美国国家公共电台 NPR Living With Puffins? Better Duck And Cover

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to hear now about what might be the best summer internship² in America or the worst, depending on how you feel about birds. These interns¹ live on a tiny, treeless island off the Maine coast. They are there to help with a restoration project. And they spend their days monitoring Atlantic puffins and other seabirds. Here's Susan Sharon from Maine Public Radio.

SUSAN SHARON, BYLINE³: It takes about 30 minutes by boat to reach Eastern Egg Rock, an exposed, seven-acre island bordered by seaweed-covered boulders⁴. This is home to what's known as Project Puffin.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS SCREECHING⁵)

SHARON: Hundreds of screeching gulls⁶ and terns circle overhead. The noise, says Sarah Guitart (ph), never stops.

SARAH GUITART: Anytime that I'm like, oh, you know, I wish these birds would just be a little bit quieter, you've got to remember that you're in a seabird colony, and it's pretty wonderful. So...

SHARON: Guitart's the crew lead for the four other interns and research assistants living and working on the island from May to August. She wears earplugs when she sleeps in her tent at night. Atlantic puffins are the quieter of the residents. They're cute and colorful, with their tuxedo-looking suits of black and white feathers, bright-orange beaks⁷ and feet. But by the late 1800s, they'd largely disappeared from this region, killed off by hunters for food and feathers.

STEPHEN KRESS: This little puffin chick is about 5 weeks old. I can tell that by the lack of down on it.

SHARON: Dr. Stephen Kress examines a chick that has been pulled out of a burrow⁸ deep between some rocks. Kress is the founder⁹ of the National Audubon Society's Project Puffin. Back in 1973, with permission from the government, he started transporting puffin chicks from a healthy colony in Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock. The unusual effort paid off and eventually expanded. There are now 1,300 pairs living on five main islands. And while Kress says this population is stable, it's small and vulnerable to disease and to predators¹⁰ like gulls, which the interns occasionally have to shoot. The puffins are also being affected¹¹ by rapidly warming temperatures in the Gulf¹² of Maine.

NADIA SWANSON: I'm going to drop this in here. And I usually leave the thermometer in for, like, a minute.

SHARON: Nadia Swanson (ph) takes a sea surface temperature to look for changes that might affect small fish that puffins need to survive.

SWANSON: It's, like, 62 degrees. So this morning, it was 60 degrees. So it got a little warmer.

SHARON: That may seem warm, unless you need a shower, and the Gulf of Maine is the only option. Out here, there is no running water. Hats and long sleeves are essential because interns get pooped on a lot.

MICHAEL RICKERSHAUSER: Does it seem large enough to bend (ph)?

SWANSON: Yeah.

SHARON: Michael Rickershauser (ph) is a former auto¹³ mechanic from Long Island who says he discovered he has a passion for seabirds. Patience also helps. Interns spend hours at a time inside blinds, watching birds' nesting and feeding habits and carefully recording¹⁴ the data to guide future ecologists.

RICKERSHAUSER: It was sort of a dream come true to come work out here. It's something special. It's more than seeing a picture or reading a book.

SHARON: Over Project Puffin's 46-year history, more than 500 interns have worked to protect seabirds. Dr. Kress says the main lesson he hopes they've learned is that people can be destructive to a species. But with their presence and perseverance¹⁵, they can also help bring it back. For NPR News, I'm Susan Sharon.

1 interns   

n.住院实习医生( intern的名词复数 )v.拘留，关押( intern的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Our interns also greet our guests when they arrive in our studios. 我们的实习生也会在嘉宾抵达演播室的时候向他们致以问候。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• The interns work alongside experienced civil engineers and receive training in the different work sectors. 实习生陪同有经验的国内工程师工作，接受不同工作部门的相关培训。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

2 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

3 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。

4 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

6 gulls   

n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A flock of sea gulls are hovering over the deck. 一群海鸥在甲板上空飞翔。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. 数不清的海鸥在遥远的岩石上栖息。 来自辞典例句

7 beaks   

n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者

参考例句：

• Baby cockatoos will have black eyes and soft, almost flexible beaks. 雏鸟凤头鹦鹉黑色的眼睛是柔和的，嘴几乎是灵活的。 来自互联网
• Squid beaks are often found in the stomachs of sperm whales. 经常能在抹香鲸的胃里发现鱿鱼的嘴。 来自互联网

8 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

13 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

14 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

15 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。