时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(四月)


英语课
By Nia Sutadi
Santa Monica, California
30 April 2007


Orangutans are highly intelligent and are one of man's closest relatives. Found primarily in Indonesia, their name in English means "People of the Forest."  Just a century ago, their numbers were plentiful 1, but deforestation, illegal hunting and natural disasters have left these large, red apes on the verge 2 of extinction 3. A group in the western state of California is working to save orangutans and the habitats they live in. It is called the Orang Utan Republik (OUR) Education Initiative and it is working to get Americans and Indonesians involved in saving Indonesia's orangutans. For producers Vena Anissa and Nia Sutadi, VOA's Jim Bertel has more.






A baby orangutan


A baby orangutan



Gary Shapiro has spent more than 30 years studying orangutans, spending many years in Indonesia where he taught sign language to ex-captive orangutans in the wild. Three years ago, Shapiro and his Indonesian wife Inggriani began Orang Utan Republik, an environmental organization working to save orangutans from extinction.


"Our goal is to inspire, to empower Indonesian people to be in charge to save the orangutan,” said Inggriani. “We invite them to participate through educational programs in art and science."


"The orangutan is an umbrella-species; if we can preserve orangutans, we can also preserve other animals that are threatened with extinction,” added Gary. “And we hope that Indonesians will learn the place of the orangutan in the ecosystem 4, so that they will care what happens to them and we will be able to preserve the orangutan forever."


The Shapiros spend Sundays at Santa Monica, California’s farmer's market educating people about orangutans and their habitat. 


"An adult female orangutan usually gets pregnant every seven years,” explains Inggriani. “It takes such a long time for an orangutan mother to teach its offspring to survive in the forest. If the offspring are continually separated from their mothers, eventually the species will become extinct."


Nicky Coleman, who once visited an orangutan rehabilitation 5 center in Indonesia, supports the Shapiro's efforts. "Some people just don't realize what they are doing to the environment, but if you can bring awareness 6 and show them, they maybe think twice and make some changes in their life style."


While most of the estimated 57,000 orangutans in the wild are found in Indonesia, the Shapiros believe people around the world need to be educated about orangutans and their role in the tropical ecosystem in order to pressure Indonesians to do more to protect these creatures. 


"I have been concerned about the orangutan for a long time,” says Gary. “And like my adopted 'child,' an orangutan named Princess, I want a world where orangutans can live freely in the forest. And hopefully her children and grandchildren will also be able to live that way in Indonesia forever."





1 plentiful
adj.富裕的,丰富的
  • Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
  • Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。
2 verge
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。
3 extinction
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种
  • The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
  • The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。
4 ecosystem
n.生态系统
  • This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
  • We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
5 rehabilitation
n.康复,悔过自新,修复,复兴,复职,复位
  • He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
  • No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。
6 awareness
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
学英语单词
a horse of another color
agricultural surplus
ako
all-girl
Almirante Brown Canyon
Annobón, I.de
apricot jam
Aprigliano
Ashton Irwin
AZS automatic zero set
back away from
Bar Hebraeus
benzoglycolisacid
bezoglioxaline
brass alloys
capillary refill
capital cover
centralized school
chance events
clinical symptoms
compact nebula
composite functor
current-balance relay
damnably
dry unit
eiusdem generis
electrostatic oscillograph
elix
endoliths
Eulamellibranchia
eupelmus tachardiae
exchange-correlation
extraction eluting resin
family typhlopidaes
flyspecks
free-agents
ghotbzadehs
GMSS
gonostomatid
grouped column
hemiketal
hydro-vac power brake
instinct with
internal external rotary pump
intra-industry
jahorina
job subsidies
junk collector
kronrod bit matrices
Lagrange Peak
laminar model
light loadline
live guy
live-work
logical calculus
master-of-ceremonies
neoglycoconjugates
non-ionic surface-active detergent
noncoherent combing loss
off-site backup
oil immersed self cooled transformer
oligotoma greeniana
paratextualities
pfl-activase
phosphoglucosamine mutase
pinnatella ambigua
pitches
pledged asset
post-nuptial molt
propellant handling
protein maintenance requirement
pulse repetition frequency jitter
purpura scorbutica
quercus ilexes
radionuclide kinetics
re-jigger
regenerative oscillation
regiones dorsalis manus
restructurer
shaded pole type
shrouds
signalised
slow-spiral drill
solution Thiersch's
spatial charging
successio ab intestato
Sungaigerong
switch tender
tally charge
terminal sinus
thermal stabilizer
trig function
tsering
turbidity transmitter
uniformly absolutely continuous
upper oil-header
vena gastrica-dextra
Venetian School
warrantying
waveform changes
win a lawsuit
Xiao Hong