美国国家公共电台 NPR Warming Climate Is Quieting Kauai's Colorful Forest Birds

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

In Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, the native forest birds are in danger. The island has lost more than half of those native species, and it could be an early warning for the other Hawaiian Islands. Gloria Hillard reports.

GLORIA HILLARD, BYLINE¹: Native Hawaiian songs tell stories of the islands.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Hawaiian).

HILLARD: This one was inspired by the last mating call of a now extinct bird, the Kaua'i 'o'o.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Hawaiian).

SABRA KAUKA: And, you know, we still sing it with hope in our hearts.

HILLARD: Sabra Kauka is one of the singers.

KAUKA: But in truth, there - our birds - our native birds are in very steep decline.

HILLARD: Kauka, a native Hawaiian, is also a revered² teacher of the island's culture.

KAUKA: Our seabirds, our mountain birds, they are just indicators³ of the health of the Earth.

HILLARD: On the west side of Kauai, the Alakai forest has provided a home to the island's native forest birds for millennia⁴. It's a different picture here than the beaches and palm trees that graced most Hawaiian postcards. Trails cut through a misty⁵ bog⁶ of moss-covered trees and dark green ferns. It is cool and disturbingly quiet.

LISA CRAMPTON: I felt like I heard one of the honeycreepers way off in the distance. And I'm trying to see if I hear it again.

HILLARD: Dr. Lisa Crampton is coordinator⁷ of the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project. She says not that long ago, maybe a few decades, there were so many birds here...

CRAMPTON: We wouldn't be able to have a conversation. It was a much, much nosier forest. And in the last 10 to 15 years alone, many of our species are in 70 and 90 percent declines. They've lost - that's how fast their populations are collapsing⁸.

HILLARD: Loss of native habitat and the introduction of invasive species like rats, wild pigs and feral cats have contributed to the birds' decline. But Crampton says mosquito-borne avian diseases from the island's warming temperatures pose the biggest threat.

CRAMPTON: These mountains that we're in right now have provided a cold - a high-elevation refuge for the birds. But as the planet warms, that refuge is getting shrunk down.

HILLARD: And could be completely gone, Crampton says, within a decade. Conservation efforts including rat control, captive breeding and habitat restoration are underway. Of the eight forest bird species on the island, three are listed as endangered. Among them is the puaiohi. The small gray and brown bird with pink feet numbers less than 500. It feeds on the fruits of native plants and plays a vital role in seed dispersal.

CRAMPTON: At least we have the puaiohi. But that's it. The puaiohi goes, and then what is going to disperse⁹ the fruits and the seeds and help this forest regenerate¹⁰ all these beautiful fruiting plants that are so much a part of the Hawaiian forest?

HILLARD: One bird is doing slightly better.

CRAMPTON: That sounded like an 'elepaio. Let's see if we can see it.

HILLARD: Crampton uses her best 'elepaio bird call.

CRAMPTON: (Imitating bird call). They're often very curious.

HILLARD: After an hour or so searching for the elusive¹¹ cinnamon and gray bird...

CRAMPTON: There's the 'elepaio. I told you it would come in to look at us.

HILLARD: It was a mother bird and her young.

(SOUNDBITE OF 'ELEPAIO CHIRPING)

HILLARD: A quiet song helping¹² to tell the story of this troubled forest. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard on the island of Kauai.

1 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。

2 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

3 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

4 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

5 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

6 bog   

n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖

参考例句：

• We were able to pass him a rope before the bog sucked him under.我们终于得以在沼泽把他吞没前把绳子扔给他。
• The path goes across an area of bog.这条小路穿过一片沼泽。

7 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

8 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

9 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

10 regenerate   

vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的

参考例句：

• Their aim is to regenerate British industry.他们的目的是复兴英国的工业。
• Although it is not easy,you have the power to regenerate your life.尽管这不容易，但你有使生活重获新生的能力。

11 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。