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VOA慢速英语2013 乌干达的偷猎者和农民威胁狮子生存

时间:2013-12-03 14:45:48

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AS IT IS 2013-12-02 Uganda’s Lions Threatened by Poachers and Farmers 乌干达的偷猎者和农民威胁狮子生存

Hello, and welcome back to As It Is from VOA Learning English.

I’m Christopher Cruise in Washington.

Today on the program, we go to South Africa, where conservationists are using poison to save rhinos2…   “It is a little bit sore, but hard sore, but I’m, I’m happy  in the fact that I now know that she is potentially very, very safe.”

Then, we go to Kenya, where wildlife officers are using high-tech3 methods to protect rhinos from poachers.

But first, we take you to Uganda, where hunters and farmers are threatening the country’s remaining lion population…“If nothing is done and the population keeps  going down, then it will not be likely that we will have them.”

Lions, and rhinos -- the subjects of our conversation today, as you learn everyday American English on As It Is, from VOA.

Can Uganda’s Lions Survive Poachers and Farmers?                                  

Uganda’s lion population has fallen by 30 percent in the last ten years. Experts  are warning that the big cats could soon disappear from the country. As Caty Weaver4 reports, that could hurt Uganda’s important and profitable tourism industry.

We are in one of Uganda’s national parks. There are grasslands5 as far as the eye can see. And there are many travelers from around the world. They have woken up early  -- before the sun rises -- and their camps are now empty.

They are hunting, not with guns but with cameras.

Jossy Muhangi works for the Uganda Wildlife Authority. He knows what the tourists seek.

“For most of our game drives, people want to wake up at 6 a.m., in the wee hours, and they really look. Their first choice or the favorite animals for the tourists --  be it local or international -- would be a lion. For every tourist who comes to Uganda, the dream would be to at least spot a lion.”

Lions are growing harder to find throughout Uganda. Last month, the non-profit organization Wildlife Conservation Society said now only a little more than 400 lions  remain in Uganda. That is one third less than ten years ago.

Tutilo Mudumba is a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society, or WCS. He says lions face many threats.

“You may find illegal poaching using, for example, air snares6, taking place in Murchison Falls National Park. You may have a problem of competition for grazing land  between lion prey7 and cattle, and then you have sometimes poisoning, we suspect to clear the area of predators8 so that they can use it for grazing.”

Mr. Mudumba says if no action is taken to reduce these threats, lions could one day disappear from Uganda.

“If nothing is done and the population keeps going down, then it will not be likely that we will have them. If they reduce by 30 percent every 10 years, then of  course those are the number of years left for you to have zero.”

The disappearance9 of lions from Uganda could hurt the country’s economy. In 2006, the WCS studied the expectations and spending of visitors to Uganda. It found that  each lion was worth $13,500 a year to the economy. The study also found that only 60 percent of tourists would still visit Uganda’s national parks if there were no  lions left. The World Bank estimates tourism brought 1 billion dollars to Uganda’s economy last year.

I’m Caty Weaver.

Using Poison to Save Rhinos in South Africa                                               

The illegal hunting, or poaching, of rhinoceroses10 has increased in recent  years in South Africa -- where most of the world’s rhinos live.

Almost 800 rhinos have been poached in South Africa so far this year. That is more than three percent of the country’s rhino1 population.

Rhinos are killed for their horns. These can be illegally sold for tens of thousands of dollars in Asia. The horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine. The rhinos’  eyes and tail are sometimes used in other traditional activities.

?Graham Shipway runs a business in the Plumari Africa Game Reserve near Johannesburg. He found at least two dead rhinos last month.

“This is a female rhino, pregnant, 23 years old. Last Saturday she was poached. You can see over here the bullet hole. It’s a through and through, which means it’s  a heavy caliber11 bullet. They hacked12 off her horn, as you can see here. They gouged13 out her eyes, as you can see. And they cut off her tail -- all for two kilograms of  horn.”

The government and private game reserves are trying different ways to fight poachers -- including armed patrols. They are also cutting off rhinos’ horns, and even  poisoning the horns. This makes them worthless on the black market. Several hundred rhino horns have been injected with poison so far this year. Officials hope the  poisoning will help save rhinos from extinction14. The rhino is injected with a drug that paralyzes the animal but does not make them unconscious. Then, a hole is  drilled into its horn. A poison that is dyed red is then put into the hole. Conservationist Lorinda Hern says the poison is safe for rhinos, but harmful to humans.  They can suffer from vomiting15, diarrhea and nerve damage. In some cases, the poison can kill a person.

“If you buy a horn and it’s this kind of color you obviously know that it’s been tampered16 with and that it’s not safe for human consumption. So, yeah, 60,000 U.S.  dollars per kilo versus17 zero.”

Once the poison is placed in the rhino’s horn, the rhino wakes up, unharmed.

“It’s a little bit sore, but hard sore, but I’m, I’m happy in the fact that I now know that she is potentially very, very safe.”

?Conservationists hope to save hundreds of rhinos each year by making their horns worthless to poachers. ?Using High-Tech Devices to Save Rhinos in Kenya                                      

Wildlife officials in Kenya for the first time are using high-tech efforts to fight rhino poaching. They are placing small devices into the  rhinos, called transponders. The transponders let officials follow the animal and even the horn if it is cut off. Using the transponders is necessary to fight the  increasing poaching of rhinos in Kenya.

The country’s chief law official said poachers have killed 90 elephants and 35 rhinos this year.

Last month, the Kenya Wildlife Service used a helicopter to gather rhinos in an area of Nakuru National Park. A team of rangers18 shot the rhinos with drugs to make them  sleep. They then put four transponders into each rhino -- one in the front horn, another in the smaller rear horn as well as one each in the neck and the tail.

The transponders were donated to the Kenya Wildlife Service by the World Wildlife Fund.

And that’s our program for today.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 rhino xjmztD     
n.犀牛,钱, 现金
参考例句:
  • The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
  • They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。
2 rhinos 195f9b9fd8128a29dac773077994698f     
n.犀牛(rhino的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
  • The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句
3 high-tech 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。
4 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
5 grasslands 72179cad53224d2f605476ff67a1d94c     
n.草原,牧场( grassland的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来,种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 snares ebae1da97d1c49a32d8b910a856fed37     
n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 );圈套;诱人遭受失败(丢脸、损失等)的东西;诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • He shoots rabbits and he sets snares for them. 他射杀兔子,也安放陷阱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am myself fallen unawares into the snares of death. 我自己不知不觉跌进了死神的陷阱。 来自辞典例句
7 prey g1czH     
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨
参考例句:
  • Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
  • The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。
8 predators 48b965855934a5395e409c1112d94f63     
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面)
参考例句:
  • birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
  • The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 disappearance ouEx5     
n.消失,消散,失踪
参考例句:
  • He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
  • Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。
10 rhinoceroses 75b06ff1c3ad4bf5e454140a332dce7a     
n.钱,钞票( rhino的名词复数 );犀牛(=rhinoceros);犀牛( rhinoceros的名词复数 );脸皮和犀牛皮一样厚
参考例句:
  • Rhinoceroses and dragons for once will let us walk in peace. 犀牛与龙安歇,让我们能平静地行走。 来自互联网
  • Although the rhinoceroses are very heavy, they can run very fast. 犀牛虽然体型笨重,但仍能以相当快的速度行走或奔跑。 来自互联网
11 caliber JsFzO     
n.能力;水准
参考例句:
  • They ought to win with players of such high caliber.他们选手的能力这样高,应该获胜。
  • We are always trying to improve the caliber of our schools.我们一直在想方设法提高我们学校的水平。
12 hacked FrgzgZ     
生气
参考例句:
  • I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
  • I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。
13 gouged 5ddc47cf3abd51f5cea38e0badc5ea97     
v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 );乱要价;(在…中)抠出…;挖出…
参考例句:
  • The lion's claws had gouged a wound in the horse's side. 狮爪在马身一侧抓了一道深口。
  • The lovers gouged out their names on the tree. 情人们把他们的名字刻在树上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
14 extinction sPwzP     
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种
参考例句:
  • The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
  • The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。
15 vomiting 7ed7266d85c55ba00ffa41473cf6744f     
参考例句:
  • Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
  • Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候,看不得人家呕。”
16 tampered 07b218b924120d49a725c36b06556000     
v.窜改( tamper的过去式 );篡改;(用不正当手段)影响;瞎摆弄
参考例句:
  • The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
  • The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句
17 versus wi7wU     
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
参考例句:
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
18 rangers f306109e6f069bca5191deb9b03359e2     
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员
参考例句:
  • Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗? 来自超越目标英语 第3册
  • Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者,所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

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