实战口语情景对话 第1075期:In the Tropics 热带地区

Aimee: So Paul, what's the most memorable job experience that you have?
艾米：保罗，你从事过的工作中哪个是令你最难忘的？

Paul: Hmm, well, I think the most memorable one is the volunteering time that I spent in Australia. And I was up in the northeastern corner where there's a relatively small rainforest's. And I was helping with a research station that's located in the rainforest. So we do a range of different things, going from trying to control coconuts—coconut trees.
保罗：嗯，我想令我最难忘的工作是我在澳大利亚担任的志愿者工作。当时我前往澳大利亚东北角一个相对较小的热带雨林。我在那个热带雨林为一个研究站提供帮助。我们做了很多事，其中包括控制椰树。

Aimee: Control?
艾米：控制？

Paul: Yeah, because, like, believe it or not, you imagine this kind of tropical paradises to have coconut trees but they're actually very invasive and they're not native to that area. And basically, if you let a population of coconut trees to go out of control, nothing else can grow.
保罗：对，不管你信不信，你可能认为这种有椰树的地方是热带天堂，但其实这些椰树会造成侵害，而且椰树并不是当地的本土植物。如果大量椰树不受控制地生长，那就会导致其他植物无法生长。

Aimee: Oh.
艾米：哦。

Paul: They drop their fronds, and they drop, obviously, the coconuts, and nothing else can grow. So you basically lose a lot of the native species there. So we're trying to keep them under control. There was also caring for bats that had been orphaned.
保罗：椰树会长树叶和椰子，这会导致其他植物无法生长。然后进一步导致该地区本土物种流失。我们要尽力去控制。另外，我们还会救助蝙蝠孤儿。

Aimee: Bats?
艾米：蝙蝠？

Paul: Sometimes they're born with physical disabilities that mean they can't survive in the wild.
保罗：有些蝙蝠甚至有身体残疾，这使它们无法在野外生存下去。

Aimee: Like a sanctuary then.
艾米：你们会为它们提供庇护所。

Paul: Yes. Just like a sanctuary, yeah. So they take care of—
保罗：对。我们会提供类似庇护所的地方。然后照顾它们。

Aimee: What size of bats, like any other—
艾米：那些蝙蝠有多大？就像一般的蝙蝠那么大吗？

Paul: Fruit bats.
保罗：是果蝠。

Aimee: What size are they?
艾米：它们有多大？

Paul: They're pretty, like, once they spread—they're like little monkeys with big wings.
保罗：它们非常大，如果它们把翅膀张开，它们就像长了翅膀的小猴子。

Aimee: Yeah. So what's their wing span then?
艾米：嗯，它们的翼展有多长？

Paul: Let's say, maybe, I guess up to probably 4 feet. Does that sound too much?
保罗：我想想，大概有四英尺。听起来是不是太长了？

Aimee: So about a meter?
艾米：大约一米长？

Paul: Yeah. Some of the big dudes, they got huge wingspan.
保罗：对。有些大蝙蝠的翼展非常长。

Aimee: Oh, the only bats I've seen in real life are really tiny. They're just like mice.
艾米：哦，我在现实生活中看到的蝙蝠都非常小。就像小老鼠一样。

Paul: Oh, the micro-bats.
保罗：哦，微型蝙蝠。

Aimee: They're like little birds, you know. You see them flying around and you think, "Oh that's birds." No, they're bats. So these guys sound pretty big.
艾米：它们就像小鸟一样。如果你看到它们在你旁边飞，你会想“哦，那是鸟”。但是其实不是，那是蝙蝠。而你照顾的蝙蝠听起来非常大。

Paul: Hmm, but they're completely like omnivorous. They only eat fruit, so like, they really—
保罗：嗯，它们非常像杂食动物。它们只吃水果。

Aimee: Do they eat the coconuts?
艾米：它们吃椰子吗？

Paul: Well, the coconuts are kind of tough for them to get into. You need to be able to make a hole, I suppose, to get that.
保罗：对它们来说，椰子很难吃到。因为你要在椰子上弄个洞，然后才能吃到。

Aimee: Of course, yeah.
艾米：当然了。

Paul: But they eat all, mostly like fleshy fruits; apples or whatever they can get really—berries. They're really important for spreading—because obviously they eat the flesh of the fruit but they don't eat the seeds. So they just kind of pass through them and they're really useful for dispersing seeds. So rainforest regeneration, they're very important animals.
保罗：它们通常以多肉的水果为食，比如苹果或是浆果等它们能吃到的水果。这些蝙蝠为种子的散播做出了重要贡献，因为它们只吃果肉，但是不吃种子。所以它们会把种子排出体外，这非常利于散播种子。可以说，对热带雨林的再生来说，它们是非常重要的动物。

Aimee: So they're like the big bumble bees of the rain forest, then.
艾米：它们就像热带雨林的大黄蜂。

Paul: Yeah. I guess you could look at it like that, yeah. So yeah, that was an interesting volunteering kind of odd job that I had, I suppose.
保罗：对。我认为可以这样看。我想这是我做过的既有趣又特别的志愿工作。

Aimee: Yeah. Essentially yet really cool.
艾米：嗯。而且还非常酷。

Paul: I really like to go back there someday.
保罗：我非常希望有一天能再回到那里去。