时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2009年(十二)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.


A new report says the illegal killing 1 of rhinos 3 for their horns is increasing in Africa and Asia. Rhinoceros 4 poachers are killing an estimated two to three of the rare animals each week.


Experts say demand in Asia -- especially Vietnam and China -- currently drives most trade in rhino 2 horns from southern Africa. The horns are often used to make traditional medicines, or handles for dagger 5 knives.


The report is from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and an organization known as Traffic.


Most African rhino poaching is in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Experts found that two hundred ten rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa in the last three years.


The estimate for Zimbabwe is two hundred thirty-five. The situation threatens gains made in its rhino populations in the nineteen nineties. In the last two years, only six people were found guilty of poaching charges out of forty-one arrested.


In two thousand one, sixty-eight percent of African rhino horns entering illegal trade were recovered. By this year, nine out of ten were heading to Asian markets without interference.


The report says poaching and illegal horn trade has increased in South Africa even with new measures against it.


Adding to the problem, poachers today are more skilled at killing rhinos, and not only with guns. They also use quieter methods, like veterinary drugs, poison and crossbows.


An international agreement on protecting endangered animals and plants provides for sport hunting of white rhinos in Africa. But the horns often enter illegal markets.


Not all the news is bad, however. The report notes that rhino populations are increasing in some areas. These include both white rhinos and black rhinos in the wild in Africa.


Africa had an estimated seventeen thousand white rhinos and four thousand black rhinos as of two years ago. Current estimates for Asia are around three thousand rhinos. But even with poaching, growth is reported in some areas of India and Nepal.


Wildlife activists 6 are urging governments to do more to fight rhino poaching.


The report was presented to the organization known as CITES. CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna 7 and Flora 8. The next conference of countries that are parties to the agreement is in March in Doha, Qatar.


And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.

 



1 killing
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
2 rhino
n.犀牛,钱, 现金
  • The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
  • They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。
3 rhinos
n.犀牛(rhino的复数形式)
  • There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
  • The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句
4 rhinoceros
n.犀牛
  • The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
  • The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛,头呈三角形。
5 dagger
n.匕首,短剑,剑号
  • The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
  • The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。
6 activists
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 )
  • His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
  • Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 fauna
n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物,动物区系
  • This National Park is an area with unique fauna and flora.该国家公园区域内具有独特的动物种群和植物种群。
  • Fauna is a biological notion means all the animal life in a particular region or period. 动物群是一个生物学的概念,指的是一个特定时期或者地区的所有动物。
8 flora
n.(某一地区的)植物群
  • The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
  • All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。
学英语单词
ability to function
apothegmatising
ashiver
asset-purchase
at a high plane
autochthonic
be behind
bilamellated
Birresborn
body hugger
Brazilian blowouts
bucket chain dredge
bures
campsosternus mirabilis
capacity-input filter
carp.
cauterization of sclera
cell-phones
chabrol
charge storage flipflop
Chinese tallowtree seed oil
Circinae
collection anionic
concentrated waste store
crossed belt sander
databook
delivery car
density of occupancy
dery
Desmodoroidea
door-stops
double beat
duty of master
earn a good reputation
endotenon
fragilis
fuel particles
fuel reprocessing
gaging hole
gastrulae
glycerol trioleate
Gorodovikovsk
governing word
grammaticity
Hajdu-Bihar Megye
herd-average
i-stihen
independent rail fastening
inhibited error
inveighed
larval fishes
logs
Lyotardian
maltose-1-phosphate
megacoulombs
mine timer
momentary supply
mongolians
Montenegran
nardini
non-domiciled
noncivilized
noncommutative right context sensitive grammar
oclitic texture
Omskaya Oblast'
optimum reaction vessel water level
Oransbari
oxidizer overflow connector
Petit truss
photoconductivity dosimetry
polyvalent bacterial vaccine
primary of international law
quaternary fission
rated head
real-numbers
recits
restabilized
riunites
rope stranded wire
safe-hold
Sain-Paulin cheese
salpas
saturated set
scallions
silk cloth
snail clover
soluteness
special ordinance
spillway of food
syringaldehyde
tevfik
throb with
Toti's operation
true face
turbulent skin-friction coefficient
two-resistance theory
unlost
volumetric losses
wet-and-dry-bulb hygrometers
world's merchant shipping