VOA慢速英语--印度泰姬陵面临昆虫粪便威胁

AS IT IS 2016-05-31 India’s Taj Mahal Has Insect Problem 印度泰姬陵面临昆虫粪便威胁

India’s world-famous Taj Mahal is facing a new threat: insect poop.

The Yamuna River flows around the Taj Mahal, and the river is heavily polluted.

Large numbers of insects are breeding in the polluted waterway. Officials say the insects land on the Taj Mahal and leave poop behind on its white stone walls.

The insects’ droppings are beginning to turn the walls green.

Bhuvan Vikram is the top official at the Archeological Survey of India in the city of Agra, home of the famous building.

He told VOA that, “During the evening time, [the insects] get attracted towards the white [surfaces] and during the night they stay over there and leave those green deposits¹.”

Workers try to remove the insects’ waste. But experts fear heavy cleaning could damage the artwork in the Taj Mahal.

Vikram said workers first discovered the problem last year. But they identified the cause of the problem only recently.

A fly known as the genus Geoldichironomus is the insect responsible for all the droppings. Those insects survive best in the hot weather and in the algae² along the sides of the river.

The city of Agra is home to many people and lots of industry. Environmentalists have struggled for years to protect the Taj Mahal’s white stone from turning yellow because of air pollution.

Air pollution levels dropped after coal-based power centers and some polluting industries were closed. But the waters of the Yamuna River have yet to improve.

Environmental campaigners like D.K. Joshi say the way to stop this new threat is to save the dying river. He has presented his argument to the National Green Tribunal, an environmental court. Joshi says waste from 52 open drains in the city is poisoning the river.

“Industrial waste, solid waste, all this empties into the river. Millions of dollars have been spent to clean the river, but nothing has happened,” he added.

Experts say ash particles from burnt human remains³ are part of the problem. For 200 years, people have set fire to dead bodies near the Taj Mahal. The fires are part of funeral ceremonies for the dead.

Ash from the burnt remains is the main source of food for the insects.

Six months ago, the Supreme⁴ Court asked city officials to move the funeral area. There was concern that smoke from the fires was affecting the color of the white stone surfaces. But the move has still not happened.

Now city officials are asking people to try more environmentally-friendly funeral customs because of protests from a Hindu group.

Joshi believes cleaning the Yamuna River is possible with a short-term program. “Stop the [waste] from going into the river, improve its flow. It is not difficult, but the will power is not there,” he said.

Vikram hopes this latest threat to the Taj Mahal from insects will get the attention of city officials. He hopes it will get them to clean the river.

But he also worries about the large amount of pressure the rise of tourism puts on the Taj Mahal. Six million people visited the world-famous structure in 2014.

“So much is the amount of dirt that it creates, these are the [problems] of tourism. The tourists, they like to touch the surfaces. For that we are trying to provide some kind of separators,” Vikram said.

Words in This Story

poop – n. solid waste passed out of the body

breed(ing) – v. to produce offspring⁵ by sexual⁶ reproduction

attracted – adj. caused to go to or move to or toward a place

deposit(s) – n. an amount of something such as sand, snow, or mud that has formed or been left on a surface or area over a period of time

fly – n. a small insect that has two wings

genus – n. a group of related animals or plants that includes several or many different species⁷

algae – n. simple plants that have no leaves or stems⁸ and that grow in or near water

environmentalist(s) – n. a person who works to protect the natural world from pollution and other threats

drain(s) – n. something such as a pipe that is used for removing a liquid from a place or container

tourism – n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure

1 deposits   

存放( deposit的名词复数 )； 订金； 寄存处； 储蓄

参考例句：

• Only a small fraction of a bank's total deposits will be withdrawn at any one time. 任何时候，一家银行的总存款只有少量会被提取。
• There are rich deposits of gold in those hills. 那些丘陵里埋藏着丰富的金矿。

2 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 offspring   

n.子女，子孙，后代，（动物的）崽

参考例句：

• Jack is her only offspring.杰克是她唯一的后代。
• This device is the offspring of his inventive mind.这一装置是他那长于发明的头脑的产儿。

6 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

7 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

8 stems   

n.（花草的）茎( stem的名词复数 )；词干；（高脚酒杯的）脚；烟斗柄v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的第三人称单数 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• The present wave of strikes stems from discontent among the lower-paid. 当前的罢工浪潮起因于低工资雇员们的不满情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country. 她对花卉的兴趣产生于她在乡下度过的童年时代。 来自《简明英汉词典》