英语听力：自然百科 野生动物回归莫桑比克（在线收听） |
It's early morning in South Africa's Kruger National Park. The morning stillness is broken by the quiet puma helicopters. Their target is a herd of elephants. Within minutes, an expert team is on the ground. These elephants haven't been harmed, just tranquilized. If all goes well, they will wake up safely in a new world, animal pioneers in a grand human experiment. Their destination is a stand 40 miles away just across the border in Mozambique. The chaos of Mozambique's wars and its poverty made the country a living hell for its wildlife as well as its citizens. During and after the war, poaching was out of control. There's maybe a hundred elephants at the moment in the bulk program, maybe a couple of hundred of buffalo compared to these many thousands in the Kruger Park.
Repopulation will take years, so today, scientist is giving nature a push. It’s part of a radical new program to rehabilitate Mozambique and its wildlife.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, otherwise known as a Peace Park. The idea is to use this joint project to forge cross-border ties and share the wealth of tourism from the park. Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique will each contribute portions of the park. If the plan works out, everybody wins.
And while there is a wealth of unspoiled nature here, there is also danger, above and below ground. This landscape is littered with land mines. Around a million are still buried in Mozambique. Near the borders of the new Transnational Park, Mozambique is doing the tough work of digging up its past.
This was the area of confrontation between government and guerrilla. So, this was a typical protective mine belt like we found in a lot places in Mozambique, around bridges and any kinds of infrastructure.
The Transfrontier Park has only recently been cleared of mines, but the wilderness still carries the scars of war. Mozambique's past was bloody, but the future looks bright. The elephants may not know it, but their pioneers in a Great African Experiment, walking toward their new home, they are part of a great change that is sweeping this entire region.
|
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/zrbaike/2010/257323.html |