文字稿

  野生动物专家试图转移 500 头生活在非洲马拉维两个野生保护园区内的大象。此迁徙计划从下月开始，目的是为了帮助增加野生大象的总数。以下是 Richard Hamilton 的报道。

A century ago there were five million elephants in Africa. Today there are fewer than 470,000. Populations have been decimated by habitat loss and poaching. But two parks in Malawi – Liwonde and Majete – have managed to keep the poachers out and are actually overcrowded.

The charity African Parks is managing the move to the more empty Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.

The elephants will be drugged and loaded onto trucks. Other animals will also be introduced to the reserve, including buffalo, zebra and impala. African Parks hopes this man-made migration will increase tourism in Malawi, which is one of the continent's poorest nations.

It's also a welcome glimmer of hope amid a wider picture of poaching, destruction and decline.

词汇表

decimated 被大量杀戮
habitat loss 栖息地缺失
poaching 偷猎
poachers 偷猎者
overcrowded 过分拥挤的
charity 慈善机构，慈善组织
(a) glimmer of hope 一丝希望

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. What has led to a decline in the number of elephants in Africa?

2. How will experts prevent the animals from hurting others or themselves as they are being moved?

3. True or false? The elephants are being moved to a new reserve because they might find more food there.

4. What does the reporter mean by 'man-made migration'?

答案

1. What has led to a decline in the number of elephants in Africa?
Habitat loss and poaching.

2. How will experts prevent the animals from hurting others or themselves as they are being moved?
They will drug the elephants to make them calmer.

3. True or false? The elephants are being moved to a new reserve because they might find more food there.
True. If the park where the elephants are now is overcrowded there might not be enough food for all the elephants there. The new reserve might have more food among other things. 

4. What does the reporter mean by 'man-made migration'?
He means that the move from one park to another – the migration – is not initiated by the elephants themselves. The animals are going to be taken to another place by men in trucks.