美国国家公共电台 NPR Bears That Inspired 'Adorable' Korean Paralympic Mascot Live In Caged Captivity

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

One year from now, South Korea will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. One Olympic tradition is to select mascots². The Koreans chose two animals native to the country, a white tiger and a black bear. But as NPR's Elise Hu reports, there's a disturbing history for the bear in the country now celebrating it.

ELISE HU, BYLINE³: When Korean Olympian Yuna Kim announced the PyeongChang 2018 mascots - a white tiger named Soohorang and Bandabi, an Asiatic black bear - this is how she described them.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YUNA KIM: They are so cute and adorable, so I'm sure that you're going to fall in love with them.

HU: The adorable Asiatic black bear is better known regionally as a moon bear for the distinctive⁴ white crescent on its chest. It's a symbol of the province where the Olympic Games will be held.

ANNA JIHYUN YOU: It's a very unique and symbolic⁵ creature in Korea.

HU: Anna Jihyun You is a spokeswoman for the Olympics here. She says moon bears have long been part of Korean folklore⁶.

YOU: I can't say exact date how far it go back, but it's a really long time ago.

HU: Its place in folklore and history hasn't spared the actual bear breed itself from cruelty in Korea. An hour's drive south of Seoul...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He's taking us to the bears.

HU: ...You can find a bear bile farm, one of 39 sprinkled across the country. Here, farmer Kim Kwang-su keeps 230 moon bears. He breeds them and cages them for the legal minimum of 10 years. Then they're slaughtered⁷ for their gallbladders. In East Asia, bear bile is believed to solve a host of health problems from hangovers to heart disease.

Do they have much of a quality of life, then, if they're sort of living in these cages for 10 years, waiting to die?

KIM KWANG-SU: (Speaking Korean).

HU: "It's true we don't have play facilities for the bears," Kim says. "But in South Korea right now, almost all these bears are kept in cages." A century ago, moon bears roamed freely in the mountains of Korea. But bear bile became such a sought-after traditional medicine that today, the bears have been captured and farmed to near-extinction.

JILL ROBINSON: The way that these bears are farmed is particularly cruel.

HU: Jill Robinson is a veterinarian and the head of Animals Asia foundation. She first visited a bear bile farm in 1993.

ROBINSON: Cages and cages all around me with bears with the most miserable⁸ faces with six-inch catheters protruding⁹ from their abdomens¹⁰, their teeth cut back, their paw tips cut back so that the claws couldn't grow and hurt the farmers as they were extracting the bile.

HU: Since then, South Korea has banned the practice of milking bears for bile while they are alive. But the animals are still living in captivity¹¹ until they're killed. The bear farmer, Kim, says he has come to enjoy the bears he keeps. But for his business to survive, he slaughters¹² them. He has no other livelihood¹³.

KIM: (Speaking Korean).

HU: "It hurts. It hurts me. I don't even look at them when they're being slaughtered," he says. "I mean, you're not a human being if you're not sad about it." Which underlines the gulf¹⁴ between what's happening to the actual Asiatic black bears and the cartoon cute character of next year's Olympic mascot¹. While moon bear mascot Bandabi glides¹⁵ his way down animated¹⁶ mountains in promo videos, the inspiration for Bandabi spend their days banging their heads against their cages. Jill Robinson.

ROBINSON: I just really hope that the Korean government does make that connection and finally gives the - this incredible species of bear the freedom that they deserve.

HU: Demand for bear bile has collapsed¹⁷ recently, which led to the closure of many farms already. But nearly 800 moon bears still live in caged limbo¹⁸ in their home country. Elise Hu, NPR News, Dangjin, South Korea.

1 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

2 mascots   

n.吉祥物( mascot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the mascots was the platypus. 吉祥物一是鸭嘴兽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Information on all things Olympic, including logos, mascots, venues,and bid candidates. 所有事情奥林匹克，包括的标识语，吉祥物，地点，和出价候选人的信息。 来自互联网

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

5 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

6 folklore   

n.民间信仰，民间传说，民俗

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。

7 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

9 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

10 abdomens   

n.腹（部）( abdomen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The women especially disliked their stomachs or abdomens, hips, thighs and legs. 这些妇女特别不喜欢自己的胃部，腹部，臀部，大腿，腿部。 来自互联网
• They danced not with their legs or arms, but with their entire bodies, undulating their abdomens. 他们跳舞不是用腿和臂，而是用整个身子，腹部一起一伏地扭动着。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 slaughters   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These vast slaughters have since become notorious. 此后，这些大规模的屠杀，就变成了很不光彩的新闻。 来自辞典例句
• Remembered that despairs and hope that each other slaughters. 记得绝望和希望，彼此厮杀。 来自互联网

13 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

14 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

15 glides   

n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The new dance consists of a series of glides. 这种新舞蹈中有一连串的滑步。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stately swan glides gracefully on the pond. 天鹅在池面上优美地游动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

17 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

18 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。