美语情景对话 第1353期:Pests and Predators 有害生物和捕食者(2)

Todd: So you have a problem with possums and with rabbits.

托德：所以你们的问题是负鼠和兔子。

Rachel: Rabbits on farms. There's also wild deer and boar in the forests who also do a lot of damage and stray cats and dogs as well also kill a lot of native species. There's no native animals in New Zealand. The only mammals that are native to New Zealand are dolphins and bats, so there's no natural hunters except for hawks. So the birds, a lot of the birds have lost the ability to fly and they nest on the ground, so they're enormously vulnerable to predator species like cats and dogs. They've almost completely decimated many bird species, so that's why they're hunters throughout New Zealand who are basically given free range to shoot whatever they can find because they're so destructive to the natural environment.

蕾切尔：准确的说是农场里的兔子。森林里的野鹿和野猪也造成了很多损害，流浪猫和流浪狗也吃掉了大量本土物种。现在新西兰没有本土动物。新西兰唯一的本土哺乳动物是海豚和蝙蝠，除了老鹰以外，这些动物没有天敌。所以，许多鸟类失去了飞翔能力，它们在地上筑巢，因此极易受到猫和狗等天敌的攻击。它们几乎吃掉了大部分鸟类物种，这也是新西兰的猎人可以随意猎杀他们能找到的任何动物的原因，因为这些动物对自然环境具有极强的破坏性。

Todd: Yeah, I think I read somewhere where you have some campaign to have like no predators by a certain year, right like a new things in New Zealand.

托德：嗯，我看到过一个新闻，新西兰开展了一项行动，计划在某一年之前消灭捕食者，这在新西兰是一项新举措。

Rachel: I haven't heard of that but I wouldn't be surprised. I think that's always been a goal.

蕾切尔：我没听说过这项行动，不过我并不惊讶。我想那一直是新西兰的目标。

Todd: I think it was ... it was in the news. I'll have to check so I could be wrong, but I think it was 2050 is the goal of the government to have no predators.

托德：我想我是在新闻中看到的这则消息。我要确认一下，我记的不太清楚，应该是新西兰政府计划在2050年前消灭捕食者。

Rachel: That would be amazing.

蕾切尔：那太令人吃惊了。

Todd: And they said the big one is dogs and cats. That's like the sticking point.

托德：政府说主要目标是狗和猫。这是关键所在。

Rachel: They're starting to get much stricter about controlling cats and dogs now. Keeping cats inside and keeping dogs leashed, so that they don't run off into the bush and cause a lot of problems.

蕾切尔：他们现在已经开始采取更严格的手段控制猫和狗了。确保猫呆在室内，给狗狗拴上狗绳，这样它们就不会跑进灌木丛里，不会造成很多问题。

Todd: But dogs I think are probably more domesticated. They're probably not as dangerous, but cats are basically ... they're not that domesticated. They're still natural hunters.

托德：我认为狗狗可能更易驯化，适合家养。它们可能没有那么危险，但是猫……它们没有那么恋家。它们仍是天生的猎人。

Rachel: Yeah, we keep them with us to hunt, you know, pests like mice. They live with us, so yeah, they catch a lot of birds, but with the birds nesting on the ground and unable to fly, it's very easy for the dogs to kill them as well.

蕾切尔：对，我们让猫跟我们一起捕措，比如老鼠等害虫。猫和我们生活在一起，它们会抓很多鸟，而那些不能飞、在地上筑巢的鸟，很容易被狗狗杀死。

Todd: Oh, I see. And dogs can just be naughty sometimes.

托德：哦，我明白了。狗狗有时可能也很淘气。

Rachel: Heck yes. They run off.

蕾切尔：淘气。然后它们就会跑开。

Todd: So what do you think? Do you think your country can achieve this goal - no predators - by 2050?

托德：你怎么看？你认为新西兰能实现在2050年前消灭捕食者这一目标吗？

Rachel: It sounds very challenging. I think at present, only some of the offshore islands are completely pest free. Well, no predators yeah that's not quite the same as no pests because pests also include things like rabbits and possums and deer that don't eat the native species so just predator free might be a bit more achievable I think.

蕾切尔：这听起来极具挑战性。我认为目前，只有几个近海岛屿完全没有有害生物。当然，没有捕食者和没有有害生物还不完全一样，因为有害生物还包括兔子、负鼠和鹿等不吃本土物种的动物，所以我认为消灭捕食者这一目标可能更易实现。

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重点讲解：
1. except for 除了；除…之外；唯有；
I sold everything I owned except for my car and my books.
我把我所有的东西都卖掉了，只剩下汽车和书。
2. be vulnerable to 易受伤害的；易受影响的；
And people in poor health will be more vulnerable to the virus.
而健康状况不良的人们将更容易被流感病毒所侵袭。
3. run off 跑掉；
Two guys took fright and run off in different directions.
两个男子急急惶惶朝不同的方向跑掉了。
4. the same as 与…相似；与…一样；
The landscape is just the same as before.
风景依旧。