|
各位同学，众所周知，生物入侵是每个国家都头疼的事情，当外地生物突然造访，会对原本稳定和谐的生物圈造成严重灾害。比如我们国家的外来物种“清道夫”，因为繁殖力强，能在臭水沟中生活，在我国很多地方已经泛滥。今天贸学长带着大家看一下英国目前的外来生物入侵情况。
原文导读（上） Lords of the skies
Phil Hyde was walking in Norfolk in 1979, feeling rather disconsolate after missing a rare rose-coloured starling, when a little egret suddenly appeared, to excited shouts from other birders. The white, heron-like bird was then highly unusual: the British Birds Rarities Committee tallied just 14 in the whole year. But that soon changed. In 1991 the committee stopped recording little egrets because they had become too common. These days, in parts of England, you can see 14 little egrets without moving your feet. Britons care a good deal about wild birds. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has 1.1m members, more than all political parties put together; almost 700,000 people take part in its annual garden birdwatch. In some ways it is a gloomy enthusiasm. The populations of many bird species, especially those found on farmland, have crashed over the past few decades. But there are a few startling exceptions which reveal as much about Britain as the country’s avian failures do.
Immigrants are the biggest winners, in proportionate terms. Little egrets arrived of their own accord from France and have spread through Britain. Red kites were carefully reintroduced to southern England from 1990. Like little egrets, since the mid-1990s their numbers have risen by 20 times or more. Ring-necked parakeets probably escaped from cages and started breeding. Their population has risen similarly. Some other species that have become more common in Britain, such as blackcaps and chiffchaffs, have stopped migrating south in winter, says David Noble of the British Trust for Ornithology, a charity.
Mr Hyde says that birders have welcomed little egrets as new additions to Britain’s avifauna. “It helps that they are beautiful,” adds Mr Noble. But then, so are other species. Red kites, now a whistling, fork-tailed fixture of southern skies, are a rich reddish-brown. Ring-necked parakeets are shockingly green, with red beaks.
Britons have their doubts about both. Last summer the residents of Henleyon-Thames, in Oxfordshire, wrote to their local newspaper with accounts of kites stealing food out of people’s hands. Elsewhere, kites are said to have dropped raw meat on people’s heads and eyed up a small dog hungrily. In July Oxfordshire Live, a news website, reported that a kite had pinched a steak from a child’s plate. The boy’s grandfather commented that there are “too many of them now” and that they are “getting braver around people”.
第一段：Phil Hyde was walking in Norfolk in 1979, feeling rather disconsolate after missing a rare rose-coloured starling, when a little egret suddenly appeared, to excited shouts from other birders. The white, heron-like bird was then highly unusual: the British Birds Rarities Committee tallied just 14 in the whole year. But that soon changed. In 1991 the committee stopped recording little egrets because they had become too common. These days, in parts of England, you can see 14 little egrets without moving your feet. Britons care a good deal about wild birds. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has 1.1m members, more than all political parties put together; almost 700,000 people take part in its annual garden birdwatch. In some ways it is a gloomy enthusiasm. The populations of many bird species, especially those found on farmland, have crashed over the past few decades. But there are a few startling exceptions which reveal as much about Britain as the country’s avian failures do.
参考译文：1979年，菲尔·海德在诺福克郡散步时，错过了一只罕见的玫瑰色椋鸟，对此他感到相当沮丧。这时一只小白鹭突然出现，引起了其他鸟友的兴奋叫声。这种白色的、类似于鹭鸶的鸟在当时是极其罕见的：英国鸟类稀有性委员会全年只记录了14只。但这种情况很快就改变了。1991年，委员会停止了对小白鹭的记录，因为它们已经变得非常普遍。如今，在英格兰的部分地区，你不需要动就能看到14只小白鹭。英国人对野生鸟类非常关心。皇家鸟类保护协会有110万会员，比所有政党加起来都多；几乎有70万人参加其年度花园观鸟活动。在某些方面，这是一种阴郁的热情。在过去的几十年里，许多鸟类的数量已经达到上限，特别是那些在农田里发现的鸟类。但也有一些令人震惊的例外，这些例外与英国的鸟类管理失败一样揭示了英国的情况。
知识点解读：
1.Rather:做形容词时表示“相当的”，例如，“Her new glasses make her look rather owlish. 她着新眼镜看上去很文气。”常可以跟“quite”替换，例如，“The sky is quite blue and cloudless.蔚蓝天空晴朗无云。”“quite”常见的搭配有如下：
quite a number/lot of：相当多，例如，“There is quite a number of things happened in this way in your life, it depends on your attitude to make one thing worth to do or not.人生中确实有许多时候是这样：一件事是否值得去做取决于你如何看待它。”
quite another：另一回事；完全不同的，例如，“To say is one thing; to do is quite another.说是一回事，做完全是另一回事。”
quite an event：大事，重大的事情，例如，“Meeting you was quite an event in her life.认识你是她一生中的一件大事。”
“rather”常考的搭配有如下：
or rather：更准确地说，或者说，例如，“The subway was delayed for quite a while, or rather for a whole quarter of an hour. 地铁阻塞了好一阵子，确切地说，有整整一刻钟霎时间。”
rather too ：稍嫌…一点，例如，“The train was rather too crowded for a comfortable journey.火车太拥挤，旅程不舒服。”
2.disconsolate：形容人时表示“郁郁寡欢的”，例如，“It was a weary, disconsolate Tom who returned home to spend a week serving the regular customers for Massa Murray.汤姆回家一个星期为默里老爷的老顾客干活时显得疲惫不堪、郁郁不欢。”形容事情时表示“惨淡的，暗淡的”，常见的表达有“the disconsolate future 前途渺茫”（相反的表达为“a promising future 前途光明”）
3.miss：作动词时可以表示“错过”，此时有一个很地道的表达为“miss the boat错失良机”，相当于“miss an opportunity”例如，“Here comes the chance, you should take advantage of it. Don't miss the boat. 机会来了，你应该好好利用.不要错失良机。”此外还要区分“missed”和“missing”，作形容词时前者表示“错过的”，后者表示“丢失的、失踪的”。
4.common：多用于物，侧重很常见，不稀奇，形容人时是中性词，例如，“common sense 常识”、“common prosperity 同繁荣”和“common people 大众，平民（正常人）”。我们要注意区分“common”和“ordinary”，指物时，“ordinary”表示“每天发生，十分平淡奇”，形容人时是贬义词，指“无特别之处，很一般”，类似于中文说的“平庸之辈”，带有感情色彩。
5.care a good deal about：十分关心、十分在乎。
6.gloomy：形容人时表示“心情忧郁”活着“为人悲观的”，例如，“In such an apprehensive and gloomy mood, Lu Xun is heavily affected in the mode of behavior, emotion and thinking. 在强烈的焦虑、抑郁中，鲁迅的行为方式、情感方式乃至思维方式均受很大影响，甚至一度出现心理障碍。”形容事情时，表示“令人沮丧的、前途黯淡的”，例如，“With the gloomy prospect of returning to work, many people could suffer post-holiday syndrome, experts said.一想到又要回到单调的上班生活，这种惨淡前景让许多人都患上假后综合症。”
Exception：例外，“破例”的表达为“make an exception”。
第二段：Immigrants are the biggest winners, in proportionate terms. Little egrets arrived of their own accord from France and have spread through Britain. Red kites were carefully reintroduced to southern England from 1990. Like little egrets, since the mid-1990s their numbers have risen by 20 times or more. Ring-necked parakeets probably escaped from cages and started breeding. Their population has risen similarly. Some other species that have become more common in Britain, such as blackcaps and chiffchaffs, have stopped migrating south in winter, says David Noble of the British Trust for Ornithology, a charity.
参考译文：按比例来说，外来鸟类是最大的赢家。小白鹭自发从法国迁入英国，并在英国境内泛滥。从1990年开始，红鸢被谨慎地重新引入英格兰南部。和小白鹭一样，自1990年代中期以来，它们的数量增加了20倍甚至更多。环颈鹦鹉可能从笼子里逃出来并开始繁殖。它们的数量也有类似的上升。英国鸟类学基金会（British Trust for Ornithology）的大卫-诺布尔（David Noble）说，其他一些在英国变得更加普遍的鸟类，如黑帽和红嘴鸥，冬季已不再向南迁移。
知识点解读：
1.Immigrant：外来移民（移入），例如，“He was an immigrant boy who went from rags to riches and became chairman of his own company, owning dozens of shops throughout the country.他曾是一个移民孩子，由贫至富，成为公司的董事长，并在全国各地拥有几十家商店。”学弟学妹们要区分“immigrant”和“emigrant”、“migrant”:
emigrant:同样指“移民”，但是是指“移居外国（地）的人（移出）”，例如，“The emigrant found his livelihood almost immediately on arrival.这些移民一到就能找到生计。”
Migrant：“移民”的统称，常指为工作移居的人和迁徙动物，例如，“
The job situation in China is grim, so effective measures must be taken to help new graduates, migrant workers or other groups, he said.中国的就业形势比较严峻，所以必须采取有效的措施来帮助毕业生，外来务工人员或其他团体。”
2.of one’s own accord:自愿地，例如，“Police are hoping that the person of interest surrenders of his own accord. 警方希望涉案人员主动自首。”
3.Introduce：作动词有“引入、引进”的意思，学弟学妹要区分“introduce”和“import”这两个词，它们虽然都可以作为“引进、进口”使用，但是“introduce”一般是引进“外来物种（生物）”、“制度”和“技术”，例如，“Chios is said to have introduced slavery into Greece.据说是希俄斯把奴隶制引入希腊的。”但是“import”一般是进口“商品”、“货物”，例如，“Homemade goods are edging out imported foreign goods.国产货正逐步取代进货物。”其对应的反义词为“export”，意为出口。
escaped from：逃离，躲开，例如，“A convict escaped from prison and shook off the policemen trying to follow him.一个囚犯越狱并摆脱了警察的追踪。”有个地道的表达为“a narrow escape”，意为“死里逃生”，例如，“She had a narrow escape from the serious disease.她侥幸从那次疾病中活了下来。”
第三段：Mr Hyde says that birders have welcomed little egrets as new additions to Britain’s avifauna. “It helps that they are beautiful,” adds Mr Noble. But then, so are other species. Red kites, now a whistling, fork-tailed fixture of southern skies, are a rich reddish-brown. Ring-necked parakeets are shockingly green, with red beaks.
参考译文：海德先生说，观鸟者欢迎小白鹭成为英国鸟类动物群的新成员。“它们长得很好看，让我们的城市更美观，”诺布尔先生补充道。但是，其他鸟类也是如此。 鸢鹰如今常活跃于英国南部的天空，声音如哨，尾巴开叉，呈现出一种浓郁的红褐色。环颈鹦鹉颜色绿得惊人，喙却是红色的。
知识点解读：
1.welcome sb/sth as：欢迎某人/某物作为……加入/到来，例如，“We welcome Ms. Wang to join us as a new member of the association. We welcome Ms. Wang to join us as a new member of the association.”
2.It helps that：在写作中表达某项措施的好处、意义时，可以用上这个表达，虽然很简单，但是表达很地道。
3.shockingly：原文关于“令人震惊地”有很多个表达，具体如下，大家可以好好积累下：surprisingly, stunningly，alarmingly, startlingly.
第四段：Britons have their doubts about both. Last summer the residents of Henleyon-Thames, in Oxfordshire, wrote to their local newspaper with accounts of kites stealing food out of people’s hands. Elsewhere, kites are said to have dropped raw meat on people’s heads and eyed up a small dog hungrily. In July Oxfordshire Live, a news website, reported that a kite had pinched a steak from a child’s plate. The boy’s grandfather commented that there are “too many of them now” and that they are “getting braver around people”.
参考译文：英国人对这两种鸟类都心存疑虑。 去年夏天，牛津郡的居民给当地报社投稿，称鸢鹰从人们手中偷走食物。 在其他地方，据说鸢鹰将生肉丢在人们的头上，并饥肠辘辘地盯着一只小狗。 7 月，新闻网站 Oxfordshire Live 报道说，一只鸢鹰从一个孩子的盘子里抓了一块牛排。 男孩的祖父评论说，“现在鸢鹰的数量太多了”，而且他们“在人群周围变得越来越肆意妄为”。
知识点解读：
1.resident：居民（人或动物都可以）、住户，常见的表达有“permanent resident 永久居民”，例如，“On attaining the age of 21 years, the person will cease to be a permanent resident of the HKSAR.该人士在年满21岁时，即不再是香港特区永久性居民。”还有“local resident 当地居民”和“urban/rural resident 城镇居民/农民”。
2.steal：偷，常见的用法为“steal sth from ab”或者“steal sth out of place”，表示“偷、抢、骗、欺诈”这类词的用法一般都是如此，比如说“con 骗”，“They've conned me out of all my money.他们骗走了我所有的钱。”
3.raw meat:生肉。“raw”除了可以表示“生的”，还可以表示“未加工的”，例如，“raw materials原料 （对应的反义词为“finished products” 成品）”和“raw water 未净化的水”。
4.eyed up：盯着，例如，“Men eyed up prize cows; women sneaked open jewellery boxes.男子在盯着最好的牛，女人则偷偷打开了珠宝盒。”
Pinch：关于这个词有个地道的表达为“pinch pennies”，意为“一毛不拔，铁公鸡，精打细算”，例如，“We 'll have to spend money when necessary . Don't try to pinch pennies all the time.该花钱时我们还是得花。别总是精打细算。”
| 
