VOA新闻杂志2023 拯救长颈鹿贝尼托

Benito the giraffe arrived in Mexico's dry northern border city of Ciudad Juarez last month.

长颈鹿贝尼托上个月抵达墨西哥北部干燥的边境城市华雷斯城。

Already, the climate appears to be a problem.

可是，那里的气候似乎已经成了一个问题。

The creature has to deal with the heat of summer.

这只生物不得不忍受夏天的炎热。

And the snow and very cold temperatures of winter are still to come.

而冬天的大雪和严寒还没有到来。

As a result, some animal activists² are leading a social media campaign to "Save Benito."

因此，一些动物保护主义者在社交媒体上发起了一场“拯救贝尼托”的运动。

They seek to have the animal moved somewhere easier to live.

他们试图把这只动物转移到一个更适宜居住的地方。

On a recent day, the 3-year-old male giraffe could be seen with only its head under a small, circular area for shade.

最近的一天，可以看到只有这只3岁雄性长颈鹿的头在一个小小的圆形遮荫区域里。

The structure did little to protect him from a storm that came later in the day.

这座建筑物几乎没有保护它免受当天晚些时候降临的暴风雨的侵袭。

There is also a small building for the winter.

这里还有一座小建筑物供它过冬。

But activists say it is cruel for the city-run Central Park to keep the giraffe in a small area, by himself, in a climate he is not used to.

但活动人士表示，在长颈鹿不习惯的气候下，由城市运营的中央公园把长颈鹿单独关在一个小地方是残忍的。

Ana Felix said, "We have been fighting for a month, a group of animal activists, to demand that he be taken to an animal sanctuary³, a zoo, ..."

安娜·费利克斯说：“我们一群动物保护主义者一个月来一直在为要求将长颈鹿带到动物保护区、动物园等而斗争。”

The Ciudad Juarez animal rights activist¹ said Benito should be housed in the right space with people who know how to care for such animals.

这位华雷斯市的动物权利活动家表示，贝尼托应该被安置在合适的地方，和知道如何照顾这种动物的人在一起。

Blue Hills, a sanctuary in Texas that rescues animals and books private tours to help offset⁴ the cost, has offered to buy or adopt Benito.

位于得克萨斯州的布鲁山是一家救助动物和预订私人旅行以帮助抵消成本的野生动物保护区，它已经提出购买或收养贝尼托。

"We can offer him a ... new heated barn, so in the winter he doesn't stand in the snow and freeze," sanctuary worker Matt Lieberman wrote to The Associated Press.

该保护区的工作人员马特·利伯曼在给美联社的信中写道：“我们可以为它提供一个新的加热谷仓，这样它在冬天就不会站在雪地里冻僵了。”

"We have an on-staff vet⁵ that cares for our animals and we have 24-hour staff for him."

“我们有专职兽医照顾我们的动物，我们有24小时的工作人员照顾它。”

He added that the giraffe would have 130 hectares to move around in.

他补充说，长颈鹿将会有130公顷的土地活动。

Lieberman said, "He needs trees to eat from and keep stimulated⁶."

利伯曼说：“它需要吃的食物来自树木，它还需要保持兴奋。”

Benito appears to have just about finished off the only small trees within his reach at Central Park and can do little more than walk in circles.

在中央公园，贝尼托似乎已经把它够得着的几棵小树啃完了，除了绕着圈走之外，它几乎什么也做不了。

Officials at the park reject the criticism, though they admit they cannot provide more trees.

公园的官员拒绝接受批评，尽管他们承认他们无法提供更多的树木。

They say they are working to improve Benito's living area, saying his presence has been important in increasing the park's popularity among visitors, largely children.

他们说，他们正在努力改善贝尼托的生活区，称它的存在对于提高公园在游客（主要是儿童）中的受欢迎程度非常重要。

Monthly visits rose from about 140,000 before Benito arrived to 200,000.

每月的访问量从贝尼托到来之前的约14万人次增加到20万人次。

Park visitor Derek Reyes, 11, had mixed feelings about Benito.

11岁的公园游客德里克·雷耶斯对贝尼托有着复杂的感情。

"He could be fine here," Reyes said, "but it would also be good if they could take him to a place where they belong, with a herd⁷."

雷耶斯说：“它在这里可能会很好，但如果他们能把它带到一个属于它们的地方，和一群动物在一起，那就更好了。”

Park director Rogelio Munoz said officials are planning to build Benito a new, heated winter house by September.

公园主管罗杰里奥·穆尼奥斯表示，官员们计划在9月份之前为贝尼托建造一座新的有暖气的冬季住宅。

The park is also building a larger sun covering for the giraffe and cleaning water in the pool that takes up much of the enclosure.

公园还为长颈鹿建造了一个更大的遮阳篷，并清理了占据大部分围场面积的游泳池里的水。

Benito will have fresh water in a special drinking container known as a trough.

贝尼托将会在一个被称为饮水槽的特殊饮水容器中获得淡水。

"The conditions, attention and care in the habitat of the park's new resident are optimal⁸ for his stay," the park wrote in a social media message.

公园在社交媒体上写道：“这位公园新居民的栖息地的环境、关注和照顾对它来说是最适宜的。”

A zoo in the much milder climate of Sinaloa, a state on Mexico's northern Pacific coast, gave Benito to Ciudad Juarez's Central Park.

位于墨西哥北太平洋海岸锡那罗亚州气候温和得多的一家动物园将贝尼托赠送给了华雷斯的中央公园。

Benito could not stay with two other giraffes at the Sinaloa zoo because they were a couple.

贝尼托不能和锡那罗亚动物园的另外两只长颈鹿待在一起，因为那两只长颈鹿是一对。

The male in the couple could become protective and attack the younger Benito.

其中的雄性长颈鹿可能会产生保护欲，攻击年幼的贝尼托。

The giraffe's arrival was a point of pride for Ciudad Juarez, a city across from El Paso, Texas.

对于位于得克萨斯州埃尔帕索对面的华雷斯来说，长颈鹿的到来是一件值得骄傲的事情。

El Paso has giraffes at its zoo, the thinking goes, so why can't Ciudad Juarez?

人们在想，埃尔帕索的动物园里有长颈鹿，为什么华雷斯没有呢？

"We want to be like El Paso," Munoz said.

穆尼奥斯说：“我们想成为埃尔帕索那样的城市。”

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 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》

3 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

4 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

5 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

6 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

7 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

8 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。