英语听力：自然百科 猴子大闹波多黎各
时间：2018-12-26 作者：英语课 分类：自然百科2008年
英语课
The Lajas Valley in southwestern Puerto Rico is one of the island's richest agricultural areas, but the population of non-indigenous monkeys is running wild in this region, destroying farmers' crops, eating baby birds out of their nests, and generally causing havoc 1 with the eco-system.
This facility in the northern part of the island houses around 30 monkeys that have been captured. Officials say at least 1000 of them were on the island. The population is left over from a now defunct 2 research lab on a nearby island.
Our organization is worried about the fact that the monkeys have become a plague for farmers in the Lajas Valley, and you know, we know for sure that the farmers have stopped planting melons and pumpkins 3 and other fruits that have been attacked by monkeys.
Robert Carlo is a dairy farmer with 900 acres in the Lajas Valley. He used to grow fruit until a troop of monkeys destroyed his watermelon crop. Now he grows hay.
The real damage I think is from the lack of crops that we have been able to produce. That is a real damage, not what we lost.
In addition to crop losses, the monkeys are blamed for a dramatic drop in the valley's bird population. Many of the monkeys are also infected with herpes B and hepatitis, so they are a hazard to humans.
The Puerto Rican government has begun working to solve the problem, instituting a 1.8-million-dollar program to study the population and capture the animals. Natural Resources Secretary Javier Velez says he is worried that the problem will become much worse over time if nothing is done.
We also have the complaint from farmers, where they report, probably two million dollars a year losses in their operations. And at this point what we are doing basically is to use a strategy to remove as many monkeys as we can.
The study has to determine that erecting 4 electric fences to contain the monkeys is not effective, and that establishing a season for hunters to kill the monkeys is unsafe in the densely 5 populated area. This month the government finally began putting the monkeys down.
The first group of 16 monkeys was held in a ten-foot-long steel cage baited with food and equipped with a trip lever. Two of the monkeys were released with radio collars for further tracking. The others were killed with a single shot from a 22-caliber rifle.
Velez who is a biologist believes officials determined 6 that shooting the monkeys was more humane 7 than lethal 8 injection. He says he regrets having to kill the animals, but had no choice after 92 different organizations rejected them.
1 havoc
n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱
- The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
- This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。
2 defunct
adj.死亡的；已倒闭的
- The scheme for building an airport seems to be completely defunct now.建造新机场的计划看来整个完蛋了。
- This schema object is defunct.No modifications are allowed until it is made active again.此架构对象不起作用。在重新激活之前，不能进行任何改动。
3 pumpkins
n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊
- I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）
4 erecting
v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立
- Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
- Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网
5 densely
ad.密集地；浓厚地
- A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
- We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。
6 determined
adj.坚定的；有决心的
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。