MACQUARIE ISLAND: from Chaos to Conservation
麦夸里岛:从混乱不堪到精心保护
I am standing on Macquarie Island, in the South-west Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and Antarctica. Strong winds and stormy seas have helped sculpt its long, thin shape. The green grass and bare rock of its landscape contrast dramatically, giving it a wild and natural beauty. No visitor would think it surprising that the island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Nor would they fail to imagine how its native inhabitants including royal penguins, king penguins, and elephant seals existed in perfect harmony with their natural habitat for thousands of years.
我正站在麦夸里岛上,这里位于太平洋的西南部,澳大利亚和南极洲的中间。强风和惊涛骇浪将海岛塑成现在狭长的形状。绿草和光禿的岩石形成的景观反差巨大,使海岛呈现出一种狂野和天然的美。这座岛是联合国教科文组织确立的世界遗产,游客们都认为其名副其实。他们也不难想象出,数千年来,包括帝企鹅、王企鹅和象海豹在内的当地动物是如何与其自然栖息地完美地和谐共存的。
But the islands more recent history tells a different story. It a tragic story that began in 1810 when humans arrived on the island. In their ships they unknowingly brought rats and mice.These small animals quickly took over the island, eating the birds’ eggs and attacking baby birds. Cats were brought to the island to control the rats and mice. Unfortunately, the cats subsequently developed an appetite for the birds, too.
但是,这座岛近些年的遭遇则是截然不同的故事。悲剧从人类1810年来到这座岛屿开始。他们不经意间随船带来了大鼠和小鼠。这些小动物很快就占领了岛屿,它们吃鸟蛋并攻击幼鸟。为控制鼠患,人们带来了猫,但不幸的是,猫随后也开始以鸟为食。
Meanwhile rabbits were introduced to the island as a source of food for humans. Loose on the island, they did what rabbits do best -they multiplied rapidly and began eating the native vegetation and digging holes, which caused soil erosion. The exploding rabbit population provided plentiful food for the cats,meaning that the number of cats also increased. This in turn led to more cats hunting the birds. The end result was that parakeets once large in number and native to the island. died out in 1891.
与此同时,人们把兔子引进岛上作为食物。由于在岛上放任其生存,兔子做了自己最擅长的事一一飞快地繁殖,它们开始吃当地植被并挖洞,造成了土壤侵蚀。爆炸式增长的兔子数量给猫提供了充足的食物,这意味着猫的数量也增加了,相应地就有更多猫捕食鸟类。最终结果是,曾经数量众多的当地物种长尾小鹦鹉在1891年灭绝。
Even after Macquarie Island became an official nature reserve in the 1970s, the rabbits remained out of control. Experts felt it necessary to come up with a plan to remove all the rabbits from the island. With this goal in mind, a virus was released onto the island. But although the virus caused the rabbit population to decrease from 130.000 to around 10.000. it also meant less food for the cats. The cats in consequence turned their attention-and their stomachs -back to the native birds, killing up to 60,000 each year. In the 1980s traps and dogs were used to catch the cats. The last Macquarie Island cat was caught in 2000.
即使在20世纪70年代麦夸里岛成为官方自然保护区后,兔子仍然不受控制。专家认为,必须想办法清除岛上所有的兔子。怀着这个日标,人们投放了一种病毒到岛上。然而,虽然病毒使
得兔子的数量从130,000降到约10,000只,但这也意味着猫的食物变少了。因此,猫把注意力和胃口重新转向了当地鸟类,每年捕食多达60,000只。20世纪80年代,人们利用捕猎夹和狗来抓猫。2000年,麦夸里岛上的最后一只猫被抓。
But as the saying goes, "While the cat's away, the mice will play. " With the departure of the cats from the island, the mouse and rat population started to increase. And remember those 10,000 or so rabbits? It turned out that they developed an immunity to the virus, and their numbers exploded once again.Then, in 2006, the rabbits digging caused some land to collapse and killed a substantial number of penguins. This incident made it clear that the rat, mouse and rabbit problem needed solving once and for all.
但正如俗语所说,“山中无老虎,猴子称大王”。猫从岛上消失了,小鼠和大鼠的数量便开始增加。还记得那10,000只左右的兔子吗?它们最终对病毒产生了免疫,数量又一次激增。随后,在2006年,兔子挖的洞造成一些土地坍塌,导致大量企鹅死亡。这一事件清楚地表明,大鼠、小鼠和兔子泛溢的问题需要一次彻底的解决。
So, I am here on Macquarie Island to participate in the programme to tackle this very prob
lem. The first step involved poison being dropped from helicopters. The next step is to remove the last remaining invading species. and that’s where I come in=with my dogs. They have been trained to find every last one. without harming the native animals. This intervention is a long, much-delayed ending to a sad story, but we humans owe it to the island to give it a happy ending.
所以,正是为了解决这个问题,我来到麦夸里岛,上参与一项行动。行动的第一步利用了直升机向岛上投放毒药。下一步是清除最后残存的入侵物种,这就是我的工作了---和我的狗一起。这些狗受训去寻剩下的每一只老鼠和兔子,同时又不伤害当地动物。这次干预行动是这场悲剧漫长而屡被贻误的大结局,但这是我们人类应该做的,我们亏欠这座岛屿一个美好的结局。
Postscript高中英语课文: In 2014, Macquarie Island was declared pest-free and the island's ecology is finally on the road to recovery.
附言:2014年麦夸里岛正式宣布已无有害生物,岛上的生态环境终于走上了恢复之路
WHY SHIENNONGJIA?
为什么是神农架?
Good morning, everyone. It is my great pleasure to give a lecture here on behalf of the Be at One with Nature Association
大家早上好。我很开心能代表人与自然和谐相处协会在这里发表演讲。
As we know, in 2016, Shennongjia made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. But there are so many important places not yet on this list. So you might ask: why Shennongjia? Is it its forests that stretch on and on like great green seas? Is it the legendary father of Chinese herbal medicine, Shennong, after whom the park is named? Or is it the mysterious creature called Yeren(wild man )that has captured the imagination of the world.