VOA慢速英语2020 非洲巨鼠因扫雷荣获奖章（在线收听）

‘Hero’ Rat Receives Award for Searching out Landmines

For the first time, a rat has won a British aid group's top award for animal bravery. The animal is being honored for its work searching out unexploded landmines in Cambodia.

一只老鼠首次获得英国援助组织颁发的动物勇敢最高奖。这只老鼠因其在柬埔寨搜寻未爆炸地雷的工作而受到表彰。

The award winner is an African giant pouched rat named Magawa. British charity PDSA gave its Gold Medal to Magawa for his "lifesaving bravery and devotion to duty."

获奖者是一只名叫马加瓦（Magawa）的非洲巨鼠。英国慈善机构PDSA将金牌授予马加瓦，以表彰其“拯救生命的勇气和对职责的献身精神”。

PDSA was founded in 1917 to provide free healthcare to animals. It was first known as the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. The group has been honoring heroic animals since 1943.

PDSA成立于1917年，旨在为动物提供免费医疗服务。它最初被称为人们为生病的动物开的药房。自1943年以来，该组织一直在表彰英勇的动物。

Magawa was trained by a Belgian organization that has been teaching rats to find landmines for more than 20 years. The group, APOPO, aims to help clear mines left behind from wars and conflicts. It works with programs in Cambodia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

马加瓦是由一个比利时扫雷组织训练的，该组织20多年来一直在教老鼠寻找地雷。这个名为APOPO的组织旨在帮助清除战争和冲突遗留下来的地雷。它与柬埔寨、安哥拉、津巴布韦和莫桑比克的项目合作。

Magawa is the group's most successful rat. He has cleared more than 141,000 square meters of land over the past four years.

马加瓦是该组织中最有作为的老鼠。在过去的四年里，马加瓦已经清理了超过14.1万平方米的土地。

APOPO's chief Christophe Cox told The Associated Press Magawa's medal was a huge honor for the group's animal trainers. "But also, it is big for the people in Cambodia, and all the people around the world who are suffering from landmines," he said.

APOPO组织的负责人克里斯托夫·考克斯（Christophe Cox）告诉美联社，马加瓦获得的奖牌是该组织驯兽师的巨大荣誉。他说：“而且，这对柬埔寨人民以及全世界所有遭受地雷之苦的人来说，意义重大。”

Cox added that he hopes the Gold Medal award can bring more worldwide attention to the problem of landmines.

考克斯还说，他希望金章能让全世界更多地关注地雷问题。

APOPO says that more than 60 million people in 59 countries continue to be threatened by landmines and unexploded weapons. In 2018, landmines and other remnants of war killed or injured 6,897 people, the group said.

APOPO组织表示，59个国家的6千多万人仍然面临着地雷和未爆炸武器的威胁。该组织称，2018年，地雷和其他战争遗留物造成6897人死亡或受伤。

APOPO noted on its website it currently has 45 rats looking for landmines and 31 searching for the disease tuberculosis in Africa and Asia.

APOPO组织在其网站上称，目前在非洲和亚洲有45只老鼠用于寻找地雷，31只用于检测结核病病菌。

Many rodents can be trained to search things out with their nose and perform work for food. But APOPO decided that giant African pouched rats were best equipped to help clear landmines because of their African roots and lifespan of up to eight years.

许多啮齿类动物经过训练后可以用鼻子来寻找食物。但APOPO组织认为，非洲巨鼠最适合帮助清除地雷，因为它们的非洲背景，而且其寿命最长可达8年。

The rats' size permits them to walk across mine fields without setting off explosives. They also work much faster than people.

这种老鼠的体型可以让它们在穿越雷区时不引爆炸药。他们的扫雷速度也比人工快得多。

Magawa was born in Tanzania, but is now based in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. He is the first rat to receive a PDSA medal in the 77-year history of the awards. Other winners have included brave dogs, birds and a cat.

马加瓦出生在坦桑尼亚，但现在在柬埔寨的暹粒市工作。他是该奖项设立77年来的第一个获得PDSA奖章的老鼠。其他获奖者还包括狗、鸟和一只猫。

The PDSA Gold Medal is the animal equivalent of Britain's George Cross award, a hero award for humans. The PDSA also awards the Dickin Medal, for animals performing military work.

PDSA的金牌相当于英国的乔治十字奖(George Cross award)，后者是一种授予人类英雄的奖项。PDSA还为从事军队工作的动物授予迪金勋章。