實(shí)戰(zhàn)口語情景對話：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：所以你們的問題是負(fù)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.

蕾切爾：準(zhǔn)確的說是農(nóng)場里的兔子。森林里的野鹿和野豬也造成了很多損害，流浪貓和流浪狗也吃掉了大量本土物種。現(xiàn)在新西蘭沒有本土動(dòng)物。新西蘭唯一的本土哺乳動(dòng)物是海豚和蝙蝠，除了老鷹以外，這些動(dòng)物沒有天敵。所以，許多鳥類失去了飛翔能力，它們在地上筑巢，因此極易受到貓和狗等天敵的攻擊。它們幾乎吃掉了大部分鳥類物種，這也是新西蘭的獵人可以隨意獵殺他們能找到的任何動(dòng)物的原因，因?yàn)檫@些動(dòng)物對自然環(huán)境具有極強(qiáng)的破壞性。

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，我看到過一個(gè)新聞，新西蘭開展了一項(xiàng)行動(dòng)，計(jì)劃在某一年之前消滅捕食者，這在新西蘭是一項(xiàng)新舉措。

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

蕾切爾：我沒聽說過這項(xiàng)行動(dòng)，不過我并不驚訝。我想那一直是新西蘭的目標(biāo)。

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：我想我是在新聞中看到的這則消息。我要確認(rèn)一下，我記的不太清楚，應(yīng)該是新西蘭政府計(jì)劃在2050年前消滅捕食者。

Rachel: That would be amazing.

蕾切爾：那太令人吃驚了。

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

托德：政府說主要目標(biāo)是狗和貓。這是關(guān)鍵所在。

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.

蕾切爾：他們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)開始采取更嚴(yán)格的手段控制貓和狗了。確保貓呆在室內(nèi)，給狗狗拴上狗繩，這樣它們就不會(huì)跑進(jìn)灌木叢里，不會(huì)造成很多問題。

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：我認(rèn)為狗狗可能更易馴化，適合家養(yǎng)。它們可能沒有那么危險(xiǎn)，但是貓……它們沒有那么戀家。它們?nèi)允翘焐墨C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.

蕾切爾：對，我們讓貓跟我們一起捕措，比如老鼠等害蟲。貓和我們生活在一起，它們會(huì)抓很多鳥，而那些不能飛、在地上筑巢的鳥，很容易被狗狗殺死。

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

托德：哦，我明白了。狗狗有時(shí)可能也很淘氣。

Rachel: Heck yes. They run off.

蕾切爾：淘氣。然后它們就會(huì)跑開。

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?你認(rèn)為新西蘭能實(shí)現(xiàn)在2050年前消滅捕食者這一目標(biāo)嗎?

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.

蕾切爾：這聽起來極具挑戰(zhàn)性。我認(rèn)為目前，只有幾個(gè)近海島嶼完全沒有有害生物。當(dāng)然，沒有捕食者和沒有有害生物還不完全一樣，因?yàn)橛泻ι镞€包括兔子、負(fù)鼠和鹿等不吃本土物種的動(dòng)物，所以我認(rèn)為消滅捕食者這一目標(biāo)可能更易實(shí)現(xiàn)。