VOA慢速英语2009年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - On Chesapeake Bay, a

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty¹.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Today we tell about efforts to save an island in the American state of Maryland. Poplar Island lies about fifty-five kilometers south of Baltimore, in the Chesapeake Bay. This historic² waterway opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People sailing on the Chesapeake Bay often comment about the beauty of the area's water and wetland birds. Uncounted birds have lived in the area for centuries.

But by nineteen ninety, an island important to the birds was sinking. Winds, water and time had reduced Poplar Island to only a few pieces of land. All the land together measured only one and one half hectares. Sometimes, water threatened to cover all of what remained. Birds lost areas where they traditionally lived and reproduced³.

But now birds are returning to the island. Poplar Island is in the process of rebirth.

VOICE TWO:

Many birds make a home on Poplar Island today. The island now measures four hundred sixty-one hectares, about the same size as in the eighteen eighties. The birds will have even more space in the future. The island is expected to grow by another two hundred thirty-three hectares.

Poplar Island shows what can happen when many people and organizations cooperate.

In nineteen ninety-four, engineers and government agencies joined to plan a possible rescue of Poplar Island. The United States Army Corps⁴ of Engineers, the Maryland Port Administration and other groups became partners in the effort. Environmental activists⁵ and people who live near the island supported the campaign.

VOICE ONE:

The planners thought a Poplar Island rescue could help the port of Baltimore. They wanted to find a new place to put material dug up from shipping⁶ channels leading to the port. Each year, container ships carry thousands of tons of goods to Baltimore. The ships need deep waters for the trip. The shipping channels must be dredged, or cleared, of silt⁷, a fine-particle material.

One plan called for dropping the dredged material in deep waters. But environmental activists and people who lived along the coastline objected. They said the dredged material would reduce water quality. So, the planners asked, why not re-use the material to rebuild Poplar Island? The planners believed the idea would meet the needs of the port of Baltimore. A rebuilt island also would help return thousands of water birds to the Chesapeake Bay.

VOICE TWO:
　
An Osprey nest

The project was approved in nineteen ninety-six. The following year, the Army Corps of Engineers signed a Project Cooperation Agreement with the state of Maryland. The agreement called for the Army engineers to lead the rescue of the island.

Experts would return grasses, plants and trees to Poplar Island. Underwater plants would recover, leading more birds to return. The birds would build nesting areas and produce young on the island. And, the island could provide an example for other areas interested in similar projects.

Work started in nineteen ninety-eight. The project is now called the Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem⁸ Restoration Project at Poplar Island. The name honors Mister Sarbanes, the Senator⁹ who led the campaign for the project in the United States Congress.

(SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

Kevin Brennan leads the Poplar Island project. He says the project will cost six hundred sixty-seven million dollars. The federal government has paid most of the money, sharing the cost with the state. Completion is expected by about twenty thirty-four.

Much work has already been done. Flat-bottom boats have carried eighteen million cubic yards of dredged material to the island. When a boat arrives, the material is cleaned and dried. Machinery¹⁰ pumps the dry material onto the island. Then it is shaped to build up the land. About forty hectares have been completed.

The Chesapeake Bay sometimes flows over the wetlands, which cover half the land. Plantings in the wetlands help hold down the soil against the forces of erosion¹¹, like wind and water.

VOICE TWO:
　
Terrapins¹²

In June, volunteers placed seventy-six thousand spartina plants in a wetlands area. Spartinas are a kind of saltmarsh grass. They traditionally are a home for wild birds and prevent erosion.

The volunteers placed the plants about five centimeters into the soil to prevent rising and falling water levels from pulling them out. Volunteers also built barriers to keep hungry geese from eating the spartina.

Students from the Marriotts Ridge¹³ High School in Maryland volunteered for the project. Besides planting, the students also released terrapins on the island. The terrapins joined thousands of other turtles there. The National Aquarium¹⁴ in Baltimore helped organize the release with other groups.

VOICE ONE:

Later in June, prisoners also worked on the island. They are part of a state program called Maryland Correctional Enterprises¹⁵. The program is meant to help prisoners develop work skills for the time after they serve their sentences.

VOICE TWO:

At one time, poplar trees must have grown on Poplar Island. But there are no poplars there now. Instead, northern pines and hardwood trees will rise on the higher half of the land, which is called Upland.

Even dead trees have found their way to the island. Trees thrown away after the winter holidays are part of the recycling process. Kevin Brennan of the Poplar Island Project says ducks like to build their homes on the dead trees.

Winter brings workers and machinery to the island. But the noise does not seem to frighten the birds.

(SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

March seventeenth is the day many Americans celebrate Saint¹⁶ Patrick's Day. Mister Brennan says ospreys also mark that day. Every year, he says, ospreys return to Poplar Island to build their homes on March seventeenth.

The project leader says some of the birds place pieces of wood on heavy machinery like bulldozers. Workers remove these sticks to use the machinery. But when the workers return the next day, the birds have replaced the sticks.

Mister Brennan says about one hundred seventy kinds of birds use the island for a nesting place. Sometimes a heron can be seen standing¹⁷ on one thin leg, motionless.

Sandpipers, snowy egrets and eagles also are among the many kinds of birds of Poplar Island. They share the territory with animals like white tailed deer, river otters¹⁸ and mice.

VOICE TWO:

No people live on the island now. And no one will live there when the project is completed. But it was not always unpopulated. Native American tribes¹⁹ once grew vegetables like beans and corn throughout the Chesapeake coastal²⁰ plain.

The first known European settlement on Poplar Island was established in the sixteen thirties. Around that time England gave the land to Richard Thompson, a trader and explorer. For a few years, the settlement grew.

Then tragedy struck. One day Thompson returned to Poplar Island from a trip and made a horrible discovery. Some settlers had been murdered. But the crime did not stop people from continuing to live on the island.

VOICE ONE:

Later, British troops occupied Poplar Island during the War of Eighteen Twelve. Historical records say a trader bought the island in eighteen forty-four. He wanted to keep one thousand cats there to produce black cat fur. But the animals escaped to the mainland when waters on the Chesapeake Bay froze in December.

Until the early nineteen hundreds, Poplar Island had mail service, a store and a school. But nature was cruel. By the nineteen twenties, erosion from winds and weather had removed a large part of the land.

VOICE TWO:

Still, some politicians bought the island in the early nineteen thirties. They thought the wildlife and distance from Washington, D.C. would make a good place for people wishing to get away from the city. They built a clubhouse on a piece of land that had separated from the main island.

Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry²¹ Truman used Poplar Island and nearby Jackson Island for holidays. The clubhouse burned down in nineteen forty-six, and the island continued to erode²².

Recently, a Maryland woman who remembers going to Poplar Island years ago returned on a guided visit. She said it was wonderful that life had returned to an interesting part of Chesapeake Bay.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

3 reproduced   

复制( reproduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 重现； 再版； 生殖

参考例句：

• a manuscript reproduced in facsimile 精确复制的手稿
• The article was reproduced by the special permission of the President. 由于总统的特殊允许，这篇文章被复印了一份。

4 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

7 silt   

n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞

参考例句：

• The lake was almost solid with silt and vegetation.湖里几乎快被淤泥和植物填满了。
• During the annual floods the river deposits its silt on the fields.每年河水泛滥时都会在田野上沉积一层淤泥。

8 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。

9 senator   

n.参议员，评议员

参考例句：

• The senator urged against the adoption of the measure.那参议员极力反对采取这项措施。
• The senator's speech hit at government spending.参议员的讲话批评了政府的开支。

10 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

11 erosion   

n.腐蚀，侵蚀，磨损，削弱，减少

参考例句：

• The erosion of beach here is serious.这里海岸的腐蚀很严重。
• Drought and soil erosion had long been a major problem.干旱和水土流失一直是个老大难问题。

12 terrapins   

n.（北美的）淡水龟( terrapin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

13 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

14 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

15 enterprises   

事业( enterprise的名词复数 )； 事业心； 企[事]业单位； 企业发展

参考例句：

• In capitalist society,big enterprises always try to freeze out the smaller ones. 在资本主义社会，大企业总是千方百计地排挤小企业。
• Big transcontinental enterprises jostle with one another for world markets. 巨大的跨国公司[企业]互相争夺国际市场。

16 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

17 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

18 otters   

n.（水）獭( otter的名词复数 )；獭皮

参考例句：

• An attempt is being made to entice otters back to the river. 人们正试图把水獭引诱回河里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Otters are believed to have been on Earth for 90 million years. 水獭被认为存活在地球上已经9千多万年。 来自互联网

19 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

21 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

22 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。