听播客学英语 183 大灰狼

 　　The Russian composer Sergei Prokoviev once wrote a musical story called Peter and the Wolf. The different instruments of the orchestra¹ represent the different characters in the story – Peter, the cat, the bird, Peter’s grandfather and so on. Here is part of the music which represents the wolf.

　　Wolves are the fiercest animals in Europe – but nowdays there are very few wolves left in the wild. Wolves were hunted to extinction² in England in the Middle Ages, and the last wolf in Scotland was probably killed about 250 years ago. You can still see wolves in zoos of course, and wolves live on as the villains³ in many popular children’s stories. But surely it is a good thing that there are no longer wolves living in the wild in this country?

　　Well, not everyone thinks so. If you go to the Highlands of Scotland today, you will see that the hills and mountains are almost completely treeless. It was not always like this. At one time, forests covered a large part of the Highlands. If the forest could re-establish naturally, it would provide a home for many types of plants and animals. The problem is that in many areas there are too many deer. In fact there may be as many as half a million deer in the Scottish Highlands. Wild deer are beautiful animals, but they can cause a lot of damage to plants and young trees. It is very difficult for young trees to survive where there are large numbers of deer.

　　Wealthy people pay a lot of money to go to Scotland to hunt deer. But they do not kill enough deer to reduce the population. In some areas, landowners cull⁴ the deer – that is, they shoot deer to try to reduce their numbers. But this is not always effective. The number of deer keeps on growing. The problem is that, apart from people, deer have no natural predators⁶ – that is, there are no other animals that hunt the deer for food. Once, wolves hunted deer in Scotland, but now of course there are no wolves.

　　A goup of ecologists has recently suggested that the answer is to re-introduce wolves to Scotland. They estimate that if this is done, the number of deer would fall to about a quarter of the present number in 50 or 60 years, and that this would enable the forest to recover and other plants and animals to find a home.

　　Some people welcome this idea. But many farmers and landowners do not. They fear that the wolves will attack farm animals, particularly sheep; or even that they would attack people. The subject is very controversial, and it is likely to be many years – if at all – before wolves again live in the wild in Britain. But the wolf is Northern Europe’s equivalent⁷ of lions in Africa or tigers in India. It is the biggest predator⁵, at the top of the food chain. If we think it is important to protect lions and tigers in other countries, why not wolves in Britain as well?

1 orchestra   

n.管弦乐队；vt.命令，定购

参考例句：

• He plays the violin in an orchestra.他在管弦乐队中演奏小提琴。
• I was tempted to stay and hear this superb orchestra rehearse.我真想留下来听这支高超的管弦乐队排练。

2 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

3 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

5 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

6 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 equivalent   

adj.（to）相等的，等价的；n.相等物，等值物

参考例句：

• Nodding your head is equivalent to saying "yes".点头就等于说“赞同”。
• You will receive the full equivalent of your money.你将收到与你的款项价值完全同等的物品。