VOA慢速英语2016 世界上21%的植物可能会消失

AS IT IS 2016-05-16 21 Percent of World’s Plants Could Disappear 世界上21%的植物可能会消失

One in five of the world’s plants is currently 1 at risk of disappearing forever. That is what a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens in London says.

全球五分之一的植物物种正面临灭绝风险。这是英国皇家植物园所发布的报告内容。

The report is one of the first to try to describe all the plants known to science. It says scientists have so far identified 391,000 plants. And, it says, more than 80,000 of those are in danger of becoming extinct 2.

这是有关世界植物现状的第一份全球性报告。报告中记录了迄今为止科学家们已经发现的植物约39.1万株。其中约8万种植物面临灭绝的危险。

Why are plants disappearing?

为什么植物正在消失殆尽？

The plants are endangered by growing populations and clearing land for agriculture and urban development.

植物之所以会濒临灭绝是因为人口不断膨胀，农业用地扩大和城市发展使绿色植被急剧缩减。

Steve Bachman is a researcher with the Royal Botanical Gardens.

史蒂夫·巴赫曼是皇家植物园的研究专家。

“There's a lot of mouths to feed in the world now and that's growing, and we need the land. So basically the land’s natural habitat is being converted 3 so that we can have soya plantations 4, crops, livestock 5, and as a result, that's really causing species 6 to lose their habitat.”

“世界上人口众多且仍在不断增长，我们急需土地。所以一些土地被不断开垦出来，我们种植大豆、农作物、放牧牲畜，结果导致其他的物种失去赖以生存的环境。”

Plants are also threatened by logging and climate change.

乱砍滥伐以及气候变化都会对植物的生存环境造成威胁。

Scientists say governments should do more to create protected areas.

专家表示，政府应该尽可能多地建立保护区。

Kathy Willis is director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens. She says scientists need to identify which areas are important to conserve 7, or protect, for their diversity.

凯茜·威利斯教授是皇家植物园的科学主管。她表示，为了保护物种多样性，科学家需尽快确定哪些地方是重点保护区域。

Willis also says scientists need to identify which areas should be developed.

此外，科学家还需尽快确定哪些区域是可以开发的。

Some plants are stars – but most do not get much attention

有的植物虽然稀少，但并未引起人们的关注。

Even while some plants are disappearing, scientists are discovering others. Each year, scientists identify about 2,000 new plants.

虽然有些植物在逐渐消失，但科学家发现了其他的植物品种。每年新发现的植物物种达到2000个。

Last year, a specialist discovered a new plant in Brazil while viewing photographs posted on Facebook by a fan of flowers. The plant is a 1.5 meter insect-eating sundew.

去年，一位专家看到Face book上网友分享的一株植物图片后，最终在巴西发现了这种植物。这种茅膏菜属大型食虫植物最高可达1.5米。

What are sundews?

什么是茅膏菜？

They are one type of carnivorous plant. In other words, they trap and eat insects for food. These kinds of insect-eating plants are very popular on the Internet.

茅膏菜是一种食虫植物。换句话说，它们诱捕昆虫做食物。这些以昆虫为食的植物在互联网上非常受欢迎。

But other plants do not get the same amount of attention.

然而，其他的植物并没有这么幸运。

Scientists says a general lack of interest in plants creates problems. Botany — the study of plants — is just not one of the more popular subjects in school.

缺乏对植物的研究兴趣是主要原因。所谓植物学，不应只是学堂上一门受欢迎的课程而已。

Kathy Willis says people should study botany because plants are so important to humans.

凯茜·威利斯教授表示，学习植物学是因为植物对人类至关重要。

“It's very rarely taught as 'this is a really important discipline because plants underpin 8 all aspects of our human wellbeing,' from climate regulation, through to food and fiber 9 and fuels.”

“老师很少会告知学生这是一门重要的科目，因为植物影响着人类生活的方方面面，气候调节、食物、纤维、燃料等。

But collecting and recording 10 data on plants is a very difficult job. So difficult that botanists 11 find it almost impossible to document all the plants that are becoming extinct.

然而，收集植物并记录相关数据不是件容易的差事。植物学家称几乎不可能将所有濒临灭绝的植物全部登记在册。

Words in This Story

extinct – adj. no longer existing

urban – adj. relating to cities

diversity – n. the quality of having many different types

underpin – v. to strengthen or support from below, to hold up