时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:一起闲话英语-English Chitchat


英语课

 Transcript: 


For thousands of years the Maasai people in Kenya had no doubts about their relationship with the lions who shared the land with them. They were enemies. The lions wanted to kill the tribe’s livestock 1 and the Maasai had to protect the animals. It was even part of the coming-of-age ritual of young warriors 3 to kill a lion.
 
But now things have changed and the Maasai are part of a new East African scheme to protect lions, called the Lion Guardians 5. The aim is for local people to be trained to manage and protect the lions without involvement from outsiders after the period of initial training. The Lion Guardians are taught basic literacy, how to manage data, how to deal with conflict between humans and lions, GPS and telemetry tracking of radio-collared lions. Some of them also learn how to speak in public and how to blog.
 
The Lion Guardians monitor the lions and other carnivores and inform cattle herders when to avoid the areas where there are lions. They also help improve the livestock enclosures and educate people about wildlife. Helping 6 find lost livestock is another important job. In the past these would often have been killed by carnivores.
 
If anyone is about to carry out a lion hunt, the Lion Guardians try and persuade them not to. Since many of the Guardians have killed lions in the past and are very experienced, they are highly respected in the community and are listened to by their age-mates, or peers, and often by their elders. They explain the importance of the lions to culture and tourism and how they can now be arrested for killing 7 protected animals.
 
One such Lion Guardian 4 is Olubi Lairumbe. He has killed seven lions in his lifetime. The last one was a lioness who was pregnant with five cubs 8. He regretted killing her very much, had a massive change of heart and volunteered to become a Lion Guardian. Olubi’s father used to hate lions and encouraged his sons to hunt them, but since Olubi became a Guardian, he has been advising them not to kill carnivores. Olubi was recently interviewed by Sir David Attenborough and appeared on the Africa documentary series.
 
Another Guardian, Mingati Makarot, is very good at tracking lions using his traditional skills and has a great knowledge of the area that acts as a refuge to many wildlife species. Mingati is a past lion killer 9 but has completely converted to being one of its ardent 10 protectors. His name, Mingati, is a ‘lion name’ given to him meaning one who is fast and doesn’t lag behind.
 
In the past, a moran (a Maasai warrior 2) received a lion name after spearing a lion. In Maasai culture the name represents the characteristics of both the warrior and the lion he has killed. A warrior with a lion name feels that he has achieved something great. When the successful warrior brings the lion’s mane and tail back to his manyatta (his home in the community) to be put on display, he is treated as a hero. Other young men who don’t yet have their lion names are called by the general name of ‘moran’. They long to have recognition and dream about the day that it will be their turn to bring home the lion trophy 11.
 
Now, this naming tradition is changing. The Lion Guardians experimented by giving lion names to boys who had not killed lions and it worked. Other young people called them by the lion names, then the older people did so too.There were still some boys who wanted to do something to prove their bravery, and they were assigned conservation tasks to do. Now young men can earn respect by protecting lions, rather than killing them.
 
Another change is that the lions are now given Maasai names and each has a card explaining who the lion is related to and which lions they keep company with. Personalising the lions helps them to be seen as individuals by the community.
 
Since the programme began in 2007, no lions have been killed in the area patrolled by Lion Guardians. Compare that to a similar neighbouring area without Guardians, where 63 have been killed, and you can see just how successful the scheme is. The Maasai have managed to successfully adapt their culture to changing times without giving up their identity.
 

1 livestock
n.家畜,牲畜
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
2 warrior
n.勇士,武士,斗士
  • The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
  • A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。
3 warriors
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 )
  • I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
  • The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。
4 guardian
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
5 guardians
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者
  • Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
  • The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。
6 helping
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
7 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。
8 cubs
n.幼小的兽,不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )
  • a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
  • Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 killer
n.杀人者,杀人犯,杀手,屠杀者
  • Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
  • The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。
10 ardent
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的
  • He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
  • Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。
11 trophy
n.优胜旗,奖品,奖杯,战胜品,纪念品
  • The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
  • He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。
学英语单词
abrasiometer
accuracy of forecasting techniques
Adcon-I
anadara taiwanica
bachelor apartments
balanced value
Baushar
be in duty bound to do
bellyaching
benzyl neocaprate
bighorn rivers
botulin
canalicyoplasty
cascom
character generation option
chopping device
consumer profiling
country-people
customary form
cyclically balanced budget
delve into sth
demultiplexers
distillest
down for lining
drugg
dutch-speaking
eigenspectra
eight-liter
environmental photobiology
eprolin-S
expect to departure
extended low-surface brightness source
f.f
Fay-wei
fixing powder
forgat
Franklin Mts.
gyrene
Habit-formation
ignition point
inquests
internal block brake
Ishinomaki
Kapachira Falls
Kefenrod
kemppi
lithotriptor
longitudinal median plane
Makushino
mal de raquette
malt vinegar
material surface
meshcement
moss-likest
neurofibromas
neuron nucleus
non-negative characteristic form
nonexistant
nucleus fastigii
orifice tube
periglacial
pile lighthouse
platinum-silver alloy
plumbous nitrate
Podophyllum hexandrum
prosopopoeia
pseudo-indole
quadrate (bone)
re-arrive
reciprocal coefficient
resonant-cavity maser
rice scoop
roof bar
rubbing off
scolithus
self-align type
self-parodying
simal
sixthform
sizzle reel
source neutron
spanandry
spirocheticidal
ST_technology_internet-terminology-and-abbreviations
Super Technirama
supernity
swarl
tabular calculation
taibi
taraghi
tectosilicates
temporary ramp
tighthead
trpes
tuberculum
vapour check
venae conjunctivales anteriores et posteriores
VG-BWS
vinyl tile
writing-pad
yarmuk
yoldia similis