VOA慢速英语:From Ancient Farmers, Lessons for Today's Amazon

South America's Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest and river system on Earth. But the Amazon is disappearing at the rate of about eight hundred thousand hectares a year. This deforestation is caused by an increase in agriculture and cattle ranching and the building of roads and dams. Another cause is the illegal cutting of trees for logging companies.
南美的亚马逊河是地球上最大的热带雨林和河流系统。但是，亚马逊河正以每年约八十余万公顷的速度消失。这种森林砍伐是由农业、牛养殖、道路和水坝建设所造成的，另一个原因是非法砍伐树木的伐木公司。

Now, a new study says ancient Amazonian farming methods could offer valuable lessons for today. The study looks at the pre-Columbian period. Christopher Columbus and other European explorers began arriving in the Americas in the late fourteen hundreds.
现在，一项新研究声称，亚马逊河流域古代的耕作方法可以为今天提供宝贵的教训。该研究着眼于前哥伦布时期。克里斯托弗•哥伦布和其他欧洲探险家于15世纪末期开始到达美洲。

The researchers studied a coastal wetland area where ancient farm beds and canals remain unchanged. The site is in French Guyana.
研究人员研究了一块远古农田和灌溉水渠保持不变的滨海湿地。该地址位于法属圭亚那。

A widely held belief is that pre-Columbian farmers used a great deal of fire to manage Amazonian ecosystems. But the scientists say their study calls this idea into question. It shows that raised-field farmers limited their burning to improve agricultural production.
一个广泛的观点是，前哥伦布时期的农民大量使用烧荒来管理亚马逊河的生态系统。但科学家们说，在他们的研究中，对此观点提出怀疑。研究表明，沟洫地种植的方式的农民限制烧荒以促进农业生产。

Jose Iriarte from the University of Exeter in England was lead author of the study. Mr. Iriarte says fire results in the loss of important nutrients for crops. When land is not being used for farming, periods without fire are most effective in rebuilding soil organic matter and preserving soil structure. "So in this sense," he says, "we interpreted that they were limiting fires because it was better to grow crops in these raised field systems."
英格兰埃克塞特大学的José Iriarte是该研究的主要作者。Iriarte先生说，烧荒的结果是导致作物非常重要的营养物资流失。当土地不再用于耕作，不烧荒期间是重建土壤有机质和保护土壤结构最有效的时期。他表示，“因此，在这个意义上说”他说，“我们理解为他们限制烧荒，因为这在这些沟洫地种植的方式种植作物能更好生长。”

He says this fire-free method by the pre-Columbian farmers helped change the seasonally flooded savanna, or grassland, into productive cropland. Raised fields provide better drainage and soil aeration and also hold moisture during the dry season.
他说，这种前哥伦布时期农民的免烧荒方法有助于把这种季节性淹没的稀树草原或草地改造成多产的农田。沟洫地种植的方式提供了更好的排水和土壤通气性，并保持住旱季时的水分。

This fire-free method of agriculture would have been labor intensive. It ended when up to ninety-five percent of the native people died from diseases brought by the Europeans. Mitchell Power is curator of the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah.
本来这种农业免烧荒方法属于劳动密集型。当欧洲移民带来的疾病导致这块土地上95%的原住民死亡后，它就消失了。Mitchell Power是美国犹他大学自然历史博物馆馆长。

MITCHELL POWER: "Once the Columbian encounter happens, we don't see that type of agriculture any more. We start to see increased burning and a shift towards dry-land farming. So people were then clearing forests and making their raised beds in the forests. And so, what we think is happening is that there was a huge demographic collapse in this region."
MITCHELL POWER：“一旦发生“哥伦比亚相遇”，我们就再也看不到这种类型的农业。我们开始看到不断增加的烧荒，以及向旱地农业的转变。因此，人们随后清理了森林，在森林中建造他们的沟洫地。所以我们目前认为，当时这一地区发生过巨大的人口崩溃。”
P.S. 长期以来，亚马逊原住民都被认为是使用火来清理热带草原和管理他们的土地，然而，这项新研究显示，事实并非如此。事实上，第一批到达的欧洲人使这块土地上火的使用大大增加，史称“哥伦比亚相遇”(Columbian Encounter)。

The European colonizers brought slash-and-burn methods of agriculture that remain a threat to the rainforest. Experts say at current rates, more than half of the Amazon's tropical rainforest could be gone by twenty-thirty.
欧洲殖民者带来的农业刀耕火种法仍然是雨林的一个威胁。专家称，按照当前的速率，超过一半的亚马逊热带雨林将会在2030年前消失。