2006年VOA标准英语-Indonesian Forest Fires Threaten Wildlife, Envi

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta, Indonesia
13 November 2006

Conservationists in Indonesia have warned that fires set to clear land have killed and injured hundreds of endangered orangutans. Environmentalists are also concerned the burning of rainforest and peat bogs¹ is contributing to global warming.

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Smoke from land-clearing fires has closed several airports, threatening travel chaos² as millions prepare to return home to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month Ramadan in Indonesia, Oct.19, 2006  
  
Widespread fires in Indonesia have claimed millions of hectares of land this year on Sumatra and Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of Borneo - destroying sensitive wildlife habitat and spewing out a thick haze³ that has choked neighboring countries.

Palm oil companies, loggers and farmers set fires during the dry season each year to prepare land for crops, but the blazes often rage out of control.

The area destroyed this year was some of the only remaining habitat left for orangutans, a protected species with a rapidly declining population.

The only great apes living outside Africa, orangutans can only be found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, which is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Willie Smits, coordinator⁴ of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, says time is running out for the endangered primates⁵.

He said, "The populations are all extremely threatened because of the fragmentation of the forest. You need a minimum of three thousand orangutans to have a thousand year chance of survival and that forest has to stay intact in one big piece. There's only two or three years left in which we can prevent that these remaining populations are going to become extinct."

Smits says that only one in three orangutan young are estimated to live, and mothers only give birth on average once every eight or nine years.

 
Staff of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Center prepare to treat an orangutan after it came out of burning jungle, November 6, 2006 in Mantangai, Kalimantan, Indonesia
  
Smits adds that the forest habitat, in particular the sensitive peat moss⁶ bogs known as "domes⁷", should not only be protected for the benefit of wildlife, but also to stop the rise in greenhouse gas emissions⁸.

"If we look at the amount of carbon in the peat that is being released because of the collapsing⁹ domes and the fires, that amount is huge," he said.

"If we would lose the tropical peat swamps, of which Indonesia has more than 50 percent in the world, we would be looking at a doubling of global emissions for the next thirty years."

Fires in peat bogs are particularly hard to stop, because they can smolder¹⁰ underground for weeks without being detected.

Smits says orangutans that survive the fires often flee toward water, where they are more likely to encounter humans.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation rescued 137 injured orangutans in central Kalimantan from fires or from assault by humans during the land-clearing season, but discovered the remains¹¹ of many more.

1 bogs   

n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• Whenever It'shows its true nature, real life bogs to a standstill. 无论何时，只要它显示出它的本来面目，真正的生活就陷入停滞。 来自名作英译部分
• At Jitra we went wading through bogs. 在日得拉我们步行着从泥水塘里穿过去。 来自辞典例句

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

4 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

5 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

6 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

7 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

8 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

9 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

10 smolder   

v.无火焰地闷烧；n.焖烧，文火

参考例句：

• The smolder will soon be a flame.闷火很快变为烈焰。
• It can smolder undetected for hours,then suddenly explode in fiery destruction.也有可能好几小时内不被发觉，突然激烈的爆炸。

11 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。