VOA慢速英语2014 世界自然基金会:地球面临危险

 

AS IT IS 2014-10-27 WWF: Health of Planet Is at Risk 世界自然基金会:地球面临危险

The World Wildlife Fund says more than half of the world’s wildlife population has been lost. The conservation group says this has placed the health of the planet at risk.

The WWF recently released its 10th Flagship Living Planet Report. The group warns the condition of the world’s animals is worse than its earlier reports showed. It says worldwide action is needed.

The WWF says it is worried about the loss of and damage to Earth’s environment. The report provides information about more than 10,000 animal populations from 1970 to 2010. These populations are called “vertebrate species,” or animals with backbones¹ -- like fish, birds, mammals, amphibians² and reptiles³.

The report says these populations have dropped by 52 percent in just 40 years. It says freshwater species have fallen by 76 percent. That is almost twice the loss of land and ocean species. Most of these losses are in the tropics. The report says the biggest drop has been in Latin America.

Marco Lambertini is the WWF’s International Director-General. He spoke⁴ to VOA about the report.

“This is about losing natural habitats. This is about converting forests, grasslands⁵, and wetlands into agriculture mainly, and it is about unsustainable use of wildlife. So, wildlife traffic, hunting, and unsustainable hunting practices like that. Poaching, as you mention, has been actually increasing over the last 10 years and is definitely a driving force for extinction⁶, particularly of large species. But, also as you mention, there are dimensions to poaching that are related to timber, illegal logging and also fisheries.” 

The report also notes what it calls the world’s “Ecological Footprint.” That is the effect of human activities on the planet. Mr. Lambertini says there has been an increase in carbon dioxide gases and the pouring of nitrogen into oceans and rivers from fertilizers used in agriculture. He says this cannot continue.

“So, we are consuming on average every year about the equivalent of about 1.5, one-and-a half times the resources available to the planet. That means we are cutting trees more quickly than they can be restored.  We are fishing the oceans more quickly than fishing stocks can reproduce, and we are emitting in the atmosphere more CO2 than the natural systems can actually absorb. This is clearly not sustainable.” 

Mr. Lambertini warns climate change affects almost everyone on the planet. He says whole species may disappear if the world does not reduce the effects of humans on the climate.

Words in This Story

conservation – n. the protection of animals, plants and natural resources

population – n. the number of people who live in a place

the tropics – n. the part of the world that is near the equator where the weather is very warm

habitat – n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

gas – n. a substance (such as oxygen or hydrogen) that is like air and has no fixed⁷ shape

reduce – v. to make (something) smaller in size, amount or number

1 backbones   

n.骨干( backbone的名词复数 )；脊骨；骨气；脊骨状物

参考例句：

• Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨？ 来自辞典例句
• Simply adding bandwidth to the Internet backbones is not an answer. 只是简单的在互联网骨架上增加带宽是应付不了的。 来自互联网

2 amphibians   

两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器

参考例句：

• The skin of amphibians is permeable to water. 两栖动物的皮肤是透水的。
• Two amphibians ferry them out over the sands. 两辆水陆两用车把他们渡过沙滩。

3 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。