Unit 4 Scripts & Notes
Unit 4 Conservation
Part II LISTENING AND SPEAKING Lesson A Why Are They Endangered? Listening
SCRIPT Track 4-1
Numbers of most animal species worldwide are going down. For example, in the 1970s, there were about 1,200,000 African elephants. Today there are only about 500,000. In the 1970s, there were about 200,000 African lions. Today, there are fewer than 21,000. But there is some good news. For example, in the 1970s, there were only about 1,000 bald eagles. Today, there are more than 50,000. Giant panda populations also look to be increasing, but very slowly. In the 1970s there were about 1,000 pandas in the wild, today scientists think there are about 1,600.
Animals worldwide are in danger for several reasons. First, people poison them because they want to kill them. This happens with lions, for example. Also, many farmers who grow food use pesticides to kill insects. Some animals eat these insects and die, too. This happened with bald eagles until farmers stopped using the dangerous pesticide called DDT.
Second, there is habitat loss. In much of the world, people cut down trees. They destroy forests because they need land for farms and cities. This takes away land from animals. This happens, from example, with lions, elephants, and pandas.
Third, there is hunting. People sometimes kill animals for food. They also kill animals for their body parts. For example, poachers kill elephants for their white tusks. More often, farmers want to protect their own animals — their cows and sheep — so they kill lions. Or they want to protect their land, so they kill elephants. In the past, poaching was a problem for pandas as people hunted pandas for their skin. Today, this isn’t really a problem for them. 1. DDT：滴滴涕，双对氯苯基三氯乙烷，用作农用杀虫剂
Conversation
Track 4–2
A: Did you know that grizzly bears are endangered? B: Yeah? Why are they endangered?
A: Mainly because of hunting by humans and habitat loss. B: How many are left? A: Only about 25,000.
Lesson B Listening 1
SCRIPT
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Unit 4 Scripts & Notes
Track 4-3
Zeb Hogan
Many of the world’s largest freshwater fish are endangered. In Mongolia, for example, people who live near the rivers and lakes are often poor. They kill the fish for food, decreasing their numbers. People also kill them for sport, so their numbers are further decreasing. Zeb Hogan, from the United States, is working with local people to save fish such as the giant salmon in Mongolia. Hogan is part of a project to bring tourists to rivers in Mongolia. They pay to catch salmon for sport, and then release them — throw them back into the water. The fish are not hurt, and the people in Mongolian villages make money from the tourism.
Tuy Sereivathana (Vathana)
In Cambodia, there are many new towns, roads, and farms, and elephant habitats are disappearing. Because of this, elephants go into villages and eat the crops. Poor farmers kill them to protect their land. As a result, the Cambodian elephant population has fallen from 2,000 in 1995 to fewer than 500 today.
Tuy Sereivathana (known as Vathana), from Cambodia, is working to save Asian elephants. He builds schools where students learn about conservation. Also, he teaches farmers ways to keep their land safe from elephants, so farmers don’t kill them. For example, he shows them how to use fireworks to scare elephants, or to put hot chili peppers on fences around their fields. The farmers keep their crops, and the elephants keep their lives.
1. Cambodia：柬埔寨
Listening 2
SCRIPT Track 4-4
Many people worldwide want to help endangered animals by donating money or volunteering. However, they don’t know about the many projects conservationists are doing to save animals. Another big problem is that many conservationists want to share the work they do with the rest of the world, but don’t know how.
Paula Kahumbu, from Kenya, writes books and gives talks. Also, she is the director of a website, wildlifedirect.org. This site has many blogs, photos, and podcasts from about 120 different conservation projects in different countries. The conservationists tell people about their important work, and people around the world can read about the conservationists’ projects — for example, saving gorillas in the Congo or orangutans in Indonesia or lions in Kenya. People can learn about the projects and send money to help, if they want.
1. Kenya：肯尼亚，位于非洲东部，全境位于热带季风区 2. Congo：刚果，位于非洲中西部
3. Indonesia：通称印度尼西亚，简称印尼，东南亚国家
PART III VIDEO
SCRIPT
Narrator:
It’s morning in Kenya, at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Little elephants and their human
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Unit 4 Scripts & Notes
keepers are waking up to a beautiful African morning.
This is little Shimba. He came to the nursery when he was only six weeks old.
And this is ten-month old Shula. Shula became an orphan when her mother was killed by poachers.
Many of the orphans here had mothers killed by poachers. And without their mothers, these baby elephants would not have survived in the wild. In total, the orphanage has saved over 100 young elephants. But taking care of baby elephants is not easy. It took the Trust twenty years to find the right food and care to keep the baby elephants alive. Elephants cannot drink cow’s milk, so they must drink a special kind of milk. Every baby elephant needs to drink more than 10 liters of this special milk every 24 hours. That’s a lot of milk. When they get older, they must drink even more milk to stay healthy. They can now also eat some dried coconut and oatmeal.
Growing elephants don’t just need a lot of food, they also need a lot of love. The keepers stay close to their elephants 24 hours a day. Just as a mother elephant would stay close to her children. With their human parents nearby, and a soft blanket to rest against, the babies feel safe and warm.
And then it’s playtime! Like human children, young elephants love to play.
Edwin Lucichi, a keeper, says: They behave like human babies. What you tell them not to do is what they want to do. And where you want them not to go is where they want to go.
There are 51 keepers here in all. Their job is to care for the elephants until they are ready to go back into the wild. Sometimes this can take up to ten years. But it is possible. The Trust has seen elephants from the orphanage re-enter the wild and start families of their own.
For one hour every day, the Trust lets in tourists and locals who want to see the elephants. It’s a chance to show people what they’re doing and teach people how important it is to protect the elephants.
In just thirty years, over two and half million elephants have died, many killed by poachers. And their habitats have been destroyed by human activity. But here at the Trust, the orphans are all safe, for now.
As the sun sets, the baby elephants are put to bed by their keepers who will stay close-by all night in case the babies need them. And with their help, the Trust hopes these animals will have a bright future under the African sky.
1. coconut：椰子 2. oatmeal：燕麦片
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全新版大学进阶英语视听说教程第3册--Unit 4 文本
