津巴布韦动荡局势导致偷猎活动加剧

 

Zimbabwe Problems Lead to Poaching

Challiss McDonough

Dubamanzi Conservancy,

South Africa

29 Aug 2001

 

The unrest in Zimbabwe during the past year has led to a 1)shortage of food in some areas. Many commercial farms have been shut down and no longer productive. Hunger has driven some people to look for food wherever they can. That has meant a well-documented increase in 2)poaching on Zimbabwe 3)wildlife 4)reserves. Those in charge of controlling the poaching say the problem does not stop at the Zimbabwean border.

"That is the Limpopo river," says Thys Knoetze, pointing toward the river that forms the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. During the rainy season, the Limpopo is a 5)crocodile-6)infested 7)torrent that is difficult and dangerous to cross. But this is the end of a long, dry winter. The river is barely a 8)trickle¹. "The Limpopo is not always flowing through the year. A trickle at this stage," he says. "I mean, you can see the size of the river. Once it flows then nobody crosses. But if it is down like this, then as you say, you know, it poses no problem. The people just cross it. No problem at all."

This part of the river is in the Dubamanzi Conservancy, an unusual nature reserve 9)stretching for more than 300 kilometers along the Zimbabwe-South Africa border. It is a partnership² between the South African military and a group of private 10)landowners. Roughly half of the conservancy's 9,000 hectares is owned by the military. The rest is made up of privately³ owned game reserves, used either for conservation and 11)tourism or for controlled big-game hunting.

Driving onto an abandoned military base 12)adjacent to the Zimbabwean border, visitors see a family of warthogs 13)scampering through the 14)bush. There are three male kudu - large antelope⁴ bearing lovely, twisted horns. Not too far away are more 15)antelope, this time a herd⁵ of female 16)impala.

Thys Knoetze is a staff sergeant⁶ in the South African National Defense⁷ Force. He was born and raised in the nearby border town of Messina. His job now is to protect the animals on the military parts of the conservancy from 17)poachers. He says that job has gotten much harder during the past year. "Most of the problems we experience is more towards the border, and that basically points to Zimbabweans coming through," he says.

Sgt. Knoetze cannot comment on the number of Zimbabweans caught each day illegally crossing the border. Official government figures say it has doubled in the past year to about 20 per day. But several law-enforcement sources tell VOA as many as 300 illegal immigrants cross each day - and those are just the ones they catch.

All Sgt. Knoetze can say is the amount of poaching along the border has increased dramatically since this time last year. Local residents who own private game reserves agree. They have lost at least four zebra and six 18)kudu this month, plus countless⁸ smaller game such as impala, warthogs, or 19)guinea fowl⁹.

On the abandoned military base, the sergeant walks along a chain-link fence topped with 20)barbed wire. He points to a place where the fencing has been cut and pulled up away from the ground. It leaves a hole big enough for a small antelope or a warthog to pass through. A loop of rusty¹⁰ wire is attached to the fence in front of the hole. It is rigged to tighten¹¹ around the neck of any animal that crawls through. "This is a snare¹² being set here. Anything - warthog, duiker [antelope] or anything will crawl 21)underneath¹³ here," he says. "Once it crawls underneath here and gets caught by this, it means that is the end of it. Sometimes it breaks the snare and the snare remains¹⁴ around the neck... and then slowly but surely this animal will die somewhere in the [field], if it is not been taken by leopard¹⁵, 22)jackal or whatever."

Less than 50 meters away, on the same stretch of fence, Sgt. Knoetze finds another hole, and five more snares¹⁶. "There is another 23)snare. There is one. There is one. OK, that is not set. This is set. There is one. Here is one. There is one. There is one. There is another one," he counted. "One two three, four, five. And this is again, this is set for guinea fowl. This is a small snare, it is thin wire, and you see the loop is small, so obviously it has been set for guinea fowl."

On another patch of military land, heavy 24)fortifications stand as a reminder¹⁷ of the 25)apartheid government's 26)hostile relations with South Africa's neighbor to the north. Three layers of barbed-wire fence run parallel to the river bank. In the old days, the fence was electrified¹⁸, but now the electricity is turned off. That has allowed poachers to use the government's own fortifications to snare South African game. "About three weeks ago, the people on the northern side stole about three kilometers of this electric fence because it is not on," he said. "It is just there for 'in case.' So they stole three kilometers of it. And then they used it to set snares with it."

The 27)sergeant 28)acknowledges that not all of the area's poaching problems are caused by Zimbabweans crossing the border in search of food. There are plenty of South African poachers, too. But there is solid evidence that the crisis in Zimbabwe is now threatening the wild animal populations in South Africa as well.

 

 

(1)      shortage[5FC:tIdV]n.不足, 缺乏

(2)      poach[pEJtF]vt.侵入偷猎, 窃取vi.偷猎

(3)      wildlife[5waIldlaIf]n.野生动植物

(4)      reserves n.储量

(5)      crocodile[5krRkEdaIl]n.鳄鱼, 鳄鱼皮

(6)      infest[In5fest]v.大批滋生

(7)      torrent[5tRrEnt; (?@) 5tC:r-]n.急流, 洪流, 连发, 迸发

(8)      trickle[5trIk(E)l]v.滴流

(9)      stretch[stretF]v.伸展, 伸长n.一段时间, 一段路程, 伸展

(10)      landowner[5lAndEJnE(r)]n.地主, 土地所有者

(11)      tourism[5tJErIz(E)m]n.观光事业, 游览

(12)      adjacent[E5dVeIsEnt]adj.邻近的, 接近的

(13)      scamper[5skAmpE(r)]v.奔跳n.奔跑

(14)      bush[bJF]n.矮树丛, (机械)衬套

(15)      antelope[5AntIlEJp]n.羚羊

(16)      impala[Im5pB:lE]n.[动]黑斑羚(产于非洲中南部)

(17)      poacher[5pEJtFE(r)]n.偷猎者, 侵入者

(18)      kudu[5ku:du:]n.[动]捻(一种非洲大羚羊)

(19)      guinea fowl n.〈动〉珍珠鸡

(20)      barbed wire n.<美>带刺铁丝网

(21)      underneath[QndE5ni:W]adv.在下面prep.在...的下面

(22)      jackal[5dVAkC:l; (?@) 5dVAkl]n.豺, 走狗

(23)      snare[sneE(r)]n.陷井v.诱捕

(24)      fortification[fC:tIfI5keIF(E)n]n.防御工事, 要塞, 筑城术

(25)      apartheid[E5pB:theIt]n.(南非)种族隔离

(26)      hostile[5hRstaIl; (?@) 5hBstl]adj.敌对的, 敌方的n.敌对

(27)      sergeant[5sB:dVEnt]n.警官, 军士

(28)      acknowledge[Ek5nRlIdV]vt.承认, 答谢, 报偿

 

 

1 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

5 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。

6 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

9 fowl   

n.家禽，鸡，禽肉

参考例句：

• Fowl is not part of a traditional brunch.禽肉不是传统的早午餐的一部分。
• Since my heart attack,I've eaten more fish and fowl and less red meat.自从我患了心脏病后，我就多吃鱼肉和禽肉，少吃红色肉类。

10 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

11 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

12 snare   

n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑

参考例句：

• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows.我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。
• Most of the people realized that their scheme was simply a snare and a delusion.大多数人都认识到他们的诡计不过是一个骗人的圈套。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

14 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。

15 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

16 snares   

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

17 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

18 electrified   

v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The railway line was electrified in the 1950s. 这条铁路线在20世纪50年代就实现了电气化。
• The national railway system has nearly all been electrified. 全国的铁路系统几乎全部实现了电气化。 来自《简明英汉词典》