老鼠嗅觉有多灵敏？柬埔寨用鼠扫雷

 It's been a busy morning for Cletus, Meynard, Victoria and others of their furry¹ band. Tiny noses and long whiskers twitching², they've scurried³ and sniffed⁴ their way across 775 square meters of fields to eliminate a scourge⁵ that has killed thousands of Cambodians: land mines.

克莱图斯、迈纳尔德、维多利亚等“鼠英雄”已经忙碌一早上了。它们的小鼻子使劲嗅着，长胡须随之抽动，一路疾扫了柬埔寨方圆775平方米的土地，目的是为铲除当地已夺走成千上万人性命的一大祸害——地雷。

Meet the Hero Rats: intelligent, surprisingly adorable creatures with some of the most sensitive noses in the animal kingdom. Sent from Africa, where they successfully cleared minefields in Mozambique and Angola, they began the same task in northwestern Cambodia early this month and have already scored tangible⁶ results.

何谓“鼠英雄”？答案便是这些“聪明可爱、嗅觉极其灵敏的老鼠”。这些老鼠生长于非洲，曾成功清除了莫桑比克以及安哥拉的雷区。本月初，它们被送往柬埔寨西北部，开始了扫雷任务，并且目前已是战果累累。

老鼠嗅觉有多灵敏？柬埔寨用鼠扫雷

Two hectares have been declared mine-free around this village where more than 15 people have been killed or wounded by the explosives, forcing some to abandon their homes and rice fields and seek jobs elsewhere.

目前该村庄附近两公顷的区域内都没有了地雷隐患。而此前已有超过15人因炸弹丧生或受伤，一些村民不得不撇下自己的房屋和田地，去别处谋工作。

One villager, Khun Mao, says the rats have been sniffing⁷ for suspected mines in a rice field he had been afraid to cultivate for years. He says that while it is too soon to say whether the rodents⁹ can remove every mine, "To me, these rats are wonderful."

村民库恩·毛称，多年来他一直不敢耕种的那片田地已经有地雷探测队的“鼠英雄”去闻过了。他还说，尽管现在就肯定老鼠能排除所有地雷还为时过早，“但对我来说，这些老鼠真的非常了不起。”

"The villagers have started to get excited about farming their land again. You can see the light in their faces," says Paul McCarthy, Cambodia program manager for the Belgian noNPRofit organization APOPO, or Anti-Personnel Land Mines Detection Product in English.

APOPO，即“防杀伤扫雷组织”，是比利时一家非营利机构。其柬埔寨项目经理保罗·麦卡锡表示：“村民们又重新燃起了对耕种的热情，一个个脸上洋溢着喜悦。”

On a recent morning, the African giant pouched¹⁰ rats were working two suspected, taped-off minefields. Each rodent⁸ wore a harness connected to a rope strung out in a straight line between two handlers standing¹¹ about 5 meters apart and outside the danger zone. The rodents then darted¹² from one handler to the other, constantly sniffing the ground and only taking time out to scrub their bodies with tiny front paws or to answer nature's call. The handlers moved a step or two down the field to repeat the process, and a second rat was later sent over the same terrain¹³ to double check.

近日的某个清晨，这些非洲巨囊鼠开始搜寻两个存在安全隐患的雷区。两名训导员站在危险区外，两人之间相距约5米，用一条笔直的绳子连着。每只老鼠身上都戴着套索，套索与训导员手中的绳子相连。老鼠们在两名训导员之间的直线区域来回跑动，除了偶尔用细小的前爪擦拭身体，或者上上厕所外，它们会一路不停地嗅着地面。训导员向雷区下方移动，老鼠们又开始重复之前的工作。一只老鼠搜完后，会有第二只鼠复查一遍。

Two-year-old Victoria proved particularly swift — "very active," one team member calls her.

一只名为“维多利亚”的两岁老鼠表现得尤为敏捷——有队员说她“非常活泼”。

At the second field, Merry and Meynard were completing three hours of effort as a midday sun beat down on the parched¹⁴ earth. The duo had earlier nosed in on an explosive, halting just above it and scratching the ground — the learned response when a rodent detects TNT inside a land mine. A deminer with a detector¹⁵ followed and the mine was dug up and detonated.

在另一个雷区，午时的太阳烘烤着炙热的大地，玛丽和迈纳尔德都连续搜了近三个小时了。它们两个早先曾嗅到了一颗炸弹：在炸弹正上方停下来，狂挠地面。这是有经验的鼠在探测到地雷中的炸药成分后做出的常见反应。接下来就会有负责排雷的人带着探测器过来，把雷挖出并销毁。

Unlike standard mine detectors¹⁶, the super-sniffers pick up only TNT and not other metal objects. And unlike wage-earning humans, the rats work for peanuts — and their other favorite, bananas.

不同于正规地雷探测仪，超级“鼠英雄”只能嗅出地雷中的三硝基甲苯成分，无法探测出其他金属物件。此外，不同于需要赚钱养家的人类，巨鼠们有花生喂食就够了，当然香蕉它们也很喜欢。

Theap Bunthourn, operations coordinator¹⁷ for the 34-member team, cited other advantages of using rats: They are cheaper to acquire and train than mine-sniffing dogs and easier to transport.

这个探测组有34名工作人员。小组的行动协调员西伯·本图龙表示，用鼠探雷还有其他好处：与狗相比，老鼠的购买和训练费用更低，运输起来也更容易。

1 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

2 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 scurried   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She said goodbye and scurried back to work. 她说声再见，然后扭头跑回去干活了。
• It began to rain and we scurried for shelter. 下起雨来，我们急忙找地方躲避。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

6 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

7 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 rodent   

n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的

参考例句：

• When there is a full moon,this nocturnal rodent is careful to stay in its burrow.月圆之夜，这种夜间活动的啮齿类动物会小心地呆在地洞里不出来。
• This small rodent can scoop out a long,narrow tunnel in a very short time.这种小啮齿动物能在很短的时间里挖出一条又长又窄的地道来。

9 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

10 pouched   

adj.袋形的，有袋的

参考例句：

• He pouched the pack of cigarettes. 他把这包香烟装入口袋中。 来自辞典例句
• His face pouched and seamed. 他的面孔肉松皮皱。 来自辞典例句

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

14 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

15 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

16 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

17 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？