-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
In Argentina, the small city of San Luis is adopting the frog as its provincial1 hero. Frogs have been touted2 by some as the antidote3 to a dengue fever outbreak that's gripped Argentina. There have been over 20,000 cases recorded this year, including at least five deaths. Local Councilor Daniel Sosa says one frog can eat about 15,000 insects including mosquitoes in a single season. Mosquitoes are the carriers of the disease. He wants people to adopt the frog and forget the wildly used chemical controls.
What we want is a biological control, so the aero-toxins do not kill us. In the end, we will not be killed by the dengue, but we will actually be killed the aero-toxins. We will be killed by aerosols4, by the pesticides5. So, we have to begin to look for biological mechanisms6 and the frog is one of them.
Sosa is giving them away, encouraging locals to put them in their gardens. While not everyone has been jumping at the prospect7 of taking one home, local residents have been receiving them with amused curiosity.
The truth is that I do not want to take one to my house. I am impressed. But, well, if it is a way to prevent it, what else can I do?
Everything serves and its cost is zero, because the repellents are really expensive and not everyone has the money to buy them.
According to a local newspaper, a farmer in a nearby village had the original idea. He was convinced the repopulation of the amphibians9 in the heavily forested area would provide a clean answer to the long-legged mosquito. He says that in contrast to the toxic10 methods wildly used to combat the mosquito, a frog is a friend to the health of people.
The frog is a form of defense11. That's the first thing and secondly12 in my opinion, if I may say, all this chemical stuff and all that is a waste of place, because you know why, because when the insect gets the scent13, it goes away from where there is the defense, and the mosquito is no more there. Only when he is a top, or is really caught with the spread, but other than that it doesn't provide anything. He's gone and keeps going. Do you get me? And everything I believe is all this chemical combination does nothing good for the health of the people as it contaminates the air.
A newer strain of the disease appears resistant14 to the chemical controls, and the amphibian8 population continues to decline. Despite the region having large numbers of frogs in the past, today there are very few as a consequence of changes in the natural habitat and years of fumigation15. Some say the increased air travel as well as Argentina's recent agricultural expansions have played a role in the epidemic16. Land clearing for food production has disrupted large parts of the country's ecological17 balance. Despite the enthusiasm for biological controls, there are some words of caution.
In accordance with the autonomous18 population here, it must not be misunderstood that we do not try to introduce species that are not natural to our region, because we have to take care with a representative number in each region, and we have to study them previously19, because it just might be that they occupy the nests of the native species and with that we would produce a real ecological crisis.
点击收听单词发音
1 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 touted | |
v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 );招揽;侦查;探听赛马情报 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 antidote | |
n.解毒药,解毒剂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 aerosols | |
n.气溶胶( aerosol的名词复数 );喷雾剂;(气体中的)浮粒;喷雾器 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 pesticides | |
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 );除害药物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 mechanisms | |
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 amphibian | |
n.两栖动物;水陆两用飞机和车辆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 amphibians | |
两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 ); 水陆两用车; 水旱两生植物; 水陆两用飞行器 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 toxic | |
adj.有毒的,因中毒引起的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 secondly | |
adv.第二,其次 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 resistant | |
adj.(to)抵抗的,有抵抗力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 fumigation | |
n.烟熏,熏蒸;忿恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 epidemic | |
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 ecological | |
adj.生态的,生态学的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 autonomous | |
adj.自治的;独立的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 pawns | |
n.(国际象棋中的)兵( pawn的名词复数 );卒;被人利用的人;小卒v.典当,抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 );以(某事物)担保 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 spotlight | |
n.公众注意的中心,聚光灯,探照灯,视听,注意,醒目 | |
参考例句: |
|
|