VOA标准英语2014--Racing to Save the Cheetah

 

Racing¹ to Save the Cheetah²

A wild cheetah sprinting³ across the African savannah has been described as poetry in motion.

Dr. Laurie Marker can understand why. The award-winning conservationist and renowned⁴ cheetah expert has devoted⁵ her life to the protection of the big cats.

But Marker warns that unless we act quickly, the world will likely lose its remaining cheetahs⁶ within the next ten years.

That dire⁷ prediction comes on the heels of a newly released report by World Wildlife Fund, a leading conservation organization, which states that the world has already lost 50 percent of its wild animal population since 1970. That grim statistic⁸ includes the loss of two-thirds of the wild cheetah population.

And that’s bad news not only for cheetahs, according to Marker, but also for the many other animals that live in the African savannah.   

A healthy eco-system

Top predators⁹ like the cheetah, she said, play a key role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem¹⁰.

“For instance, the cheetah is a great hunter on the savannah lands,” Marker noted¹¹. “It will make a kill, it eats what it needs, gets chased off by jackals or vultures or lions or hyenas¹², and then the rest of the veld [open country] eats.”

Marker explained that she often tells livestock¹³ farmers that if there’s enough prey¹⁴, and the cheetah has made a kill, the jackals can eat off of that, which will keep them from going into the sheep or goat yards for food.

Cheetah Conservation Fund

Marker teaches the importance of biodiversity through The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an organization that she founded in 1991 in Namibia, Africa - the cheetah capital of the world.

The Fund conducts research, offers educational programs and serves as a model for other countries that are committed to protecting wild animals.

With less than 10,000 of the big cats remaining in the wild, Marker said she wants to help people understand the challenges facing cheetahs.

“The biggest threats facing cheetahs primarily are a human-wildlife conflict; loss of habitat, loss of prey, loss of grazing lands,” she explained.

And since the African human population is growing by leaps and bounds, she said it’s important to explore alternatives to how people can make a living outside of just subsistence farming.

To address that concern, Marker described a program she's helped develop, called Future Farmers of Africa, "that is far reaching throughout these very arid¹⁵ landscapes to try to implement¹⁶ programs that will help people get out of poverty,” she said. “Try to grow grass, have wildlife and allow some of the last habitats where cheetahs are living, to [be] sustainable,” she said.

The Center has other initiatives that are also helping¹⁷ the local community.

Bushblok – ‘hot’ fuel logs

In one program for example, The Cheetah Conservation Fund together with the United States Agency for International Development established CCF Bush (PTY) Ltd., which employs and trains locals to collect the damaging thorn bush that has taken over the cheetah landscape - and process it into compacted, eco-friendly fuel logs.

That project puts people to work and creates rural business opportunities while simultaneously¹⁸ restoring the Namibian habitat for the cheetah and other wildlife.

Guard dogs

And because cheetahs often prey on the domesticated¹⁹ animals on the savannah, Marker breeds and trains Kangal or Anatolian Shepherd dogs - a breed originally from Turkey - which she donates to local farmers to help them protect their livestock.

“In Namibia, we’ve now bred over 500 of these dogs,” she said, “and at this point we’ve helped develop programs in South Africa, in Botswana, in Tanzania.”

The dogs protect livestock from the cheetah, but also from many other predators, she pointed²⁰ out.

Poaching and trafficking

Wildlife poaching and trafficking are the other major threats to cheetahs.

“In the last several years there’s been a huge amount of wildlife trafficking that’s going on with many of our species, but with cheetahs again leading the way at the top of the list,” Marker said.

She equated²¹ the black market wildlife trade to that of “illegal drugs and trafficking and terrorism; it’s all tied in together.”

“This illegal trade is beyond just cheetahs,” she added. “There are birds of prey, there are orangutans and gibbons, and tigers and lions and these are not animals that should be peoples' pets,” she said.

Marker has written a book to help educate people about the plight²² of the cheetah, and said if these beautiful wild creatures are to be saved from extinction²³, the global community needs to say "no to illegal trade, no to poaching, take care of the wildlife and ask governments to do something."

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 cheetah   

n.(动物)猎豹

参考例句：

• The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal.猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。
• The distribution of the cheetah ranges from Africa to Central Asia.印度豹的足迹遍及从非洲到中亚的广大地区。

3 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 cheetahs   

n.（奔跑极快的）非洲猎豹( cheetah的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Unlike lions or cheetahs, leopards are secretive, solitary cats. 花豹不像狮子或印度豹，是属于较神秘而隐居的大猫。 来自互联网
• Among this lot are cheetahs, lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, spotted hyenas and elephants. 印度豹、狮子、花豹、犀牛、斑点土狼、大象等，都是此地的居民。 来自互联网

7 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

8 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

9 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 hyenas   

n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These animals were the prey of hyenas. 这些动物是鬣狗的猎物。 来自辞典例句
• We detest with horror the duplicity and villainy of the murderous hyenas of Bukharinite wreckers. 我们非常憎恨布哈林那帮两面三刀、杀人破坏，干尽坏事的豺狼。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

15 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

16 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

19 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

21 equated   

adj.换算的v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的过去式和过去分词 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• Production costs for the movie equated to around 30% of income. 这部电影的制作成本相当于收益的30%。
• Politics cannot be equated with art. 政治不能同艺术等同起来。

22 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

23 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。