的是，猫随后也开始以鸟为食。

3 Meanwhile, rabbits were introduced to the island as a source of food for humans. Loose on the island, they did what rabbits do best – they multiplied rapidly and began eating the native vegetation and digging holes, which caused soil erosion. The exploding rabbit population provided plentiful food for the cats, meaning that the number of cats also increased. This in turn led to more cats hunting the birds. The end result was that parakeets, once large in number and native to the island, died out in 1891.
与此同时，人们把兔子引进岛上作为食物。由于在岛上放任其生存，兔子做了自己最擅长的事——飞快地繁殖，它们开始吃当地植被并挖洞，造成了土壤侵蚀。爆炸式增长的兔子数量给猫提供了充足的食物，这意味着猫的数量也增加了，相应地就有更多猫捕食鸟类。最终结果是，曾经数量众多的当地物种长尾小鹦鹉在1891年灭绝。

4 Even after Macquarie Island became an official nature reserve in the 1970s, the rabbits remained out of control. Experts felt it necessary to come up with a plan to remove all the rabbits from the island. With this goal in mind, a virus was released onto the island. But although the virus caused the rabbit population to decrease from 130,000 to around 10,000, it also meant less food for the cats. The cats in consequence turned their attention – and their stomachs – back to the native birds, killing up to 60,000 each year. In the 1980s, traps and dogs were used to catch the cats. The last Macquarie Island cat was caught in 2000.
即使在20世纪70年代麦夸里岛成为官方自然保护区后，兔子仍然不受控制。专家认为，必须想办法清除岛上所有的兔子。怀着这个目标，人们投放了一种病毒到岛上。然而，虽然病毒使得兔子的数量从130，000降到约10，000只，但这也意味着猫的食物变少了。因此，猫把注意力和胃口重新转向了当地鸟类，每年捕食多达60，000只。20世纪80年代，人们利用捕猎夹和狗来抓猫。2000年，麦夸里岛上的最后一只猫被抓。

5 But as the saying goes, “While the cat's away, the mice will play.” With the departure of the cats from the island, the mouse and rat population started to increase. And remember those 10,000 or so rabbits? It turned out that they developed an immunity to the virus, and their numbers exploded once again. Then, in 2006, the rabbits' digging caused some land to collapse, and killed a substantial number of penguins. This incident made it clear that the rat, mouse and rabbit problem needed solving once and for all.
但正如俗语所说， “山中无老虎，猴子称大王”。猫从岛上消失了，小鼠和大鼠的数量便开始增加。还记得那10，00只左右的兔子吗？它们最终对病毒产生了免疫，数量又一次激增。随后，在2006年，兔子挖的洞造成一些土地坍塌，导致大量企鹅死亡。这一事件清楚地表明，大鼠、小鼠和兔子泛滥的问题需要一次彻底的解决。

6 So, I am here on Macquarie Island to participate in the programme to tackle this very problem. The first step involved poison being dropped from helicopters. The next step is to remove the last remaining invading species, and that's where I come in – with my dogs. They have been trained to find every last one, without harming the native animals. This intervention is a long, much-delayed ending to a sad story, but we humans owe it to the island to give it a happy ending.
所以，正是为了解决这个问题，我来到麦夸里岛，上参与一项行动。行动的第一步利用了直升机向岛上投放毒药。下一步是清除最后残存的入侵物种，这就是我的工作了——和我的狗一起。这些狗受训去寻找剩下的每一只老鼠和兔子，同时又不伤害当地动物。这次干预行动是这场悲剧漫长而屡被贻误的大结局，但这是我们人类应该做的，我们亏欠这座岛屿一个美好的结局。

Postscript: In 2014, Macquarie Island was declared pest-free and the island's ecology is finally on the road to recovery.
附言： 2014年麦夸里岛正式宣布已无有害生物，岛上的生态环境终于走上了恢复之路。

第56页阅读讲解

WHY SHENNONGJIA?
为什么是神农架？

1 Good morning, everyone. It is my great pleasure to give a lecture here on behalf of the Be at One with Nature Association.
大家早上好。我很开心能代表人与自然和谐相处协会在这里发表演讲。

2 As we know, in 2016, Shennongjia made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. But there are so many important places not yet on this list. So you might ask: why Shennongjia? Is it its forests that stretch on and on like great green seas? Is it the legendary father of Chinese herbal medicine, Shennong, after whom the park is named? Or is it the mysterious creature called “Yeren” (wild man) that has captured the imagination of the world?
众所周知，神农架在2016年正式入选联合国教科文组织的《世界遗产名录》。世界上重要的地方那么多，但许多都没有被列入该名单。所以你可能会问:为什么是神农架？是因为它拥有像绿色海洋般广袤的森林吗？还是因为它是以中国草药之父神农命名？抑或是因为神秘的“野人”吸引了全世界的目光？

3 UNESCO awarded Shennongjia this status because it meets two criteria required by the list. It contains a naturally-balanced environment that allows the many and various species to live and prosper. It is also one of the rare locations in the world where scientists can observe in real time the ecological and biological processes that occur as the plants and animals develop and evolve.
联合国教科文组织令神农架入选是因为它符合入选名录的两项标准：第它拥有一个自然平衡的环境，使许多不同的物种得以生存和繁衍。第二，它也是世界上人迹罕至之地，科学家们可以实时观察到植物和动物发展和进化过程中的生态学和生物学过程。

4 For the first criterion, Shennongjia is apparently one of the most “complete” natural areas in the world. The region rises from about 400 metres to over 3,000 metres above sea level, giving it the name the “Roof of Central China”. The vast range in altitude results in a great variation in climatic conditions. This allows a wide variety of species to thrive. Some of the plants and animals have survived millions of years, and are regarded as living fossils.
就第一项标准而言，我们可以自豪地说神农架是世界上最“完整”的自然区域之一。该地区的海拔从大约400米上升到3,000多米，被称为“华中屋脊”。海拔的巨大差异导致了迥然不同的气候环境，使得大量不同的物种得以繁衍生息。一些动植物生存了数百万年，被视为活化石。

5 For the second criterion, we can see that Shennongjia has incredible biodiversity. Look at this slide. According to official statistics, over 3,000 plant species have been recorded there. This represents more than ten per cent of China's total floral richness. Shennongjia supports more than 600 vertebrate species, including the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey and the Clouded Leopard. Additionally, around 4,300 insect species have been recorded.
对于第二个标准，我们可以看到神农架有着极丰富的生物多样性。请看这张幻灯片。根据官方统计，在神农架内有记录的植物物种超过3,000种，占到了中国全部开花植物的10%以上。神农架还有600多种脊椎动物，包括川金丝猴和云豹。此外，有记录的昆虫物种也达到了4,300种左右。

6 It is a challenge to look after so many species. In winter, scientists brave heavy snow and freezing temperatures to supply food to the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey. Thanks to their efforts, the monkey's population has doubled since the 1980s. Their number reached over 1,300 in 2015 and continues to grow.
照顾如此多的物种是一项挑战。冬季，科学家们不畏暴雪和严寒为川金丝猴提供食物。也正是因为他们的付出，川金丝猴的数量相比于20世纪80年代增加了一倍，到2015年达到1,300多只，而且其数量还在持续增长。

7 But the most impressive aspect of Shennongjia is the local people, who take things from nature without causing damage. I visited a local village which is known for its home-made honey. What is special about the honey is that it is produced by the earliest species of Chinese bee. Every spring, the villagers place beehives around their houses to attract these wild bees from the forest. Although endangered elsewhere in China due to the invasion of foreign species, the bees of Shennongjia have coexisted with the local people for centuries. By providing the bees with a secure home, the villagers collect their honey in return. This is just one of the ways in which people of Shennongjia live and work in harmony with nature.
不过神农架给人印象最深的地方还在于当地人的生活方式，他们从大自然中索取，但不会破坏生态平衡。我去了一个以自制蜂蜜而闻名的当地村庄参观。这种蜂蜜的独特之处在于它是由最古老的一种中华蜜蜂产的。每年春天，村民们就会在自家周围放置些蜂箱，吸引森林中的野生蜜蜂。虽然在中国的其他地区，由于外来物种入侵，这种蜜蜂濒临灭绝，但是神农架的人们和这种蜜蜂已经共存了几个世纪，村民为它们提供安全住所，蜜蜂为人们提供蜂蜜。这只是神农架的村民与自然和谐相处的方式之一。

8 All of this explains why Shennongjia earned – and deserves – its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as well as highlighting how understanding, awareness and hard work have contributed towards protecting a unique and wonderful part of our natural world.
以上这些解释了为什么神农架能够并理应入选联合国教科文组织的《世界遗产名录》，同时也强调了人们的理解、认识和付出是如何促进对这一自然界独特且美好区域的保护的。

9 Thank you for listening. Now, does anyone have any questions?
感谢大家的聆听。现在大家有什么问题吗？