2006年VOA标准英语-Desertification Taking Toll on Africa's Sahel

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
31 July 2006

In West Africa's Sahel region, which has had poor rain over the past few decades, scientists and human rights activists¹ are hard at work trying to combat some of the many negative effects of desertification - the process by which fertile land turns into desert.

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Gerbil-like rodents² ravage³ crops   
  
Jean-Marc Duplantier has a map showing how new types of desert rodents have traveled southward over the past 15 years from Mauritania to Dakar, Senegal's seaside capital.

The gerbil-like rodents ravage crops, including one of Senegal's only cash earners, peanuts. They also transmit diseases to humans through ticks.

He says it is all a result of desertification.

"The development of these desert species of rodents is brought about through a degradation⁴ of the environment. Their arrival has caused a type of human illness  called borreliosis to progress southward," said Duplantier. "It is a disease of recurrent fevers. Doctors often confuse it with malaria⁵ and give the wrong medication. Some people talk about resistant⁶ malaria when they actually have this other disease caused by the presence of rodents."

 
Hungry children in Niger
  
Diseases in Africa used to be mostly water-borne, but with desertification that is changing.

To combat these rodents, Duplantier is studying them at his laboratories in Dakar.

He shows off different types of rodents who were caught just last week.

"Our research allows us to understand the dynamics⁷ of these rodents who do damage in the Sahel region. If we can establish models of their comings and goings, we can maybe determine how high the risk will be to humans and crops, and how best to stop them," he added.

Another scientist based in Dakar, university professor Samba Sylla, is trying to boost the capacity of crops to grow within a context of degrading soil due to poor rain and improper⁸ usage.

He says it has been done in Canada and around the Mediterranean⁹ through a process he describes as inoculating¹⁰ seeds with fungi¹¹ and bacteria.

Sylla explains how the procedure is being tested in his laboratory and outdoor plots and greenhouses on various plants.

He says the critical mass of scientists and universities was not there before in Africa, but that, with more funding, partnerships¹² and better knowledge of microbiology and other sciences, there is now hope.

Senegal crops  
  
He says partnerships have also been established with local farmers, and that his experiments will soon be carried out in real conditions. 

Desertification has also exacerbated¹³ tensions between herders and farmers, due to the competition over land.

A program director with the British-based group Oxfam is trying to help the region's pastoral communities.

Mohamed Ali Ag Mattahel, himself a member of the nomadic¹⁴ Tuareg ethnic¹⁵ group, says nomadic herders are often accused of worsening desertification. Because of this, they are sometimes prevented from carrying out their traditional migratory¹⁶ way of life.

"We are working in order to help these pastoralists to have ways to do very smoothly¹⁷ this movement." said Mattahel. "If I take for example in Niger, when it is raining, when it is the first rain, the pastoralists are obliged to move to the north and sometimes they cannot have pastures for their animals in the north, so this can be a problem for pastoralists. Now we are working with the local policy, to see how they can stay more time along the river, but in specific spaces where they can find pastures before they can move. They are going to move only when we are sure there are some pastures in 

 
Animals grazing near roadside
the north."
  
He says by moving around and leaving behind natural fertilizer, nomads¹⁸ actually help land regain¹⁹ vitality²⁰.

"I think it is a good kind of system to fight against desertification, because we are giving time to the pastures to grow and when the pastures grow and reach maturity²¹, we can have seeds for the next year and it is very important," explained Mattahel.

Mattahel is also trying to encourage dialogue between herders and farmers to avoid massive displacement²² and violence between communities, which have often been the fallout from desertification.

1 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》

2 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

3 ravage   

vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废

参考例句：

• Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.恰好目睹了瘟疫毁灭了他的村庄。
• For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention.20年来，这个国家一直被内战外侵所蹂躏。

4 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

5 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

6 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

7 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

8 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

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。

10 inoculating   

v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He attempted to investigate bidirectional streaming by inoculating two dishes with R. oryzae. 他试图研究双向流动的问题，他把未根霉接种于两个培养皿。 来自辞典例句
• Doctors examined the recruits but nurses did the inocuLating. 医生们给新兵检查了身体，护士们给他们打了预防针。 来自互联网

11 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

12 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

13 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

16 migratory   

n.候鸟，迁移

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。

17 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

18 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

20 vitality   

n.活力，生命力，效力

参考例句：

• He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后，身强体壮，充满活力。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

21 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

22 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。