VOA慢速英语--巴西军队会控制亚马逊森林砍伐吗？

Brazil's president is sending troops back to the Amazon to enforce laws against cutting down trees and other land clearance¹ activity. The redeployment comes just two months after troops withdrew from the area.

President Jair Bolsonaro ordered soldiers to go to the states of Pará, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Rondonia through the end of August. The order was announced on official Brazilian media Monday. It did not report about the number of troops to be deployed³ or the cost of the operation.

Vice⁴ President Hamilton Mourao told reporters earlier this month that the deployment² could be extended beyond two months with the arrival of the dry season. That is the time when people burn the forest to clear land for farming and raising animals.

Amazon deforestation has slowly increased for several years. It rose very fast after the 2018 election of Bolsonaro, who had repeatedly called for the development of the rainforest.

This will mark the third time that Bolsonaro has sent troops to the Amazon. Thousands of soldiers took part each time. But, environmental experts say the military was poorly prepared for such work and had limited effect.

The MapBiomas Project is a group of nonprofits, universities, and technology companies that studies Brazilian land use. The group said 98.9 percent of deforestation activities last year were illegal. But, MapBiomas noted⁵ that the government ordered fines in just five percent of the deforestation cases.

Márcio Astrini is with the Climate Observatory⁶, a network of environmental nonprofit groups. He called the latest military deployment a "smokescreen," suggesting that the government deploys⁷ troops to create the appearance that it is fighting deforestation.

He noted that a successful program financed by the Norwegian and German governments to fight Amazon deforestation was suspended in 2019. It has not been restarted.

"The government has adopted a series of measures that simply destroys the state's monitoring capacity, like stopping environmental fines,″ Astrini said. He added that Brazilian officials have also ceased destroying machinery⁸ used for illegal tree removal.

The Amazon destruction has led to protests around the world. American President Joe Biden's administration recently urged Bolsonaro to take strong action against illegal land clearing as part of efforts to fight climate change.

The Associated Press spoke⁹ to several Brazilian government officials on the condition that they not be identified. They told the AP that talks had stopped between the U.S. and Brazil's environment ministry¹⁰. One of the officials said that the redeployment was ordered in part to show the U.S. that Brazil has good intentions on the issue.

Words in This Story

adopt - v. to begin to use

monitor - v. to watch, observe

capacity - n. ability to do something

intention - n. the thing that you plan to do

1 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

2 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

7 deploys   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的第三人称单数 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• It then deploys "decoy" programs designed to attract the virus. 然后，它释放“诱饵”去吸引病毒。
• But when that doesn't work, he deploys his secret defense mechanism. 但没有效果，它要施展绝密自卫武器了。

8 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。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。