美国国家公共电台 NPR Amid Growing Threats, Donkey Rescuers Protect The Misunderstood Beasts Of Burden

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Let us now consider the donkey. They have been beasts of burden for 5,000 years, and they haven't gained much respect over the millennia¹. In the wild, burro herds³ are a nuisance. In captivity⁴, they can be mistreated. But now donkey sanctuaries⁵ are springing up, and NPR's John Burnett visited the world's largest.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE⁶: At Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue outside of San Angelo, Texas, the air periodically erupts with unappeasable sounds.

(SOUNDBITE OF DONKEY BRAYING)

BURNETT: Just like it's heehaw, so much about the donkey is species-specific? Their temperament⁷ - intelligent, cautious and playful - is unique in the equine world. Males and females are called jacks⁹ and jennies, and they're widely misunderstood.

MARK MEYERS: They assume that they're stubborn. They assume that they're stupid.

BURNETT: Mark Meyers is founder¹¹ and executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue.

MEYERS: So there's a very negative connotation out there - you know, the Bugs¹² Bunny turning into a donkey when he did something stupid; cowboys ride horses. It was the little Mexican sidekicks that rode the donkeys.

BURNETT: Meyers has become America's foremost donkey defender¹³. Bored with the electrical contracting business in Southern California, he and his wife, Amy, began adopting unwanted and abused donkeys. After they had accumulated 25 animals, Meyers decided¹⁴ to protect donkeys full time and opened the ranch¹⁵ seven years ago out here in hot, dry West Texas. When Meyers, a burly, white-bearded Buddhist¹⁶, walks into a pen, he's mobbed by love-hungry donkeys.

MEYERS: These donkeys here are some of our ambassador donkeys. This is Buddy¹⁷ and Houdini. We do different public outreach events.

BURNETT: At any given time, his paddocks are home to a thousand of the noisy, big-eared beasts.

(SOUNDBITE OF DONKEY BRAYING)

BURNETT: Peaceful Valley and its network of private sanctuaries has grown into the largest donkey rescue organization in the world, sheltering some 3,000 animals. Half are wild burros removed from public lands. Half are abandoned, abused or neglected. But the idea is not to run a home for old donkeys. The idea is to find them new homes. The ranch gives up more than 400 donkeys a year for adoption¹⁸ because their new owners say they make great pets.

MELISSA SCHURR: Hi, Buck¹⁹. Hi. You're going to talk to us? You want a cookie?

BURNETT: Melissa Schurr is an equine dentist who lives on a ranch outside of Sacramento, Calif. Meyers helped her adopt a 21-year-old spotted²⁰ Jack⁸ named Buckaroo. In his early years, he was a wild ass¹⁰ in Arizona.

SCHURR: Donkeys are very dog-like creatures. They're loyal. They're sweet. It's like a really smart dog, a border collie, and the best horse you ever had wrapped up into one animal.

BURNETT: The Bureau of Land Management estimates there are more than 13,000 wild burros on public lands in five Western states. But thousands more are uncounted. Some semantics - donkeys are domesticated²¹; burros are wild. Feral populations can become a nuisance. They foul²² springs, overgraze, trample²³ the ground and drive away native animals. Kevin Goode of Texas Parks and Wildlife says in the outback, burros are wild animals.

KEVIN GOODE: They are very skittish²⁴. They're very smart, as all burros are. They are very aggressive, both towards humans and other animals. They don't play well with others.

BURNETT: In the old days, people shot bothersome burros. Today land managers typically tolerate them until the herd² gets so big it has to be removed. The animals then have to be gentled up before they can be adopted. Later this month, Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue will send trailers, wranglers²⁵ and herding²⁶ dogs to Ajo, Ariz., to capture some 500 donkeys that have wandered over from Mexico onto public grazing land.

Crossing the border may have saved their lives. The U.K.-based animal rights group Donkey Sanctuary²⁷ reports that Mexico is one of 21 countries that slaughters²⁸ donkeys and exports their hides to China, which uses them to make traditional medicine. Mark Meyers says more donkeys and burros are being sold to so-called kill buyers in the U.S. and then exported to Mexican slaughterhouses to feed the insatiable global skin trade.

MEYERS: China has increased the demand for donkey hides to 4 million a year. They've decimated their own donkey herds. They've decimated several African nation donkey herds, and so now they've turned to South America and Mexico.

BURNETT: So the people at Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue believe their work is more urgent than ever.

(SOUNDBITE OF DONKEY BRAYING)

BURNETT: John Burnett, NPR News, San Angelo.

1 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

2 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。

3 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

4 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

5 sanctuaries   

n.避难所( sanctuary的名词复数 )；庇护；圣所；庇护所

参考例句：

• The designation of special marine reserves and marine sanctuaries shall be subject to the State Council for approval. 海洋特别保护区、海上自然保护区的确定，须经国务院批准。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After 1965 he acquiesced when they established sanctuaries on that soil. 1965年以后，他默认了他们在那块土地上建立庇护所。 来自辞典例句

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 temperament   

n.气质，性格，性情

参考例句：

• The analysis of what kind of temperament you possess is vital.分析一下你有什么样的气质是十分重要的。
• Success often depends on temperament.成功常常取决于一个人的性格。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

10 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

11 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

12 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

16 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

17 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

18 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

19 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

20 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

21 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

23 trample   

vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯

参考例句：

• Don't trample on the grass. 勿踏草地。
• Don't trample on the flowers when you play in the garden. 在花园里玩耍时,不要踩坏花。

24 skittish   

adj.易激动的，轻佻的

参考例句：

• She gets very skittish when her boy-friend is around.她男朋友在场时，她就显得格外轻佻。
• I won't have my son associating with skittish girls.我不准我的儿子与轻佻的女孩交往。

25 wranglers   

n.争执人( wrangler的名词复数 )；在争吵的人；（尤指放马的）牧人；牛仔

参考例句：

26 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

27 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

28 slaughters   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These vast slaughters have since become notorious. 此后，这些大规模的屠杀，就变成了很不光彩的新闻。 来自辞典例句
• Remembered that despairs and hope that each other slaughters. 记得绝望和希望，彼此厮杀。 来自互联网