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Save the Tigers 放虎到南非

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Rare Chinese tigers earn their stripes in the wilds of South Africa 稀有的中国虎在南非野地终于苦尽甘来（译注：成语的stripes原指条纹状的官阶纹章，earn one’s原指付出努力而后得到升迁，但这里的stripes也用来隐喻老虎身上的条纹）

South Africa has no shortage of big wild cats. But the sleek predators prowling these dry grass plains at the edge of the Karoo plateau have one big difference: stripes.

南非的大型猫科动物有很多，不过潜行在卡鲁高原边际、干旱草原上的这种毛皮光亮的掠食动物，却有个明显与众不同的特征：那就是牠们身上的条纹。

As part of a controversial experiment to save the world’s most endangered tiger, three rare zoo-bred South China tigers are learning to hunt antelope and survive in the wild in South Africa’s grasslands while conservationists struggle to restore their nearly vanished habitat at home.

一项争议性的实验致力于拯救一种全球最濒临绝种的老虎，并将三只在动物园人工繁殖的稀有华南虎运送到南非草原，好让牠们学习猎捕羚羊以及在野外生存的技巧，而在此同时，保育人员则在老虎的故乡努力复育几乎快荡然无存的老虎栖息地。

With only about 60 of the tigers left in captivity and almost none in the wild, the experiment is a last-ditch effort to pull the South China tiger back from the brink of extinction and create a viable new wild population, with roots half a world away. The project hopes to return all the tigers to China within 15 years.

全球只剩下约六十只人工豢养的华南虎，而野生的则几近绝迹，因此这项实验可说是孤注一掷的最后手段，希望能藉以挽救濒临绝种的华南虎，并培育出能延续命脉的新野生族群，即使牠们的家乡远在世界的另一端。这项计划期盼能在十五年内再把所有老虎运回中国。

“It’s an extremely risky project. Some people have written the Chinese tiger off. They argue we’re spending money on a lost cause,” said Li Quan, 44, the effort’s founder, as she wrestled a truck through the rough scrub of the tigers’ 80,000-acre reserve. “But we have to try. And what’s money compared to saving an ancient species?”

「这计划极为冒险。有些人认定挽救老虎之举一定会失败，他们辩称，我们是把钱浪费在注定会失败的行动上，」该计划创办人、四十四岁的全莉一边说，一边费劲地驾驶卡车穿越八万英亩老虎保育地上粗糙不平的灌木丛，「但我们必须努力尝试，而且花下的钱哪能和拯救这种古老生物相提并论啊！」

South Africa has no native tigers, an Asian species. But with its vast, well-managed game reserves, the country has a deep reservoir of expertise in wildlife management and restoring animals to rehabilitated land. That, combined with country’s abundant antelope populations and its relatively inexpensive land, are the chief reasons the tiger rescue effort is happening in Africa rather than in China.

南非本身并没有本土的老虎品种，因为老虎原产于亚洲。但南非除了有广大、管理良好的野生动物保育区之外，还在野生动物管理以及把动物野放到复育地等方面，拥有丰富的专业知识；再加上又有大量羚羊，而土地价格相对来说也并不贵，因此就成了这项拯救老虎行动之所以选定南非而非中国的主要原因了。

“Expertise, abundance of prey animals and land – that’s why we chose South Africa,” said Quan, a former Chinese fashion executive who heads the nonprofit Save China’s Tigers foundation.

「专业、大量猎物和土地──就是我们挑中南非的主因，」全莉透露，非营利性的拯救中国虎国际基金会的这位发起人，过去曾任职时装业高阶主管。

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stripe [straɪp] n. 条纹，斑纹

sleek [slik] adj.（动物等）养得好的，油光光的，壮健的

prowl [praʊl] v. 徘徊；潜行

plateau [plæˋto] n. 高原

antelope [ˋænt!op] n. 羚羊

captivity [kæpˋtɪvətɪ] n. 囚禁, 被关

ditch [dɪtʃ] n. 沟；壕沟

root [rut] n. 根脉; 祖籍; 血统; 根基(pl.)

lost cause 败局已定的事(或主张) a cause with no chance of success

wrestle [ˋrɛs!] v.（用力）搬动，（使劲）移动

game reserve (=game park) 野生动物保护区 a section of land that’s been set aside for the purpose of protecting and maintaining wildlife

reservoir [ˋrɛzɚ͵vɔr] n.（知识，精力等的）储藏，蓄积[（+of）]

restore [rɪˋstor] v. 使恢复; 使康复; 使复原

rehabilitate [͵rihəˋbɪlə͵tet] v. 修复, 使恢复

prey [pre] n. 被捕食的动物

head [hɛd] v. 控制；管理；指挥; （公司、组织的）负责人，领导人，首脑

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Adapting from a zoo cage to the African wild has not been entirely easy for the project’s tigers. Since arriving as cubs in late 2003 and late 2004 under an arrangement with the Chinese government, the animals have suffered bouts of ringworm, been bitten by baboons, had throat and gum infections and shoulder sprains, and gotten a few porcupine quills in the nose.

对计划所野放的老虎而言，从动物园兽笼被改安置在非洲野地，调适起来其实并不容易。主办单位和中国政府达成协议后，幼虎在二００三年末和二００四年末被运到了南非，之后历经了长癣、被狒狒咬伤、喉部和牙龈感染、肩部扭伤，以及鼻部被刺入豪猪刺等折磨。

Today, 3-year-old Cathay, the oldest and most experienced of the tigers, can easily down a 180-pound blesbuck, one of a herd of the chocolate-colored antelope roaming in the tigers’ reserve.

如今，三岁大的国泰是老虎群中年纪最大、也最有经验的一个，牠能轻易扑倒一百八十磅重的白面羚羊，这是在老虎保育区栖息的一种巧克力色羚羊群。

The project, which aims to breed tiger cubs for return to wild reserves in China, hit a major setback in 2005 when Hope, the male of the first pair of cubs shipped to South Africa, died after a sudden illness, just before reaching breeding age. An autopsy showed he had suffered pneumonia and heart failure.

这项计划的目标是繁殖更多幼虎，以便最后能运回中国的野生动物保育区；不料，却在二００五年遭遇重大挫败，因为第一批运往南非的一对幼虎中的公虎「希望」，不幸在达到繁殖年龄之前就突然发病死亡，解剖结果显示，牠得了肺炎和心脏衰竭。

The project has stirred intense criticism from some international big cat experts, who argue tigers should be preserved in their natural habitat, and that moving them to South Africa exposes them – and South Africa cats – to new disease risks, despite the tigers being quarantined on arrival.

即使这些老虎在抵达南非时已经过检疫隔离，这项计划仍引发了一些国际猫科动物专家的强烈抨击，他们认为，老虎应留置在自然的栖息地，把牠们运送到南非，无疑将使这些老虎──以及其他南非的猫科动物──暴露在可能感染新种疾病的危险中。

Project officials say they agree the work could best be done in China, but that isn’t possible. Two new tiger reserves, funded in part by Save China’s Tigers, are in the planning stages, and South African habitat rehabilitation specialists are working with Chinese officials to restore farmland to forest, but opening the reserves will take years. In the meantime, the program in South Africa is the best option, its backers say.

该计划的人员表示，他们也同意，这项工作如果能在中国进行当然最好，但现阶段却无法实现。主要原因是，拯救中国虎基金会部份出资以便在中国建立的两处新的老虎保育区，目前仍在规划的阶段，而南非栖息地复育专家正和中国官员合作，希望把一些农地复育为林地，只不过，距离真正启用保育区，可能还要好几年的时间。支持者表示，在这期间，南非的野放计划仍是最好的选择。

“You can keep strategizing about how to save them until the day you lose the last one,” said Ronel Openshaw, a spokeswoman for the foundation. “This is the last stand.”

「人间大可持续拟定如何拯救老虎的策略，直到某天，最后一只老虎也在世上消失了踪影，」基金会发言人隆奈尔．欧吩萧表示，「如果真想挽救老虎的命脉，那么这次就是破釜沈舟的最后一役了。」

−by Laurie Goering

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bout [baʊt] n.（疾病等的）发作[（+of）]

ringworm [ˋrɪŋ͵wɝm] n.【医】轮癣；金钱癣 a disease caused by a fungus that leaves red rings on the skin

baboon [bæˋbun] n.【动】狒狒

gum [gʌm] n. 齿龈，牙床

sprain [spren] n. 扭伤

porcupine [ˋpɔrkjəpaɪn] n.【动】豪猪

quill [kwɪl] v.（豪猪等）用刺刺

blesbuck ['blɛsˌbɑk] n. （一种南非产面部有一斑的）大羚羊

setback [ˋsɛt͵bæk] n. 挫折；失败

autopsy [ˋɔtɑpsɪ] n.【医】尸体解剖，验尸

pneumonia [njuˋmonjə] n.【医】肺炎

backer [ˋbækɚ] n. 赞助者; 支持者

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Vocabulary Focus

earn (one’s) stripes (idiom) 扬名立万; 付出努力而后得到升迁 to do something to show that you deserve a particular rank or position and have the skills needed for it

last-ditch 最后防线的；拚死抵抗的; 孤注一掷的 referring to an effort or attempt that is made at the end of a series of failure to solve a problem, and is not necessarily expected to succeed

viable [ˋvaɪəb!] adj. 有望成功的; 切实可行的 able to continue to exist

write (something) off  把...看作不存在; 放弃 to decide that something will not be successful; to give up on someone or something as a dead loss, waste of time, hopeless case, etc

scrub [skrʌb] n. 矮树丛，灌木丛 an area of land covered with short trees and bushes, growing on dry ground of low quality

quarantine [ˋkwɔrən͵tin] v. 使隔离；使受检疫 to keep an animal that might have a contagious disease away from other animals for a period of time so that the disease cannot spread

(the) last stand (idiom) 背水一战；重击防线；最后战役 a final attempt at something in the face of overwhelming odds

Li Quan.jpg

South China Tigers on the Brink of Extinction!