英语听力：自然百科 人猴共处的新加坡

 

 While some visitors to Singapore expect a high-tech¹ city, there are also some parts of the island that still reflect how it used to look before urban development took over.

In one of the main Central Nature Reserves, monkeys still roam freely, living side by side with humans. The macaques have grown accustomed to being fed, so they look to humans as a source of food. But this in itself is problematic. As the monkeys depend more on humans for food, they venture further from their natural habitat, a phenomenon that has worried experts.

There is just not enough space. Essentially², in much of Southeast Asia we’ve seen a lot of habitat loss where rainforest has been destroyed and converted into human settlement. And Singapore is, is becoming, is a very urbanized city, and it’s taken a lot of space. So there is not much space left for long-tailed macaques.

We really need to stop encroaching into nature reserves, uh, so we stop building the houses so nearby the reserves, which then causes this problem of the macaques coming into people’s houses and raiding them. And also because these macaques are French species so they live on the edges of the rainforests, so if you keep building the houses so near the reserves, there will definitely be a constant human-macaque conflict issues.

He believes the macaques are essential to maintaining the rainforest’s ecosystem³ and that more should be done to protect them. But while some residents may feel harassed⁴ by theirfurry neighbors, others take it more as a unique opportunity to observe monkeys in the wild, and to see how they adapt to their surroundings.

(It is) exactly quite, quite a privilege to live with these monkeys here and it does have its , say, downsides as well of course.

Residents living near the nature reserve have to keep their windows closed. And make sure the monkeys don’t recap it with their garbage cans.

They know where there is rubbish that might be food, and so the bins⁵ have to be left quite securely locked. And some people do that by using bungee hooks. But unfortunately the monkeys are quite smart, and they’ve developed a fantastic technique, where they can rock the bins. So as they fall over, and the contents are distributed to the top near the lid. And then the monkeys pull at the corner, push the little monkeys inside and the little monkeys push all the food out.

But the monkeys would sneak⁶ up just about anywhere. If at the end of the day, as the sun is setting, you decide to relax with a drink and some nuts. Then beware! The monkey burglars arelurking in the branches, ready to pounce⁷ and steal your snacks.

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 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。

4 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

5 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

6 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

7 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。