美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rabbits are rescued from floodwaters on San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

Rabbits are rescued from floodwaters on San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

Transcript¹

A wet winter in California has helped many plants and animals, but some species are struggling. An effort is underway to relocate endangered rabbits to higher ground.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The abundant water in California has been a boost for many animals and plants, including a superbloom of wildflowers. But for some animals, it's also been life-threatening. NPR's Lauren Sommer takes us to the Central Valley, where rescues are underway for an endangered rabbit.

(SOUNDBITE OF RIVER RUSHING)

LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE²: The San Joaquin River is unrecognizable right now. This is a river that goes completely dry in some years because it's so heavily used in California. Now it's overflowing³.

ERIC HOPSON: It's really good if you're a fish. The ducks and the waterfowl are really loving it right now.

SOMMER: Eric Hopson is refuge manager at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. The river here has gone over its banks, swamping stands of cottonwood trees. We spot a beaver⁴ among them.

HOPSON: Yeah. The beavers⁵ are - they're kind of homeless 'cause their lodges⁶ and burrows⁷ are inundated⁸. But we've found that they're very quick to make a new home.

SOMMER: It's good for a lot of wildlife but not all of them.

HOPSON: Do we want to make wakes?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It's up to you.

HOPSON: OK.

SOMMER: We head out in an aluminum⁹ boat looking for islands of dry land in all this water.

HOPSON: So we have this strip of high ground that isn't flooded. But some of this is going to be flooded when the water comes up another 2 or 3 more feet.

SOMMER: That will give the wildlife nowhere to go, including what Hopson spots right ahead.

HOPSON: So we do have a riparian brush rabbit.

SOMMER: It's a brown rabbit, only a foot long, and it's highly endangered.

HOPSON: The late 1990s, they were thought to be near-extinct. In fact, there was a period of time where they were actually thought to be extinct.

SOMMER: This rabbit is in a wire cage, a small trap that Hopson has set so it can be moved somewhere safer. It'll be vaccinated¹⁰, as well, against a new threat, rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a fatal virus that recently arrived here. So far, Hopson and his team have rescued more than 360 endangered rabbits. Some were plucked from tree branches after the dry ground disappeared. These rabbits didn't always need saving, of course. In the past, when the river flooded, the rabbits would just move to higher ground.

HOPSON: Unfortunately, nowadays, most of that natural high grounds right up slope from the floodplains is taken up with farmland.

SOMMER: Farm fields don't provide any shelter for the rabbits, so they have nowhere to go. Hopson says the wildlife refuge is trying to acquire more of this higher-ground land. But it's tough in a prime agricultural area.

HOPSON: Very few farmers are willing to sell that land, and when they are, it's very highly priced.

SOMMER: But with climate change bringing bigger weather swings to California, including more flooding, expanding this habitat could be key for endangered rabbits and the whole ecosystem¹¹. Lauren Sommer, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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 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。

3 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

4 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。

5 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

6 lodges   

v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• But I forget, if I ever heard, where he lodges in Liverpool. 可是我记不得有没有听他说过他在利物浦的住址。 来自辞典例句
• My friend lodges in my uncle's house. 我朋友寄居在我叔叔家。 来自辞典例句

7 burrows   

n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The intertidal beach unit contains some organism burrows. 潮间海滩单元含有一些生物潜穴。 来自辞典例句
• A mole burrows its way through the ground. 鼹鼠会在地下钻洞前进。 来自辞典例句

8 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

10 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

11 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。