字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：Vaccinate Prairie Dogs to Save Ferrets / 美國政府計畫利用無人機發射疫苗保護瀕危雪貂

洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/2016/20160721sa_tech.mp3

只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
A recent headline on the Web site theverge.com got a lot of attention on social media. Because each new phrase seemed to take the message in an unexpected direction. The headline read: U.S. government plans to use drones to fire vaccine-laced M&Ms near endangered ferrets.
最近theverge.com網站上的一個標題引起很多社交媒體的關注。因為每一個新的短語似乎將所含的資訊引往一個意想不到的方向。標題寫著:美國政府計畫利用無人機發射帶有疫苗的M&Ms糖果保護瀕危雪貂。

Some background. Black-footed ferrets have been on the endangered species list since 1967. Only about 300 were known to be alive in the wild at the end of 2015. They tend to live in the Great Plains and the West. Because they love to eat prairie dogs, which tend to live in the Great Plains and the West. Unfortunately, prairie dogs often harbor fleas, and fleas can carry the plague. Yup, that plague, the so-called Black Death that killed millions in Europe in the 14th century.
一些背景知識。自1967年起，黑足雪貂被列為瀕危物種。到2015年年底，現存的野生黑腳貂只有大約300只。它們喜歡生活在大平原和美國西部。因為他們愛吃草原犬鼠，草原犬鼠往往喜歡生活在大平原和美國西部。不幸的是，草原犬鼠通常會滋生跳蚤，並且跳蚤可以傳播鼠疫。是的，所謂的黑死病，14世紀在歐洲它導致數百萬人死亡。

So ferrets suffer when fleas cause a plague outbreak in prairie dogs, either because the ferrets also catch the disease or because the prairie dogs die and the ferrets go hungry. Officials have tried vaccinating individual ferrets and they’ve tried treating prairie-dog burrows with flea-killer. But neither method is particularly efficient.
當跳蚤導致草原犬鼠鼠疫爆發，雪貂受到牽連。要麼因為雪貂也染上疾病，要麼由於草原犬鼠死亡，雪貂遭受饑餓。官員們試圖給雪貂接種疫苗，他們試圖往草原犬鼠的洞穴裡噴灑跳蚤專用殺蚤劑。但哪一種方法都不是特別有效。

And so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing a study for September in the UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. The viral headline was incorrect about the M&Ms, but otherwise, yes, aerial drones will shoot vaccine-laced pellets designed to be irresistible to prairie dogs. The drone delivery system should quickly spread the vaccine-carrying goodies over a wide area so that lots of prairie dogs gobble them up—thus making the prairie dogs available to be gobbled up, safely, by the endangered ferrets.
因此美國魚類和野生動物管理局正在在蒙大拿州國家野生動物保護區準備九月的一項研究。有關M&Ms的病毒標題是錯誤的。但除此之外，是的，無人機將發射帶有疫苗的糖果，被設計用來對付不可抗拒的草原犬鼠。無人機輸送系統應在廣泛區域迅速播撒帶有疫苗的糖果。這樣很多草原犬鼠就可以將它們吞食掉——從而瀕危雪貂可以安全地吞食草原犬鼠。

And so everybody wins. Except for the prairie dogs that get eaten. And the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause plague. Well, that’s it for me, I’ve droned on long enough.
這樣一來，除了被吃掉的草原犬鼠和引起鼠疫的鼠疫桿菌，人人都是贏家。好的，就是這些了，我已經講了很長時間了。