Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Beth. Neil, do you remember the children's television show, Lassie?
大家好,这里是BBC六分钟英语。我是尼尔,我是贝丝。尼尔,你还记得儿童电视节目《灵犬莱西》吗?
Oh yes, of course. The show's hero was a dog named Lassie. And Lassie went round helping people in trouble.
哦,当然记得。这部剧的主人公是一只名叫莱西的狗。莱西四处帮助陷入困境的人类。
Yes. Well, if you watched Lassie as a child, you might also remember the TV shows, Flipper the Dolphin, and Skippy the Kangaroo.
是的。如果你小时候看过《灵犬莱西》,你可能还记得《海豚弗利珀》和《袋鼠斯基皮》这两部电视剧。
The stars of these shows were animals who would also come to the rescue of humans in trouble.
这些节目的主角都是动物,它们也会帮助陷入困境的人类。
In this programme, we'll be discussing some real-life animals helping people in trouble.
在本期节目中,我们将讨论一些现实生活中的动物如何帮助陷入困境的人类。
It might sound strange, but we'll be hearing how cows are helping to stop fires in Spain!
听起来可能有点奇怪,但我们将听到奶牛是如何帮助西班牙扑火的!
Well, now I have a picture in my head of a cow wearing a fireman's helmet, but I guess that's not what you mean, Neil.
现在我脑子里浮现出一头戴着消防员头盔的奶牛的画面,但我想这不是你的意思,尼尔。
Not quite, Beth, but you're right about the fires, or wildfires to be exact. Wildfires are unplanned fires, in areas like forests or grasslands, which spread out of control. They often happen in hot dry countries like Spain.
不完全是,贝丝,但你说的火灾是对的,确切地说是野火。野火是指在森林或草原等地区发生的、不受控制蔓延的意外火灾。它们经常发生在像西班牙这样炎热干燥的国家。
So, how could cows help? We'll be finding out and learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
那么奶牛能帮上什么忙呢?我们也会去寻找答案,并学习一些有用的新词汇。
And remember, if you like to read along as you listen to the programme, you'll find a script on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
记住,如果你喜欢边听节目边阅读,你可以在我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com 上找到脚本。
But now I have a question for you, Beth. Some wildfires are caused naturally, but most are the result of human activity.
贝丝,现在我有个问题想问你。有些野火是自然引起的,但大多数是人类活动造成的。
So, according to the Natural History Museum of Utah, what proportion of wildfires is caused by people? Is it: a) two out of every five, b) three out of every five, c) four out of every five?
那么,根据犹他州自然历史博物馆的数据,有多少比例的野火是由人为造成的?是五分之二,五分之三,还是五分之四?
I'm going to guess three out of every five, I think. Let's find out at the end of the programme.
我猜是每五起火灾中有三起。节目结束时我们来揭晓答案吧。
Thanks to increasing temperatures caused by climate change, the wildfires happening today are more intense and more destructive than ever before.
由于气候变化导致气温升高,如今发生的山火比以往任何时候都更加猛烈,破坏力也更大。
Here, Craig Langran, reporter for BBC World Service programme, People Fixing the World, discusses the problem with Pablo Schapira, of Rewilding Spain, an organisation combating wildfires in central Spain:
BBC世界服务节目People Fixing the World的记者克雷格·兰格兰与西班牙中部致力于防治山火的组织“Rewilding Spain”的巴勃罗·夏皮拉探讨了这个问题:
One of the reasons for this is that the forests have been left to grow unchecked as there simply aren't enough animals to feed on all the trees, bushes and grass. And the more dense this vegetation is, the more likely it is to catch fire.
造成这种情况的原因之一是森林被放任自流,因为根本没有足够的动物来吃掉所有的树木、灌木和草地。而植被越茂密,就越容易着火。
What we had before in our ecosystems here in Europe is that we had big grazers: we had bison, we had tauros, we had wild horses.
以前,我们欧洲的生态系统里有大型食草动物:野牛、牛、野马。
And now they are gone from the ecosystem because of extinction, domestication.
而现在,由于灭绝和驯化,它们已经从生态系统中消失了。
Many European forests have grown unchecked. If something is left unchecked, nobody controls it or prevents it from increasing.
许多欧洲森林肆意生长。如果任其发展,就没有人能够控制或阻止其蔓延。
The problem is that when trees, grass and vegetation are left to grow, they're more likely to catch fire.
问题在于,树木、草类和植被任其生长,更容易着火。
Hundreds of years ago, animals known as grazers would simply have eaten this vegetation up.
几百年前,食草动物会直接吃掉这些植被。
To graze means to eat grass and other wild plants, and grazers are the animals, including horses, cows and goats, which do this.
“graze”的意思是吃草和其他野生植物,而grazers是指食草动物,包括马、牛和山羊。
In English, you can also say a person is grazing if they continually eat snacks or little bites of food.
在英语中,如果一个人不断地吃零食或小口食物,你也可以说他在graze。
But in modern times, numbers of grazing animals have declined sharply because of extinction, when a species of animal – the dinosaurs for example – no longer exist, and domestication, when wild animals are controlled by humans to work or for food.
但在现代,由于灭绝(例如恐龙等物种已不复存在)和驯化(野生动物被人类控制以用于劳作或食用),食草动物的数量急剧减少。
And as numbers of grazing wild animals decrease, forest and grasslands continue to grow unchecked, leading to the large wildfires which now regularly happen in Spain.
随着食草野生动物数量的减少,森林和草原继续肆意生长,导致西班牙现在经常发生大规模野火。
And that's where our four-legged friends, the cows, come to the rescue.
这时,我们的四足朋友——牛——就会来拯救我们。
Supported by Rewilding Spain, Pablo has reintroduced herds of tauros – the species of cow similar to the now-extinct wild aurochs, the ancestor of the modern domestic cow – into the forests of central Spain.
在“Rewilding Spain”组织的支持下,帕布罗将一群群tauros——类似于现已灭绝的野生欧洲野牛(现代家牛的祖先)——重新引入了西班牙中部的森林。
Here's reporter, Craig Langran, again for BBC World Service programme, People Fixing the World:
以下是记者克雷格·兰格兰为BBC世界服务节目People Fixing the World撰写的报道:
Along with the cows' voracious appetite, they trample on the vegetation, and it's that trampling that helps to open up the forest so it's not so densely packed full of flammable vegetation.
牛除了贪吃外,还会践踏植被,正是这种践踏有助于疏浚森林,使其不再像现在这样密布易燃植被。
Tauros eat everything from grass and leaves to tree branches and bark, each consuming over 30 kilos a day. Craig says the cows are voracious, or very eager for lots of food.
牛什么都吃,从草叶到树枝树皮,每头牛每天要吃掉30多公斤。克雷格说,牛非常贪吃,或者说非常渴望大量食物。
What's more, by wandering freely around the forest they trample down dead trees, reducing the amount of flammable, meaning easily burned, vegetation.
此外,它们在森林中自由漫步,踩倒枯树,减少了易燃植被的数量。
They don't wear firemen's helmets, but these four-legged, fire-fighting friends are really coming to the rescue in Spain.
他们不戴消防员的头盔,但这些四条腿的消防朋友真的来援助西班牙了。
OK. Neil, isn't it time to reveal the answer to your question? Yes. I asked you, What proportion of wildfires are caused by people? And I said, "Three out of five." Was I right?
好的。尼尔,是时候揭晓问题的答案了吗?是的。我问你,有多少比例的野火是由人为造成的?我说五分之三。我说对了吗?
I'm afraid you're wrong, Beth. The answer was c). According to the Natural History Museum of Utah, four out of every five wildfires are manmade. OK.
贝丝,恐怕你错了。答案是c)。根据犹他州自然历史博物馆的数据,五分之四的野火都是人为造成的。
Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme, starting with the adjective unchecked.
回顾一下从这期节目中学到的词汇,从形容词“unchecked”开始。
If something harmful is left unchecked, nobody controls it or prevents it from growing.
如果某种有害的东西unchecked,就没有人控制它或阻止它生长。
To graze means to eat grass and vegetation. Grazers are animals, like cows, which do this, and a person who grazes continually eats little bites of food.
graze的意思是吃草和植物。Grazers是指像牛这样的动物,它们会吃草,而graze的人则会持续不断地吃少量食物。
Extinction is when an animal species no longer exists. The dinosaurs and the wild aurochs are two examples of extinct animals.
Extinction是指某个动物物种不复存在。恐龙和野生原牛就是两个灭绝动物的例子。
Domestication is when wild animals become controlled by humans for work, food or as pets. The adjective voracious means very eager for something, especially a lot of food.
Domestication是指野生动物被人类控制,用于工作、食物或作为宠物。形容词“voracious”的意思是极其渴望某种东西,尤其是大量的食物。
And finally, if something is flammable,iteasily burns or catches fire. Once again, our six minutes are up.
最后,如果某物flammable,则表示它很容易燃烧或着火。六分钟时间又到了。
If you enjoyed this programme, why not check out the accompanying worksheet and quiz, both available at bbclearningenglish.com. Goodbye! Goodbye for now.
如果您喜欢这期节目,不妨看看配套的活页练习题和测验,它们都可以在bbclearningenglish.com上找到。再见!暂时再见。