VOA常速英语2014--Fences and Wildlife Don’t Mix 围栏与野生动物不能共存

 

Fences and Wildlife Don’t Mix 围栏与野生动物不能共存

If you want to protect endangered species in the wild, don’t fence them in. An article in the journal Science says fencing can actually harm both animals and ecosystems¹. Scientists at the Zoological Society of London and the Wildlife Conservation Society say the use of fences to protect threatened species should be a last resort.

如果你想保护濒危的野生生物，不要把他们围起来。旅游科学的一篇文章说围养对动物和生态系统都会造成破坏，伦敦动物界和野生生物保护协会的科学家说用围栏保护受威协的物种应该是最后才选用的一种保护手段。

Researcher Sarah Durant said, “Fences by their nature will segregate² habitats and that can actually be a real problem, particularly in drylands systems where wildlife often has to move quite large distances to access resources and water. So that in itself can be a problem. And then you have wide-ranging species, such as cheetah³ and wild dog, but also elephants as well, which need access to very large connected habitat for their survival.”

研究员沙拉.杜兰特（Sarah Durant）说：“从本性来说，围栏会分割野生物的栖息地，这才将成为一个真正的问题。特别是在干地，野生动物经常需要长途迁徙才能获得足够的资源和水，所以，围养就会出问题。而且有许多的野生物种，比如猎豹、野狗、还有大象等，都需要广阔的领域来生存。”

Fences are not very widespread right now in Africa. Durant said the biggest concentration is in South Africa.

杜兰特说，现在围栏在非洲还未被广泛使用，目前主要集中在南非。

“They’re often used basically for territory protection. So people will own private land and they build fences around their private land to protect wildlife as a resource within those areas.

“它们（围栏）通常被用于保护领地。人们有自己的私有土地，所以他们在周围建起围栏以保护里面的野生动物资源。”

However, she said there’s concern more fences may be built, as human populations spread further into wildlife habitats.

然而，她说，有呼声要建造更多的围栏，因为人类的足迹已扩散到野生物的栖息地。

“Governments, for example, very often see fencing as a potential solution to addressing human-wildlife conflict. It’s seen as a solution that appears more straightforward⁴ than it is in practice. Once you put a fence up, then you have to maintain it. And if you don’t maintain it, you can end up with a situation where wildlife conflict could actually be higher than it was before.”

“比如，政府经常把围栏看作是有可能解决人类与野生物冲突的方法，这似乎是比实践更为直接的方法。一旦建起围栏，就需要进行维护；如果不维护，与野生物的冲突将陷入比以往更为严重的状态。”

Often, Durant said, local communities will actually breach⁵ such fences.

杜兰特说，事实上当地居民经常想拆除这些围栏。

“Very marginalized communities that have problems meeting their own household needs in terms of food and nutrition – very often they will want to breach the fences to gain access to the wildlife. And also fence wire can be used to build snares⁶ and that can actually exacerbate⁷ a snaring⁸ problem.”

“边缘社区需要食物和营养满足自己家庭的需求 – 他们经常想打破围栏走近野生物。围栏也可被用于猎捕，这将恶化猎捕问题。”

She said many communities have developed strategies over the years to deal with marauding animals, such as elephants. Coping skills they might lose if fences are built around their communities, and then the fences are breached⁹ by one or more elephants. What’s more, fences can build resentment¹⁰ in communities against conservation efforts.

她说，有许多居民已经有多年的经验对付经常作案的动物，如大象。如果在社区周围建起围栏，他们的这些经验将会慢慢丢失，然后再面临围栏被一头或多头大象毁坏的局面。更重要的是，围栏将会使当地居民对保护野生动物产生怨恨。

Besides that, the wildlife researcher said fences can affect predator-prey dynamics¹¹.

除此之外，研究员说围栏还会影响到捕食者-被捕食者的动态平衡。

“When you look at some of the densities¹² of lions in fenced reserves what you find is that they’re actually kept at levels much higher than what the areas would be expected to support. So that suggests that it’s actually altering the predator-prey dynamics. And lions aren’t the only predators¹³ in ecosystems. You’ve also got other predators such as spotted¹⁴ hyenas¹⁵, wild dogs,” she said.

“当你留意一些受围栏保护的狮子密集区，你会发现它们的状态比原本期望的要保持得好得多，因此，有人建议改变捕食者- 被捕食者的动态状况。狮子并不是生态系统中唯一的捕食者，还有班鬣犬、野狗等。”她如是说。

Predators, such as cheetahs¹⁶ and wild dogs, need a lot of space.

捕食者，例如猎豹和野狗，都需要很大的活动空间。

“They need areas in excess of 10,000 square kilometers, if you’re going to support – what we call – viable¹⁷ and sustainable populations of these species. They need very wide areas of connected habitat. Elephants and wildebeests can need areas in excess of tens of thousands square kilometers, particularly where you’ve got migratory¹⁸ systems, such as you have in the Serengeti, where the wildebeests will range across areas in excess of 20,000 square kilometers,” she said.

“如果你想支持我们所说的对这些物种的可行和可持续的保护，它们的活动领地需要超过10,000 平方公里，它们需要非常广阔的区域。大象和牛羚需要超过10,000 平方公里，特别是在迁徙区，比如说在塞伦盖蒂平原，那里的牛羚跨越的区域超过20,000 平方公里。”

Durant said one well-known fencing disaster occurred in the Kalahari. The fence was a veterinary cordon¹⁹ barrier. It was designed to separate wildebeests from cattle and prevent disease from being transmitted to cattle herds²⁰. What happened, she said, was the collapse²¹ of the wildebeest migrations²² in that region.

杜兰特说在喀拉哈里沙漠发生过一次由围栏引起的著名灾难。那个围栏是一种兽医的警戒栏，本来是用于把牛羚和牛分开，以预防向牛群传播疾病，结果呢，她说，造成的却是那个区域牛羚迁徙的大幅减少。

Instead of spending a lot of money to build and maintain fences, she said, invest that money in alternative approaches. These include improved animal husbandry, community-based crop protection, insurance programs and sensitive use of land to help prevent human-wildlife conflict.

与其花费大量的财力去建造和维护那些围栏，她说，不如把这些钱投入到可替代的方法中去。这些方法包括更好的动物饲养方法、基于社区的农作物保护、买保险和更好的利用土地以帮助预防人类与野生动物的冲突。

 

The authors of the article do say fences can be valuable resources in some cases. They cited the protection of birds in New Zealand against foreign species -- and safeguarding wolves and lynx in Scotland.

文章的作者确实也说围栏在某些情况下很有用，他们引用了在新西兰保护鸟类免受外来物种的侵袭和在苏格兰保护狼和猞猁的案例。

1 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

2 segregate   

adj.分离的，被隔离的；vt.使分离，使隔离

参考例句：

• We have to segregate for a few day.我们得分离一段日子。
• Some societies still segregate men and women.有的社会仍然将男女隔离。

3 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。

4 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

5 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

6 snares   

n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He shoots rabbits and he sets snares for them. 他射杀兔子，也安放陷阱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself fallen unawares into the snares of death. 我自己不知不觉跌进了死神的陷阱。 来自辞典例句

7 exacerbate   

v.恶化，增剧，激怒，使加剧

参考例句：

• WMO says a warming climate can exacerbate air pollution.世界气象组织说，气候变暖可能会加剧空气污染。
• In fact efforts will merely exacerbate the current problem.实际上努力只会加剧当前的问题。

8 snaring   

v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They have the ability to perform mucosal biopsies, cautery and even snaring polyps. 他们能够学习肠粘膜活检、烧灼、甚至肠息肉套扎术。 来自互联网

9 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

10 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

11 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

12 densities   

密集( density的名词复数 )； 稠密； 密度（固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量）； 密度（磁盘存贮数据的可用空间）

参考例句：

• The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3．5左右。
• Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。

13 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》

14 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

15 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

16 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

17 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

18 migratory   

n.候鸟，迁移

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。

19 cordon   

n.警戒线，哨兵线

参考例句：

• Police officers threw a cordon around his car to protect him.警察在他汽车周围设置了防卫圈以保护他。
• There is a tight security cordon around the area.这一地区周围设有严密的安全警戒圈。

20 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。

21 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

22 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网