VOA常速英语2019--企鹅因气候变暖而失去栖息地

Up until 2016, Antarctica’s Halley Bay was the second-largest breeding ground for emperor penguins². And then in one year, they were gone. Between 15 and 24 thousand birds and they haven’t been back since. Researchers with the British Antarctic Survey soon found out why. The sea ice on which the penguins breed and raise their chicks have blown out, disappeared. The ice disappeared due to a strong El Nino that causes unusually warm waters, but what happened to all those penguins?

2016年的时候，南极洲的哈雷湾是还是世界上第二大企鹅繁殖地。但不到一年的时间里，那里的企鹅都消失了。本来有1.5万-2.4万只企鹅，但自那之后，它们就没再出现过。英国南极调查局的科学家们很快就发现了原因。企鹅赖以繁育后代的海冰破裂消失了。而海冰之所以消失是因为厄尔尼诺来势汹汹，导致海水异常温暖。那么，这些企鹅经历了什么呢？

We’ve been seeing the colony at Halley Bay getting smaller and smaller, even the adults, but another colony about 30 miles to the South has been growing, and about maybe over half of the adults now have walked and left Halley Bay, and started to breed at this colony 30 miles to the South.

我们注意到，哈雷湾的企鹅栖息地变得越来越小，即便是成年企鹅也难逃此劫。而另一片栖息地是在南部大概30英里的地方，这里一直在扩张。而且可能近半数以上的成年企鹅都离开了哈雷湾，开始在南部的近30英里的地方繁育。

Fred Well says this is good news, because it suggests penguins are adapting to a rapidly changing climate and they’re going to need to keep adapting. Well then, we can say we predict that the climate change, El Nino events will get stronger and we’ll get more storm events and it’s not just Halley Bay that’s melting. This entire part of the continent is at risk. We’re all seeing the Antarctic Peninsula is rapidly warming. Not the whole Antarctic, but one particular area is warming. We’re seeing ice loss in many areas, and we’re seeing, we’re predicting storm events and El Ninos are going to get bigger. If these warming events keep happening, studies suggest the world population of emperor penguin¹ could decline by as much as 20% the century.

弗雷德·威尔认为这是好消息，因为这表明企鹅正在适应快速变化的气候，而且他们也不得不继续适应下去。那么，我们的预测是：气候变化、厄尔尼诺产生的影响还会更强。我们会遭遇更多风暴，而且也不只有哈雷湾会发生海冰融化。整个南极洲大陆都处于濒危。我们都注意到，南极洲在迅速变暖，虽然不是整个南极洲变暖，但至少某个特定的区域已经在变暖。我们注意到很多区域的海冰都在减少，我们预测会有更多风暴，厄尔尼诺的辐射面也会越来越大。如果这些气候变暖现象持续发生，那么研究表明，世界上的企鹅数量本世纪会减少达20%。

1 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

2 penguins   

n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why can penguins live in cold environment? 为什么企鹅能生活在寒冷的环境中？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whales, seals, penguins, and turtles have flippers. 鲸、海豹，企鹅和海龟均有鳍形肢。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》