VOA慢速英语2014 在亚洲获救动物需要更多的空间

 

AS IT IS 2014-11-12 Rescued Animals Need More Space in Asia 在亚洲获救动物需要更多的空间

Efforts to stop illegal trade of endangered animals are gaining strength in some areas, including Southeast Asia. But now, officials must decide what to do with the thousands of animals rescued every year.

This issue is evident¹ at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, not far from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Gibbons – a kind of ape – call across the 2,400 hectares of protected forest. Their voices sometimes can be heard joining with those of rare birds and other endangered animals.

Many of the animals arrived at the rescue center after being seized by Cambodia’s Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team. The team includes Cambodian government officials and military police. Other help comes from the Wildlife Alliance², a non-profit group based in the United States.

Every year the team rescues hundreds of endangered animals. Cambodians help to make these rescues possible by calling a special telephone hotline. 

A huge amount of money is exchanged in the illegal trade of animals. It is the world’s third largest black market, after sales of arms and drugs. Well organized criminal groups and corrupt³ or uncaring officials remove species⁴ from the wild faster than they can reproduce⁵.

The Phnom Tamao Rescue Center is home to about 100 sun bears. That is the largest population of sun bears in captivity⁶. A number of moon bears also live there.

One expert says the whole protected area would support only a single bear in the wild. That is the opinion of Anuradha Jayasinghe, technical adviser⁷ with a group called Free the Bears.Two bears were set free after they regained⁸ their health over time in another part of the country. They did well for about three months. But then:

“They both got snared⁹ again by poachers.  So that’s the main issue in Cambodia is the hunting. It’s just the forests aren’t safe at the moment for releasing¹⁰ bears. And in the forests which probably, we might be able to ((release animals)) are full of mines.”

More than 2,000 rare turtles were returned to their native wild home in Indonesia in February. These creatures were taken from wildlife traffickers. They had been seized a month earlier in Hong Kong. 

Pangolins are often called scaly¹¹ anteaters. They are sometimes hunted for food and medicine. Those abilities have led them to become the most often seized mammal in Asia’s wildlife trade. The Worldwatch Institute says that has caused a great loss of their populations in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. 

Thailand forms a major point of transport for smugglers.  Officials there reported seizing more than 10,000 live animals and 1,300 animal remains¹² last year.

Words in this Story

captivity – n. the state of being kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage)and not being able to leave or be free

species – n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

smugglers – n. people who secretly or illegally move someone or something from one country to another

mammal – n. any of a class of warm-blooded higher vertebrates that feed their young with milk from mammary glands¹³. They have skin more or less covered with hair.  Humans are included.

1 evident   

adj.明显的，显然的，明白的

参考例句：

• It's evident to me that they have no experience in this work.在我看来，他们干这项工作没有经验是显而易见的。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

5 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

6 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。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

9 snared   

v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He snared a job with IBM. 他以巧妙的手段在 IBM 公司谋得一职。 来自辞典例句
• The hunter snared a skunk. 猎人捕得一只臭鼬。 来自辞典例句

10 releasing   

v.释放( release的现在分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• Releasing his arm, she laid her hand upon his shoulder. 她放掉他的胳膊，却把手放到了他的肩上。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• The drag operation is still terminated by releasing the mouse button. 释放鼠标按键时，拖动操作将立即终止。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

12 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。

13 glands   

n.腺( gland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a snake's poison glands 蛇的毒腺
• the sebaceous glands in the skin 皮脂腺