美語情景對話 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.

託德：所以你們的問題是負鼠和兔子。

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：準確的說是農場裏的兔子。森林裏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。現在新西蘭沒有本土動物。新西蘭唯一的本土哺乳動物是海豚和蝙蝠，除了老鷹以外，這些動物沒有天敵。所以，許多鳥類失去了飛翔能力，它們在地上築巢，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物的原因，因爲這些動物對自然環境具有極強的破壞性。

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.

託德：嗯，我看到過一個新聞，新西蘭開展了一項行動，計劃在某一年之前消滅捕食者，這在新西蘭是一項新舉措。

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

蕾切爾：我沒聽說過這項行動，不過我並不驚訝。我想那一直是新西蘭的目標。

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.

託德：我想我是在新聞中看到的這則消息。我要確認一下，我記的不太清楚，應該是新西蘭政府計劃在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.

託德：政府說主要目標是狗和貓。這是關鍵所在。

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：他們現在已經開始採取更嚴格的手段控制貓和狗了。確保貓呆在室內，給狗狗拴上狗繩，這樣它們就不會跑進灌木叢裏，不會造成很多問題。

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.

託德：我認爲狗狗可能更易馴化，適合家養。它們可能沒有那麼危險，但是貓……它們沒有那麼戀家。它們仍是天生的獵人。

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，它們會抓很多鳥，而那些不能飛、在地上築巢的鳥，很容易被狗狗殺死。

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

託德：哦，我明白了。狗狗有時可能也很淘氣。

Rachel: Heck yes. They run off.

蕾切爾：淘氣。然後它們就會跑開。

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

託德：你怎麼看？你認爲新西蘭能實現在2050年前消滅捕食者這一目標嗎？

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：這聽起來極具挑戰性。我認爲目前，只有幾個近海島嶼完全沒有有害生物。當然，沒有捕食者和沒有有害生物還不完全一樣，因爲有害生物還包括兔子、負鼠和鹿等不吃本土物種的動物，所以我認爲消滅捕食者這一目標可能更易實現。

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重點講解：
1. except for 除了；除…之外；唯有；
I sold everything I owned except for my car and my books.
我把我所有的東西都賣掉了，只剩下汽車和書。
2. be vulnerable to 易受傷害的；易受影響的；
And people in poor health will be more vulnerable to the virus.
而健康狀況不良的人們將更容易被流感病毒所侵襲。
3. run off 跑掉；
Two guys took fright and run off in different directions.
兩個男子急急惶惶朝不同的方向跑掉了。
4. the same as 與…相似；與…一樣；
The landscape is just the same as before.
風景依舊。