VOA慢速英語: 全球變暖、人口增長和無限制開發(fā)威脅非洲物種（雙語）

全球變暖、人口增長和無限制的開發(fā)威脅非洲物種

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農(nóng)業(yè)報道。

Climate researchers met recently in Cameroon to talk about threats to Africa's land and animals. They said they believe the continent may lose as much as 30 percent of its animal and plant species by the end of this century. They blame the expected losses on the warming of earth, population growth and unrestricted development.

最近氣候研究人員在喀麥隆會面商討非洲的土地和動物所面臨的威脅。他們認(rèn)為到本世紀(jì)末，非洲大陸可能會失去30%多的動植物物種。他們認(rèn)為這種預(yù)期的損失是由全球變暖、人口增長和無限制的開發(fā)所帶來的。

The researchers represent 20 African, American and European universities. They say countries south of the Saharan desert are losing forest faster than any place on earth. Wood companies are cutting down trees to meet growing demand from China, Europe and the United States.

這些研究者代表著非洲、美洲和歐洲的20所大學(xué)，他們稱，撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲國家失去森林的速度比地球上的任何地方都要快。木材公司大量砍伐樹木以用來銷往中國、歐洲和美國，來滿足其不斷增長的需求。

The population is growing at 3 percent per year. There are now homes, factories and farms on land that once was forest. Many African animals and plants no longer have a place to live as result. Climate change also continues to threaten species.

非洲人口以每年3%的速度在增長，曾經(jīng)滿是森林的土地上，現(xiàn)在都是住宅、工廠和農(nóng)場。這就導(dǎo)致非洲許多的動植物再沒有地方生存，氣候變化也一直威脅著物種。

Thomas Smith is the director of the Center for Tropical Research at the University of California.

托馬斯·史密斯是美國加州大學(xué)的熱帶研究中心的主任。

"With a 1.5 degree rise in global temperature, Africa may lose 30 percent of its animals and plants. And unfortunately with the increase in CO2 that has been now estimated to be up to three degrees in terms of rising global temperatures -- that means we may lose 40 percent of all mammal species in Africa by the end of the century," said Smith.

史密斯說：“全球氣溫每上升1.5度，非洲可能會失去30%的動植物。而不幸的是，隨著二氧化碳的增加，現(xiàn)在全球氣溫預(yù)計將會上升3度，這就意味著到本世紀(jì)末，非洲可能會失去其所有哺乳動物中的40%。”

The African chimpanzee is one such animal at risk. Mary Katherine Gonder is a professor in the Department of Biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

非洲黑猩猩就是處于危險中的動物之一，瑪麗·凱瑟琳·貢德爾是賓尼法尼亞州費城德雷賽爾大學(xué)的生物系的教授。

She studies chimpanzees in the Congo Basin. She says the forest home is disappearing. She also says hunters continue to kill the animals to sell as food.

她在剛果盆地研究黑猩猩，她稱，森林家園正在消失。并稱，獵人仍在捕獵動物用于出售。

"What will happen over the next 20 years, the distribution of those chimpanzees will change. Their habitat will change fundamentally and they will no longer be around. So it is a real threat. The habitat for those chimpanzees will be gone," said Gonder.

貢德爾說：“在未來二十年將會發(fā)生什么，黑猩猩的分布將會發(fā)生改變，它們的棲息地將會發(fā)生徹底改變，它們也將會消失。所以，這真的是一個威脅。這些黑猩猩的棲息地都將會消失。”

Thomas Smith of the University of California says it's possible to develop Africa and care for the environment at the same time.

加州大學(xué)的托馬斯·史密斯稱，在開發(fā)非洲的同時，也保護環(huán)境是可以做到的。

"With these enormous challenges, we need to develop green economies. We need to make sure that the development we do is sustainable. For example, we are working with parties here to develop new ways of providing green jobs, for example areas that you can preserve, [like] forests, and at the same time produce crops that are appropriate for people to sell and to eat. So we need to be thinking about how to preserve the natural processes and at the same time provide for the economic needs of the country," said Smith.

史密斯說：“因為面臨這些巨大挑戰(zhàn)，所以我們必須要發(fā)展綠色經(jīng)濟。我們必須要確保我們所進行的開發(fā)具有可持續(xù)性。例如，我們正在同這里的各方合作，來開發(fā)新途徑，來提供綠色就業(yè)，例如保護區(qū)，像森林保護區(qū)。與此同時，要生產(chǎn)出適合人們銷售和食用的農(nóng)作物。所以我們需要思考如何保護這一自然過程，并與此同時滿足該國經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的需求。”

The Congo Basin area of western and central Africa has the second largest equatorial rain forest in the world. It is important to lives of millions of people.

非洲中西部地區(qū)的剛果盆地?fù)碛惺澜缟系诙蟮某嗟烙炅?，該地區(qū)對數(shù)百萬人的生活非常重要

And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. I'm Caty Weaver.

這就是本期的美國之音慢速英語農(nóng)業(yè)報道的全部內(nèi)容，我是卡蒂·韋弗。