VOA慢速英语2015 自然资源保护者试图保护稀有犀牛

 

AS IT IS 2014-12-29 Conservationists Try to Save Rare Rhino¹ 自然资源保护者试图保护稀有犀牛 

Wildlife conservationists in Kenya are trying to save a rare kind of rhinoceros². So many northern white rhinos³ have been hunted and killed that they are almost extinct. There are only five northern white rhinos left. The workers hope they can save the rhinos by helping⁴ them breed.

Northern white rhinos once lived in an area from Uganda to the Democratic Republic of Congo. They could even be found as far north as Chad. But conservationists fear the northern white rhino may disappear within our lifetime.

Three northern white rhinos live at The Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Workers with military weapons guard the rhinos as they walk, play and eat over a large area of natural grass and trees. The northern white rhinos live with groups of southern white rhinos. The two species of rhinos are closely related.

The three rhinos were brought to the conservancy in 2009 from a zoo in the Czech Republic. Workers hoped they would have a better chance of survival in a more-natural habitat.

But breeding has not been as successful as they had hoped. And the number of northern white rhinos continues to decrease.

One of the rhinos at the conservancy died in October. Another died at a zoo in the U.S. city of San Diego, California earlier this month. The San Diego zoo still has one northern white rhino left. The zoo in the Czech Republic also has one.

The last wild northern white rhinos were hunted and killed during conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past ten years. Rhinos are killed because many people in Asia want the animals’ horns. They believe the horns will help with medical problems. But researchers say there is no medicine in the horn, just a kind of hair.

The last male northern white rhino is 41 years old. He has been unsuccessful at producing young with a female rhino. So conservationists will use artificial methods to make a young female become pregnant. If that is not successful, they will try to fertilize⁵ a northern rhino egg and put it in the womb of a southern white rhino, who will act as a surrogate mother.

The last solution would be cross-breeding between the northern and southern white rhino species. The two types of rhinos are alike both physically⁶ and genetically⁷. Southern white rhino populations have increased in the last one hundred years. If cross-breeding is successful, there is hope that some part of the northern white rhino species may still live on.

Words in This Story

conservationist – n. someone who works to protect animals, plants, and natural resources or to prevent the loss or waste of natural resources; a person who is involved in conservation

cross-breed – v. to make two different kinds of animal produce offspring

extinct/extinction – n. the state or situation that results when something (such as a plant or animal species) has died out completely

surrogate – n. a person or thing that takes the place or performs the duties of someone or something else

1 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

2 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

3 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

6 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

7 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物