美国国家公共电台 NPR--The story of a breed of tiny horses is one of those greatest stories rarely told

The story of a breed of tiny horses is one of those greatest stories rarely told

Transcript¹

The tiny Lac La Croix pony², also known as the Ojibwe horse, faced extinction³ decades ago, but on-going efforts aim to help the breed survive.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A breed of tiny horses once faced extinction and is now recovering. The Lac La Croix pony, also known as the Ojibwe horse, is found mostly in the thick forests along the U.S.-Canadian border. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Kraker reports on the effort to keep it there.

DAN KRAKER, BYLINE⁴: Inside a barn on a farm in the rolling hills outside River Falls, Wis., stand six small, sturdy and very friendly horses.

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANGING)

KRAKER: They're Ojibwe horses.

EM LOERZEL: This is Mino, short for Mino Bimaadiziwin. So that's our word for a good life.

KRAKER: Em Loerzel is a descendent⁵ of the White Earth Nation in northern Minnesota. Earlier this year, she created a nonprofit called The Humble⁶ Horse to raise awareness⁷ about the breed and to help revive it. Mino is one of only about 180 Ojibwe horses remaining.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE BREATHING)

LOERZEL: He's, I think, just one of the sweetest guys.

KRAKER: Loerzel says the breed developed a few ways to adapt to the harsh Northern climate.

LOERZEL: Hi, sweetheart.

KRAKER: She pries⁸ open Mino's nostrils⁹ to point out a small flap inside.

LOERZEL: It's this little kind of, like, inside flap that you see here. It helps protect them from cold air. And then you probably noticed his really small fuzzy ears. It also protects them from the cold, but it also protects them from black flies.

KRAKER: But the Ojibwe horse almost wasn't able to survive its greatest threat - people. In the early 1900s, they were killed to make products like dog food and glue. By 1977, there were only four left on the Lac La Croix First Nation in Ontario, just north of the U.S.-Canada border. Word spread that the Canadian government planned to exterminate¹⁰ them, so four men from the Bois Forte¹¹ Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota launched a rescue mission. Heather O'Connor, a Canadian author who spent five years researching Ojibwe horses, says it was dubbed¹² the heist across the ice.

HEATHER O'CONNOR: They piled in a pickup¹³ truck, hooked up a horse trailer, drove across, like, beaver¹⁴ dams and portages and frozen ice in the middle of February.

KRAKER: Norman Jordan was a young boy at the time living at Lac La Croix. He says the ponies¹⁵ would roam in the woods near their homes and help with tasks like hauling wood. He remembers watching the men lead the horses away.

NORMAN JORDAN: I'm wondering if this is the last time I'm going to ever see those horses. I don't know if they'll ever be back again, you know, because everybody was so attached to them in a deep, spiritual way.

KRAKER: But those four rescued horses allowed the breed to survive. Slowly, their numbers increased. Then in 2017, almost 40 years after those four horses left, Jordan helped bring a small herd¹⁶ back to the community.

JORDAN: It's almost like when they left, there was a piece of my history that was leaving - a piece of me, like a void that I've had for all these years. And then that night they came back, it's like that piece that was missing was back now.

KRAKER: But advocates for the Ojibwe horse say its survival is still tenuous¹⁷. They say more people are needed to maintain breeding herds¹⁸ - more people like Em Loerzel, who just welcomed a new baby to her small herd in Wisconsin.

LOERZEL: It's time to go out. Come on.

KRAKER: Loerzel says the Ojibwe horses' story is a parallel to the story of Ojibwe people.

LOERZEL: They were forcefully removed from their families. They were almost exterminated¹⁹ by the government. The population dwindled²⁰, and now we're coming back. And now we're thriving.

KRAKER: Loerzel says the Ojibwe people are horse people, too. And she hopes these horses help her people reclaim²¹ that heritage.

For NPR News, I'm Dan Kraker in River Falls, Wis.

(SOUNDBITE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL SONG, "SILHOUETTES")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

3 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 descendent   

adj. 下降的, 降落的, 世袭的 n. 后代，子孙 =descendant

参考例句：

• With no direct descendent, who will succeed to the title? 没有直系后裔，谁来继承爵位呢？
• He is a descendent of Queen Victoria. 他是维多利亚女王的后代。

6 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 pries   

v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的第三人称单数 )；撬开

参考例句：

• He often pries into other people's affairs. 他常探问别人的事。 来自辞典例句
• Seem the lock that someone pries me in the doorway. 好像是有人在门口撬我的锁。 来自互联网

9 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

10 exterminate   

v.扑灭，消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• Some people exterminate garden insects by spraying poison on the plants.有些人在植物上喷撒毒剂以杀死花园内的昆虫。
• Woodpeckers can exterminate insect pests hiding in trees.啄木鸟能消灭躲在树里的害虫。

11 forte   

n.长处，擅长；adj.(音乐)强音的

参考例句：

• Her forte is playing the piano.她擅长弹钢琴。
• His forte is to show people around in the company.他最拿手的就是向大家介绍公司。

12 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

14 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

15 ponies   

矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
• She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。

16 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

17 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

18 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

19 exterminated   

v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was exterminated root and branch. 它被彻底剪除了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The insects can be exterminated by spraying DDT. 可以用喷撒滴滴涕的方法大量杀死这种昆虫。 来自《用法词典》

20 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。