英语听力：自然百科 图阿雷格游牧民族

 The tuareg people have a proud tradition as nomads¹, but prolonged drought forced some to settle and try their hand at farming. Here on the edge of Lake Garcy in Mali, they can make this hell bloom and in turn attract the plague of giants. In the dry season, Oma Sewardu has come to expect visitors.

 

 

 

We are living here in this area just beside the water, of course we use water for our garden and for our animals. But elephants, they come to drink water of course and they want to cool down their body. So, all of us, we share the same water.

 

 

 

During the day, an uneasy peace settles over the lake. People fill their goat skins. The elephants drink. But when night falls, the truce² will be broken.

 

 

 

After the drinking, they come through their way to the garden for they smell food, trees and crops. So, we have to protect our garden. 

 

 

 

It takes more than brush fences to keep out three tons of hungry pachyderm.

 

 

 

If an elephant has spent just half an hour in our garden, he would eat at least 30 percent of it. And this is the big danger for our families.

 

 

 

To lose a third of their crop is a catastrophe³ for any farmer, let alone here, and this is not your average garden pest. As the sun sets, the battle lines are drawn⁴.

 

 

 

The farmer digs holes to keep the elephant away from the farm, to not damage the farm, but this is not enough. They come all the time, spoil a lot of things and you can not even get to sleep during the night. They come like a nightmare.

 

 

 

Tonight, the nightmare materializes and the enemy is engaged.

 

 

 

At first light, Oma finds he has a near brush with disaster. 

 

 

 

I discovered that there were two elephants in the garden. I have followed their footprints to the next garden and found out that they damaged a lot of garden trees. I do know but since I was a kid, we are doing the same things every year and for sure I will do it in the future every year. And this is the daily fight among us and elephant. Every time we are facing the same problem with elephant every year. 

 

 

 

Throughout Africa, elephants and people do battle. For now, the elephants have headed south to search for fresh vegetation, but in six months, they will be back and once again, Oma Sewardu will not sleep.

 

1 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

3 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。