《中英對照讀新聞》It’s rats vs. penguins on Chilean island 智利島上的巨鼠與企鵝大戰

《中英對照讀新聞》It’s rats vs. penguins on Chilean island 智利島上的巨鼠與企鵝大戰

2012-10-26

◎張沛元

A 3-week-old Humboldt Penguin gazes plaintively from the opening of its nest, waiting for its parents to return with food. They may be out hunting for fish. But if they take much longer, they might not have a chick to provide for.

一隻3週大的漢波德企鵝一臉哀怨地從巢穴入口處向外凝視，等著雙親帶著食物返家。親鳥也許出去捕魚了，但倘若牠們遲遲不歸，（回來時）恐怕也沒雛鳥可餵了。

Invading rats with bodies up to 8 inches （20 centimeters） long have begun eating eggs and chicks, and some experts fear that unless the rats are eradicated, they could tip the Humboldt penguin toward extinction.

體積大到8吋（20公分）長的入侵老鼠，已開始吃企鵝蛋與雛鳥，部分專家擔心，除非剷除掉這些老鼠，否則牠們可能會把漢波德企鵝推向滅絕之路。

These penguins with distinctive black bands across their chests also are threatened by changing sea currents, fierce gulls and nesting pelicans whose relatively heavy bodies collapse their shallow earthen caves. And the biggest peril has been the nets of fishing boats that trap and suffocate the adults, at least until now.

這種胸前有明顯黑色條紋橫過的企鵝，還受到海流改變、兇猛海鷗，以及在此棲息、以其相當龐大的身軀壓垮企鵝的地面淺坑巢穴的鵜鶘的威脅。而至少截至目前為止，這些企鵝的最大死因，仍是困住與勒死成年企鵝的漁船的漁網。

"The cause of the decline in the penguin population is man," said bird veterinarian Paula Arce. "And of its eggs...That could be the rats." The Humboldt population has dropped from hundreds of thousands decades ago to below 45,000, said Alejandro Simeone, who directs the Ecology and Biodiversity Department at Andres Bello University in Santiago, Chile’s capital. （AP）

「企鵝數量減少的原因是人類，」鳥類獸醫寶拉．雅克說。「至於鳥蛋…（數量減少的原因）可能是老鼠。」智利首都聖地牙哥的安德拉斯貝羅大學生態與生物多樣系主任艾勒詹德羅．西蒙說，漢波德企鵝的數量，已從數十年前的數十萬隻，降至不到4萬5000隻。（美聯社）

新聞辭典

gaze at someone or something：慣用語，凝視。例句：The wired guy gazed at me for a moment and then smiled.（那個怪男人盯著我看了好一會兒，然後還笑了。）

eradicate：動詞，剷除，連根去除。例句：The priority of the new government is to eradicate poverty.（新政府的第一要務是剷除貧窮。）

extinction：名詞，滅絕。例句：The most effective agent in the extinction of species is the pressure of other species.（最有效的物種滅絕媒介，就是來自其他物種的壓力。）