VOA标准英语2011--Elephant Leaves Alaska for Warmer Home

Elephant Leaves Alaska for Warmer Home

大象玛姬离开阿拉斯加前往温暖新家

As we write this story, the temperature in Anchorage, Alaska, is minus-8 degrees Celsius¹. Bitter cold, in other words, as you might expect on an early-winter day in a state that’s sometimes called “America’s Ice Box.”

当我们写下这篇文章时,阿拉斯加安克雷奇的温度已是零下8摄氏度。即是严冬,换句话说,一如你所期望的早冬,有时被人们称为“美国的冰盒”。

Meanwhile, Maggie the Elephant is strolling about the 12-hectare grounds she shares with nine other pachyderms at an animal-rescue society’s compound in California’s Sierra Mountains, where it’s also chilly² at the moment, but a degree or two above freezing at least.

与此同时, 在动物救助协会在加州的塞拉山的院子里,大象玛姬正在与其他九位厚皮动物共同分享的这12公顷地盘里悠闲漫步,这里也非常寒冷,但至少在零上1至2度。

This is all relevant because the African elephant spent 24 of her first 25 years at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, where she was the only elephant and lived in a cage that had only a small outdoor enclosure.

这都是有因必有果的,因为这只非洲象在美国阿拉斯加州安克雷奇动物园中已经生活了24年,马上迎来她的第25个年头,她是唯一一只在笼子里的大象,只有一个小的户外围栏。

Highly social elephants need a lot of room, for obvious reasons. And the death of Peaches, a 55-year-old elephant at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo in 2005 - just three months after another elephant died there - ignited a debate about whether these furless beasts can tolerate cold climates.

高度社会化的大象需要更多空间,原因很明显。2005年在芝加哥林肯动物园55岁的大象碧奇死亡,仅三个月后另一只大象死在那里——这些引发了这种没有毛的动物是否可以抵御寒冷的争论。

Maggie in Alaska: very big, maybe very cold, and possibly very lonely.

The Alaska Zoo was pressured to send Maggie to a facility in warmer climes. But it resisted - even building the world’s only elephant treadmill³, at a cost of $100,000 - to give Maggie, who was a good 2,000 kilos overweight, something to keep her occupied.

阿拉斯加动物园承受着送玛姬去暖和地方的压力。但动物园断然拒绝——即使花费100000美元为2000公斤超重的玛姬建造世界上唯一的大象跑步机,也只是为了能够把这只大象留住。

But Maggie would go nowhere near the contraption.

但玛姬毫不领情,对这个奇妙的装置根本不感兴趣。

Finally in 2007, after TV game-show host Bob Barker donated $750,000 to help pay for her transfer and future care, the Alaska Zoo Board relented, and Maggie took a flight on a cargo⁴ plane to her new home in California.

最终在2007年,在电视游戏秀节目主持人鲍勃•巴克捐赠750000美元为她的转移和未来的护理费用买单后,阿拉斯加动物园才缓和下来,玛姬搭乘一架货机前往她的加利福尼亚新家。

Other northern zoos have also given up their elephants. In 2005, for instance, the zoo in nippy Detroit, Michigan, closed its elephant exhibit and sent its two specimens⁵ - Winky and Wanda - to a sanctuary⁶ in toastier Tennessee.

其他北部的动物园也相继放弃了自己的大象们。例如,2005年寒冷的底特律,密歇根等动物园关闭了大象展出及把闪闪和旺达送到了温暖的田纳西州的一处圣地。

These days, Maggie the world traveler - Africa to Alaska to California - is warmer, slimmer, and has lots of elephantine friends.

这些天,玛姬这位从非洲到阿拉斯加再到加利福尼亚的世界旅行家,会变得更缓和,更苗条,而且一定将会结交很多大象朋友。

1 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

2 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

3 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

4 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

5 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。