VOA慢速英语:Giraffes Facing ‘Silent Disappearance’ in Africa, Report Says(翻译)

The number of giraffes has dropped by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s, says a new report on endangered species.
一份新的关于濒危物种的报告称，自20世纪80年代以来，长颈鹿的数量已经下降了百分之四十。

The Red List is a study of threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.The group now considers the giraffe “vulnerable” to extinction for the first time.Earlier, it had a rating of “least concern.”
红色名录是国际自然保护联盟对濒危物种的一项研究。该组织认为长颈鹿目前第一次成为“易危物种”。而早些时候，它的评级还是“最低关注度”。

The giraffe is the tallest animal on land.These beautiful creatures are one of the best-known species in Africa.They are known for their very long necks, long legs and the brown and white patterns that cover their bodies.
长颈鹿是陆地上最高的动物。这些美丽的生物是非洲最著名的物种之一。他们以其长脖子，长腿和身上的棕白花纹著称。

Craig Hilton-Taylor is head of the Red List program.He says in 1985, there were between 152,000 and 163,000 giraffes.But now, he tells VOA, their numbers have fallen to about 98,000.
克雷格·希尔顿 - 泰勒是红色名录计划的负责人。他说，1985年，长颈鹿的数量处于152,000和163,000之间。但现在，他告诉美国之音，这个数字已经下降到98,000左右。

“It is a huge tragedy and it’s been sort of a silent disappearance that we just really hadn’t detected until now.”
“这是一个巨大的悲剧，长颈鹿正在无声地消失着，只是我们目前没有检测到而已。

Fifty years ago, groups of giraffes usually had 20 to 30 animals in them.Now, observers are only seeing six animals in a group, called a herd.
五十年前，一个长颈鹿群体通常有20到30只长颈鹿。而现在，观察员在一个群体中只看到6只长颈鹿，只是一个小小的群体。

The Red List experts have been gathering information about giraffes over the last five years.They counted the animals from airplanes, land vehicles and on foot.They say that until now the disappearance of the animals had not been observed closely.One reason could be because giraffes live in a wide area across Africa.
红色名录的专家在过去五年里一直收集有关长颈鹿的信息。他们通过搭乘飞机，车辆或者步行来计算长颈鹿的数量。他们说，直到现在，没有密切观察到长颈鹿的消失。一个原因可能是因为长颈鹿在非洲分布得非常广泛。

What is causing this decrease?Hilton-Taylor says: humans.
是什么正在导致长颈鹿的减少？希尔顿 - 泰勒说：人类。

“The reasons are all due to the impact of people, whether it’s people causing loss of habitat for the species,hunting of the species for food or harvesting for medicine, medicinal purposes, or for timber.”
“原因都是由于人们造成的影响，无论是物种栖息地丧失，还是猎捕动物作为食物或摘取植物作为药物，出于药用目的，或是得到木材。

He says pollution and the effects of climate change are just a few of the other problems affecting the species.
他说污染和气候变化只是影响这些动物生存的次要原因而已。

Some people are moving into protected areas where giraffes and other animals live because of a lack of rain that affects food production.Sometimes the graceful, plant-eating animals are killed for their meat.
由于当地降雨减少，影响了粮食生产，人们正在搬进长颈鹿和其他动物的保护区生活。但这种性格温和的食草动物却遭到人们的捕杀，人们猎杀长颈鹿来吃他们的肉。

Also, civil wars and unrest in Africa make it more difficult to protect the animals.It is harder to do conservation work—to protect the animals in danger—in areas of armed conflict.
此外，非洲的内战和动乱使得动物保护变得更加困难。在武装冲突地区，濒危动物的保护工作更加难以进行。

“So tackling the giraffe issue is not just purely about conservation of the species,it’s also about dealing with governments, about political control, about people’s rights and resources, access to resources,so it’s quite a complex set of things you have to address.”
“所以要解决长颈鹿的问题不仅仅只是进行物种保护，还需要与政府协商，这事关政治控制、人民权利、生存资源以及资源的获取，因此这是一个非常复杂但必须要解决的事情。”

Hilton-Taylor says the fact the giraffe is now listed as vulnerable means that it has “a high risk of going extinct in the wild unless we do something about it.”
希尔顿 - 泰勒说，长颈鹿现在被列为易危物种，这意味着“除非我们采取行动，否则长颈鹿存在着在野外灭绝的高风险。”

But, he says giraffes can be helped.
但是，泰勒表示长颈鹿可以得到我们的帮助。

“It’s not too late, we can turn things around.We know in parts of Africa giraffes are doing well some of the populations are increasing in size,so we can see what is being done in those areas.”
“现在还为时不晚，我们还可以采取行动。我们知道，长颈鹿在非洲的一些地方生活得很好，而且有些规模还越来越大，所以我们可以学习这些地方的做法。”

Some of the ideas that work include community involvement and tourism.Tourism, for example, provides jobs for local residents.
一些可取的办法包括让当地居民参与进来、发展旅游业。例如，旅游业可以为当地居民提供就业机会。

He also says there needs to be a giraffe action plan put in place to observe and survey the animals across the continent of Africa.
泰勒还说，需要实施一个长颈鹿行动计划，来对非洲大陆动物进行观察和调查。

Hilton-Taylor adds that finding answers to the problems people face,like drought linked to climate change, food shortages and civil unrest, also will provide answers to help giraffes.
他补充道，如果可以找到解决人们目前面临的问题的方法，如气候变化引起的干旱，粮食短缺和内乱，那么也将会为长颈鹿保护问题提供解决方案。

The Red List is considered an important source of information about risks to both animals and plants.The program says 24,307 of the 85,604 species of animals and plants it studied were in danger of extinction.
红色名录是动植物生存风险的重要信息来源。该组织称，目前研究的85,604种动植物中有24,307种处于灭绝的危险之中。

I’m Anne Ball.
我是安妮·鲍尔。