VOA标准英语2009年-Texas Experts Help Afghan Herders Enter Modern

For the past 2.5 years, two agriculture experts from the U.S. state of Texas have been working in remote areas of Afghanistan to help nomadic¹ herders better manage their sheep, goats and cattle, and to better deal with ever-changing environmental conditions. The project has also helped peacefully resolve conflicts over grazing rights on the Afghan range.
　
A Kuchi shepherd girl and a boy guide their flock in the pasturelands of Shomali Plains, north of Kabul (2005 photo)

On a visit back home last month, Texas A&M University agriculture professor Michael Jacobs spoke² with admiration³ about the nomadic Afghan herders, called Kuchi, who provide more than 80 percent of Afghanistan's livestock⁴ production.

"They are essentially⁵ survivalists," said Michael Jacobs. "And because of this, they are pretty aggressive; they come off that way. They are not afraid to tell you what they think. But in the end, that actually helps you because you do not waste time doing things that they are not interested in doing or that they do not think is going to work."

What Jacobs and colleague Catherine Schloeder are trying to do is introduce the Kuchi to modern ways of managing their herds⁶ and ways of using high technology to find the best grazing areas at any given time.

Professor Schloeder says she has also learned a lot from the Kuchi about living together in a challenging environment.

"I find that I benefit from this experience as well, in that I am a better person," said Schloeder. "I take away so much from these people in how to better communicate with people, how to live with people."

The head of Texas A&M University's Department of Ecosystem⁷ Science and Management, Steven Whisenant, says these two experts, who have also done extensive work in Africa, bring a lot of experience gained in Texas to what may at first glance seem to be a very different landscape in Afghanistan.

"There are some similarities with Texas and then there are some very significant differences," said Whisenant. "Our pastoralists, our ranchers, tend not to be nomadic. The semi-arid rangeland is quite similar. To our experts in rangeland management, livestock management, that expertise⁸ has global relevance⁹."

Part of what the Texas experts do in Afghanistan involves tracking weather information from U.S. satellites to determine where the Kuchi should move their herds for better grazing. But for a people with a literacy rate around four percent, Whisenant says such information can be difficult to comprehend.

"It has to be presented in a way that is useful to the Kuchi people," he said. "But in the process of doing that, it sort of opens their eyes to the idea that there is a bigger world out there and there is information available that they may never have imagined that is useful to them."

Technology already available to some Kuchi has played a role in efforts to resolve conflicts over grazing land peacefully. In the past, most of these conflicts in Afghanistan have been resolved through Islamic courts composed of local people who generally rule against the nomads¹⁰.

But the two Texas professors, working with other experts from non-governmental organizations, have encouraged the Kuchi and the locals to use a technology some of them already had in their hands.

"They began exchanging cellular¹¹ phone numbers," said Whisenant. "The Kuchis are pastoralists and nomadic, but many of them have cell phones. So now, when they move into an area, they call people on their cell phones."

Whisenant says some local communities allow Kuchi representation in local courts so that disputes can be resolved fairly. The professors from Texas A&M University work in Afghanistan in a program funded in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development and work in close coordination¹² with Afghan government agencies as well.

1 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。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

7 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

8 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

9 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

10 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》

11 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

12 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。