VOA英语2010年-Moose on the Loose in New York

New York, the state with the nation's largest metropolitan¹ area, is also home to 2.5 million hectares of protected mountain wilderness². Conservationists believe that protection is why moose - which were nearly wiped out in the area - have started to return, highlighting the value of letting nature take its course.

The moose is the largest member of the deer family. Males can weigh as much as 726 kilos and stand as high as 2-and-a-half meters at the shoulder. Their antlers have a spread of more than a meter. They once ranged throughout the forests that covered the north-eastern part of what's now the United States.

Nearly wiped out

When commercial logging began in New England the early 1800s, loggers realized that one moose could easily feed a camp of 60 men.

Michale Glennon, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society or WCS, says not only did loggers decimate the moose population, they destroyed its habitat as well.

"These forests were cut very, very heavily and extensively and the moose is a wood creature so the habitat, for one, was changed quite a bit for them," says Glennon.

By the 1860s, moose in New York were virtually wiped out. Dave Gross, curator of The Wild Center at the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, says for over a century, there were no sightings of the huge creatures but that changed in the 1970s.

"People noticed back in the 70s or so that maybe one or two moose were straggling back into the Adirondacks," says Gross. "Three years ago, it was estimated that there were 500 or so moose and they think that there's about 800 moose now."

Nancie Battaglia
Trained dogs find moose droppings, which will help experts determine just how large the moose population has gotten in the Adirondacks.
Comeback

Though the moose are a great icon³ and tourist attraction for the Adirondacks, Gross says too many moose could destroy vegetation and several bird habitats. They also pose a deadly collision risk to motorists because they're difficult to see on the road at night and they weigh about half as much as an average car. Consequently, conservationists are now trying to determine just how many moose have returned.

To do that, they started a project called AROMA⁴ or Adirondack Return of Moose Assessment⁵ which relies on a group called Working Dogs for Conservation.

"They train dogs to find moose scat," says WCS research scientist Heidi Kretser. "Then from that, through some fun statistics and theory, we'll be able to figure out some general estimate of what the moose population might be."

The dogs' moose tracking adventures have been turned into a movie which is now being shown at the Wild Center. In one scene, a black dog in a red safety vest scouts⁶ the area for moose dung. He indicates he's found a pile by abruptly⁷ sitting.

The scat may help answer questions about everything from what the moose are eating to why they're coming back or if their numbers are actually increasing locally.

WCS ecologist Glennon says the current theory is that the moose resurgence⁸ was facilitated by the laws protecting the preserve, and several corridors of protected land linking the Adirondacks to Maine, Vermont and Canada, which provide safe travel routes for the animals.

Letting nature run its course

"The New York State Forest Preserve is considered to be forever wild. There is no logging of it. There is no selling or transfer of lands in any way so those woods are just growing and doing their woods thing without any sort of alteration⁹ by humans," says Glennon.

VOA - E. Celeste
Conservationists believe 2.5 million hectares of protected mountain wilderness in New York have helped the boost the moose population.
Moose are not the only animals to benefit from these protected lands; bald eagles, river otters¹⁰, and ravens¹¹, along with more than a dozen other animals, have been returning to the Adirondacks over the last few decades. That's drawn¹² a lot of attention from wildlife conservationists the world over.

"We have had a number of delegations¹³ from China and also Siberia come to the Adirondacks to learn how this interaction between people and nature is working out," says Gross. "The Adirondacks is somewhat different than the national parks. In the national park system, all the people are kicked out. There are no people living in the national parks. The unique thing about the Adirondacks is about half the land is owned privately¹⁴ and half is public."

It may take a decade or more to determine if the moose have returned for good. But Kretser thinks the moose's story offers hope for the future.

"I think the moose returning to the Adirondacks is a nice example that in a modern world - where you have lots of housing development, you have lots of issues with pollution, you have lots of issues of fragmentation across the entire landscape - that it is still possible to get restoration of a species to occur naturally."

In other words, she says, when left alone, nature still can do its job.

1 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

2 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

4 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

7 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

8 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

9 alteration   

n.变更，改变；蚀变

参考例句：

• The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
• He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。

10 otters   

n.（水）獭( otter的名词复数 )；獭皮

参考例句：

• An attempt is being made to entice otters back to the river. 人们正试图把水獭引诱回河里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Otters are believed to have been on Earth for 90 million years. 水獭被认为存活在地球上已经9千多万年。 来自互联网

11 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

13 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

14 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。