VOA慢速英语2015 耶路撒冷野生动物园终开幕

AS IT IS 2015-07-27 After Much Delay, Wildlife Park Opens in Jerusalem 耶路撒冷野生动物园终开幕

An uncommon¹ nature park opened in Jerusalem earlier this year. Israeli environmentalists say the park can serve as a model for other areas because it shows how wildlife can live in a city.

Gazelle Valley Park opened March 30th in western Jerusalem. It is in the middle of an area filled with busy roads and neighborhoods. The park is home to many different kinds of birds and animals, including turtles, toads² and mountain gazelles. The gazelles are endangered. Many Israelis considered them an unofficial symbol of their country.

It took a lot of time and effort to set up the new wildlife area. Environmentalists, rights activists⁴ and others worked together to block a housing and industrial plan for the valley in the late 1990s. The proposed development threatened not only to destroy the home of the gazelles, but also limited public use of the valley’s green spaces.

In 2008, the mayor of Jerusalem decided⁵ the land should be a nature park. Later, the city raised $5 million to help build it.

Amir Balaban works with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

“This is a community urban wildlife site. The park is 50 acres, half of which are designated for the gazelles, and basically, everything beyond this yellow rope is gazelle land. And everything on this side is for people. So this is how we share with nature.”

Mr. Balaban and other activists fought a nearly 20-year long battle to keep businesses and homes from being built on the land.

“Well, the idea, first of all, started off when people around the valley understood the developers are going to take hold of this public open space. With them joined a lot of NGOs that understood that this is a very important battle.”

Michal Regev is a Gazelle Valley neighborhood activist³.

“Our first victory was that the committee that had to decide about it said ‘They are right,’ and just rejected the whole (development) program. (And then a) bigger committee said ‘Okay, now you have the mandate⁶ to prepare a program that will be an answer to what the public wants.’”

About 100,000 people have visited Gazelle Valley Park since it opened almost four months ago. Raphoel Wolpin of Jerusalem is one of them. On his first visit to the park, he brought his wife and children.

“My first impressions is that it’s good to have something of nature next to urban centers (so that) you don’t have to travel far to see all types of natural phenomena⁷.”

He is happy the activists were able to defeat the builders.

“A lot of times the public loses because of developers that want to make money, and it’s good that sometimes, we win. Sometimes the public wins.”

Mr. Wolpin is an Orthodox Jew. He notes that Jerusalem is home to people of many different religions.

Amir Balaban and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel are working with the country’s government to create parks in other cities. He says officials in other nations should build urban wildlife parks like Gazelle Valley.

“In general, this model can be applied⁸ all over the world, whether it's in the Tropics, in the Mediterranean⁹ habitats, desert habitats, even (the) Arctic. Just leave some space for nature, make sure it can sustain itself, manage it very gently and let people in so they can enjoy all this beauty.”

Words in This Story

urban – adj. of or relating to cities and the people who live in them

symbol – n. an object or sign that expresses or represents an idea or quality

site – n. the place where something is or was

designate(d) – v. to mark, show or represent (something)

NGO – n. non-governmental organization

mandate – n. authority, approval or power to take an action

phenomena – n. (plural of “phenomenon”) qualities of someone or something; something that can be observed as a part of a person or thing

habitat – n. the place where a plant or animal normally lives

Tropics – n. the part of the world that is near the Equator

sustain – v. support; to provide what is needed for (something or someone) to exist or continue

1 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

2 toads   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All toads blink when they swallow. 所有的癞蛤蟆吞食东西时都会眨眼皮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Toads have shorter legs and are generally more clumsy than frogs. 蟾蜍比青蛙脚短，一般说来没有青蛙灵活。 来自辞典例句

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。