EXPLORATIONS - Ecotourism
时间：2018-12-15 作者：英语课 分类：Explorations
EXPLORATIONS - Ecotourism
By Paul Thompson
Broadcast: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
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VOICE ONE:
I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about visiting places to enjoy the natural environment or ecology. This kind of holiday vacation is called ecotourism. (ee-co-TOUR-ism)
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VOICE ONE:
A humpback whale breaches 1 the water. (All Pictures - NOAA)
We begin our holiday in the northeastern United States. We are in the town of Bar Harbor 2, Maine. We have paid money to take a three-hour trip on a large boat. We will be traveling several kilometers off the coast to look for whales. We hope to see several kinds of whales -- the huge humpback, the finback and the smaller minke.
VOICE TWO:
A small storm passed the area last night and the water is rough. The ocean makes the large boat move in several directions at once. The movement of the boat makes walking difficult.
The trip out to the ocean takes about forty-five minutes. Soon, the captain slows the engines. We begin to wait. A member of the crew says they have seen whales here for the past several days. If we are lucky we too will see a few.
VOICE ONE:
Suddenly a crewmember shouts, "There — on the left side of the boat. Look! It's a humpback whale." About ninety meters from our boat, a huge humpback whale raises its head above the water. Slowly, it begins to move down again. Moments later the huge tail clears the water and then slowly moves below the waves.
A crewmember tells everyone to look for a smooth area of water. That means the whale will be again rising to the surface. Minutes later, a smooth area is seen to the left. The color of the water turns from deep blue to light green and the whale again comes to the surface. This time, two whales appear.
Now everyone is standing 3 on the left side of the boat holding a camera. The captain of the boat is careful not to come too close to the whales. He does not want to frighten or harm the huge animals.
A pod of humback whales.
A few minutes later, it is time to return to the harbor. The passengers will take back with us several photographs of the whales. We will also take memories of one of nature's largest animals. We will always remember how we shared a few minutes with these wonderful creatures.
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VOICE TWO:
We have just experienced 4 what travel industry officials call ecotourism. The word ecotourism means several things. It is a holiday vacation that can include visiting and learning 5 about local areas and cultures. It can mean visiting extremely wild areas. It can also mean learning about nature, animals, birds, plants and new ways to live on our planet 6. And it is tourism designed to limit damage to the environment.
Our three-hour trip to see humpback whales off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine was a small ecotourism adventure.
VOICE ONE:
Travel and holiday experts say ecotourism is the fastest growing part of the holiday vacation industry. It is possible to visit almost any country to learn about the culture, history, food, plants, animals or anything else that might interest you. You can learn about and watch whales in the American states of Maine and Hawaii, and in Mexico.
You can visit a natural protected area in Costa Rica, one of the top ecotourism countries in the world. You can travel to the huge national parks in several African countries to see and photograph lions, elephants and other wild animals.
You can swim deep under water to experience this beautiful world if you learn how to use special breathing equipment. Companies offer underwater exploration trips in Australia, Mexico, several islands in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean 7 and many other places.
VOICE TWO:
Tourism, the travel and holiday industry, provides huge amounts of money to the economies of many nations. So ecotourism has become extremely important. And officials in the travel industry say ecotourism works 8 to create, improve and protect holiday areas that people will want to visit.
Ecotourism also teaches the people who live in areas that tourists may want to visit and enjoy. Government agencies 9 use ecotourism methods to teach these people how to develop these areas for visitors. The people learn to protect the natural environment so that they remain popular places to visit.
VOICE ONE:
An example of this kind of protection is our whale-watching trip in Bar Harbor, Maine. The boat companies that operate such trips are very careful not to harm or frighten the whales. The boats do not come too close to the large animals.
Crewmembers on the boats warn passengers not to throw anything in the water. The boat companies work to protect the whales. They want the whales to return to the area and feel safe there.
Most professionals in the travel business learn very quickly that the environment must be protected if an area is to remain popular.
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VOICE TWO:
Some environmental scientists have strongly criticized 10 the tourism industry. These scientists say the travel industry often fails to understand that thousands of people visiting an area can greatly harm the environment.
Environmental experts say people who visit an area are sometimes careless in their actions. They leave food, paper, and bottles behind. They harm plants, animals or objects important to a local culture.
The experts say people on holiday often do not understand the damage they can cause. In some cases the experts say ecotourism is killing 11 animals and destroying the environment. They say it is destroying the very thing it is seeking to develop and protect.
VOICE ONE:
A boat ride to watch whales is a good example of what environmentalists mean. Three years ago, a large humpback whale came up under a ship off the coast of the eastern state of Massachusetts. The whale was seriously injured. In another accident, a smaller minke whale was hit by a ship and killed. These accidents were caused by ships carrying people who paid money to see the whales.
However, travel industry officials say environmentalists do not understand how important economic growth can be to the local economy in a developing country. And they say ecotourism can be a very important part of that growth.
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VOICE TWO:
The World Tourism Organization is the leading international organization in travel and tourism. It serves as an international meeting place to discuss tourism policy issues and education. It works to help countries and local communities develop ecotourism areas.
The World Tourism Organization's members include one hundred thirty-eight countries and territories. It has more than three hundred-fifty members representing local governments, tourism organizations and private companies. The headquarters 12 of the World Tourism Organization is in Madrid, Spain.
Last month, the World Tourism Organization held a meeting in Washington, D.C. Officials from many governments, international aid agencies and several of the world's leading universities attended the meeting.
It was the first meeting among many government agencies, developing countries and university officials. Their goal was to look for ways to cooperate 13 and use the economic power of tourism to increase development.
VOICE ONE:
At the meeting, the World Bank vice 14 president and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank spoke 15 about the importance of tourism.
Both said ecotourism creates jobs and brings money to local economies. They also said ecotourism creates the need for local people to learn to protect the environment. They said agencies and departments within each government must learn to work together to create a tourism industry that can help the economy.
The World Tourism Organization says tourism has become the main source of foreign money earnings 16 in the forty-nine least developed countries in the world. But it says the money from tourism in these countries still represents only one percent of the world total. World Tourism Organization records show that there were more than seven hundred million international travelers last year. These visitors spent more than five hundred thousand million dollars.
The organization says there will be nine hundred million international tourist visits by the year two thousand ten. Experts say ecotourism is becoming an important part of the future for many countries in the world.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
- He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
- This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。
- The harbor lies to the south of the city.港口在城市的南边。
- At that time,our ship was tied up at this harbor.当时我们的船停靠在这个港口。
- After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
- They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
- Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
- Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。
- When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
- Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。
- Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
- Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。
- The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
- Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
- We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
- The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
- There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations. 联合国有许多专门机构。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The project is funded by the World Bank and other multilateral agencies. 这项计划由世界银行和其他多国机构资助。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The decision was criticized by environmental groups. 这个决定受到了环保团体的批评。
- The movie has been criticized for apparently legitimizing violence. 这部电影因明显地美化暴力而受到了指责。
- 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。
- Several great guns from the headquarters are coming to see us today.总部的几个大人物今天要来看我们。
- The bank has its headquarters in Pairs.这家银行的总行在巴黎。
- We hope we can cooperate even more closely in the future.希望我们今后能更加密切地合作。
- I hope you can cooperate on this matter.我希望你在这件事上能给予合作。
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。