字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：Cut Road Deaths with Mountain Lions / 美洲獅可減少交通事故哦

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/…/20160819sa_science.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：
Are you afraid of sharks? What about snakes or spiders? Put those fears aside: because in the US you're far more likely to be killed or injured by a deer bounding across the road.
你害怕鯊魚嗎?那麼蛇和蜘蛛呢?先把這些恐懼放到一邊：因為在美國，你受傷或者喪命的原因可能是由於馬路上亂跑的鹿。

Bambi and his kind cause more 200 humans deaths each year, plus some 29,000 injuries, all because of 1.2 million collisions between vehicles and deer. Most incidents occur in the eastern US, where deer thrive without natural predators like wolves and mountain lions.
鹿每年都會導致200多人喪命，此外，還有約2.9萬人受傷，事件的原由就是車輛和鹿發生了多次碰撞。大多數事故都發生在美國東部，由於沒有狼、美洲獅等自然捕食者，這裡的鹿的數量猛增。

"That's the region in the US where deer-vehicle collisions are such a problem, and where it seems like an effective large carnivore restoration could make a really big difference."
在美國該地區，鹿和車輛發生的碰撞事件是個難題，似乎大型肉食動物的存在可以導致巨大的差別。

University of Washington wildlife biologist Laura Prugh. She thinks it would help to reintroduce predators like mountain lions, also known as cougars, pumas or panthers, to parts of their historic range from which they've been driven out.
華盛頓大學的野生動物學家勞拉•魯。她認為將之前被驅逐的美洲獅引入會有幫助。

Crunching the numbers, the researchers say that bringing the big cats back to the eastern US would mean 22 percent fewer collisions between cars and deer over three decades. Each year would see five fewer human deaths, 680 fewer injuries and a savings of some $50 million .
好好計算一下數字，研究人員表示，將這種大型貓科動物引入美國東部，這意味著在未來30多年，鹿和車輛發生的碰撞事件將會減少22%.每年死亡人數將會減少5人，受傷人數將會減少680人，同時，節省5千萬美元。

"Cougars have shown that they can coexist in close proximity with people, with very few conflicts, in a lot of areas out west."
研究表明，在西部地區，美洲獅可以與人類近距離共存，產生衝突的次數極少。

Still, some folks might be understandably nervous about this kind of plan. After all, reintroducing predators doesn't come without risks to pets and to livestock, and very occasionally to people.
但是，對於上述計劃，很多人感到非常的不安。畢竟，重新引入捕食者會給寵物、牲畜甚至是人類帶來威脅。

"Our fear of large carnivores is so primal and ingrained that I don't think it's possible to just completely override it with statistics…what I hope is that knowing that there actually can be some measurable benefits might make people a little more favorably inclined and maybe balance that fear a little bit."
我們對大型食肉動物的恐懼是非常原始、根深蒂固的，因為我認為，不能僅僅是依靠數據就完全將這種恐懼置之不理，我希望可以有明顯的益處讓人們贊同或平衡對此計劃的抵觸情緒。

Indeed, the statistics show that cougars would prevent five times as many human deaths from deer-related accidents as they would cause by attacks. But it'll be a tough sell: the press will cover cougar attacks, but a statistically prevented death does not make the news. Nevertheless, “If people in Hollywood can put up with having mountain lions around, I would hope that New Yorkers would be up for the challenge as well."
實際上，數據表明與美洲獅造成的人員傷亡相比，引入美洲獅可以減少5倍與鹿相關的車禍事件傷亡人數。但是，這計劃實行仍非常的艱難，新聞仍會報導美洲獅襲擊事件，但是引入美洲獅可以避免人員傷亡的事件並未報導。但是，如果好萊塢的人們可以忍受美洲獅的存在，那麼我希望紐約的人們也可以勇敢面對這個挑戰。