【英语语言学习】拯救热带雨林

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

 

Some other news. Ecuador has abandoned what seemed like a creative way to preserve the environment. The government proposed not to drill for oil in some untouched parts of the Amazon rainforest, but in exchange for its restraint Ecuador wanted to be paid. David Kestenbaum of our Planet Money team explains the plan and why it failed.

 

DAVID KESTENBAUM, BYLINE¹: The Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. There are orchids² and jaguars³ and monkeys and birds. Ivonne A-Baki, who works for the Ecuadorian government, told me earlier this year that even getting to this part of the Amazon is difficult. You have to fly into this small airport and then get in a boat.

 

IVONNE A-BAKI: You have to go in a motorboat. You have to go for, like, an hour and 45 minutes and then, to enter the park you have to go in a canoe for two hours, because even the sound of the motor and the oil, it will spoil the very fragility of this place.

 

KESTENBAUM: Buried underneath⁴ this fragile place was oil, a lot of oil. And it was tempting⁵ to drill. Ecuador is a poor country. But in 2007, Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, who happens to have PhD in economics, proposed a novel alternative. Ecuador would leave the oil in the ground, it would not drill, but it wanted to be paid half of what the oil was valued at at the time. It wanted $3.6 billion.

 

When I talked with Ivonne A-Baki, she was traveling the world asking for contributions, which was delicate, because the pitch, viewed a certain way, could sound a bit like blackmail⁶. Pay us or we'll shoot the trees. Here's how she put it back then.

 

A-BAKI: We're saying we have a unique place that has value to the world.

 

KESTENBAUM: Just to be clear, do I understand the terms of this correctly? Ecuador has pledged it will leave that oil in the ground as long as it gets $3.6 billion?

 

A-BAKI: No. It's not the way we're putting it. I'm not putting it that way. We're saying we would like to be compensated⁷ because we need the money and it's an environmental service to the world.

 

KESTENBAUM: What happens if you don't get the money?

 

A-BAKI: I don't want to even think about it. I don't want to think about it because I don't want to see this place destroyed and it might be. It might be.

 

KESTENBAUM: You might drill under this park.

 

A-BAKI: We are not going to drill under this park.

 

KESTENBAUM: You just said it might happen, though, before.

 

A-BAKI: I said it might. I didn't say it will.

 

KESTENBAUM: Ecuador set up a fund through the United Nations. And while some countries and companies and individuals pledged money, the total was far short of the goal. By the end of 2012, the fund had only $6.5 million in it. When the project was officially scrapped⁸, I reached out to Ivonne A-Baki again. She agreed to an interview, but then cancelled. Here is President Rafael Correa when he made the announcement on television a couple weeks ago.

 

PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA: (Speaking foreign language)

 

KESTENBAUM: Correa said ending the Yasuni initiative was one of the most difficult decisions of his presidency⁹. He said the international community had failed Ecuador and left him with no choice. The real dilemma¹⁰ is this, he said. Do we protect 100 percent of the Yasuní and have no resources to meet the urgent needs of our people, or do we save 99 percent of it and have $18 billion to fight poverty?

 

Since Correa's announcement, environmental groups in Ecuador have said they will fight the decision; they are hoping to get signatures to force a national referendum that could protect the park. But the original plan, the Yasuni initiative, seems to be dead. It was a grand experiment in environmental economics, an attempt to solve a problem that comes up all the time.

 

Who should pay to protect the rainforests of the world? Who should pay to deal with climate change? Who should pay to protect the environment that arguably we all benefit from? Clearly the world is still working on an answer. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.

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 orchids   

n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She breeds orchids in her greenhouse. 她在温室里培育兰花。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jaguars   

n.（中、南美洲的）美洲虎( jaguar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jaguars are largely nocturnal creatures. 美洲虎基本上是夜行动物。 来自辞典例句
• Jaguars (Panthera onca) once ranged from southern South America to theUnited States. 美洲虎曾经分布在北美洲南部和美洲南部。 来自互联网

4 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

5 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

6 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

7 compensated   

补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The marvelous acting compensated for the play's weak script. 本剧的精彩表演弥补了剧本的不足。
• I compensated his loss with money. 我赔偿他经济损失。

8 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。