新托福阅读：Heritage or threat?

采取措施和大象和平共处

TWO farmers in Anekal, a forested bit of the south Indian state of Karnataka, were in their fields this summer when a pair of cow elephants and a calf emerged from the trees. Protective of the calf, the animals chased and trampled the men. Such deaths are not unusual: each year some 400 Indians are fatally stomped, and killings are getting more common, says a new report by India’s Elephant Task Force, a government-backed panel.

Anekal是印度南部卡纳塔克邦的一个草木繁茂的地区。今年夏天，正当该区两位农民在田地里劳作时，突然从树丛中走出两只母象和一只小象。为保护小象，两只母象跑去追逐这两个人，并把他们踩死了。大象踩死人事件在印度不足为奇：印度大象特别小组(一个官方的专门小组)的一份新报告表明，每年大约有400个印度人死于大象脚下，并且这一现象正变得日益普遍。

That is bad both for humans and jumbos. After the deaths in Anekal, villagers angrily demanded that officials control the elephants. Others are taking direct action: around 100 of the animals are being killed each year, according to “Securing the Future for Elephants in India”, published on August 31st. A booming human population and rapid economic development are shrinking the elephants’ habitat. In Anekal farmers encroach on the forest, disrupting a migratory route. This is happening across 90 such corridors, leaving the animal populations isolated.

这一状况对人类和这种庞然大物来说都十分不利。Anekal的两位农民被踩死后，村民们怒气冲冲，要求政府对大象进行控制。而其他人正采取直接行动——8月31日发表了一篇名为“捍卫印度大象的未来”的文章，该文称每年大约有一百头大象遭猎杀。经济迅速发展以及人口急剧膨胀导致大象的栖息地日渐缩小。在Anekal，农民们不断侵蚀森林，破坏了大象的迁移路线。有90条这样的路线遭到了破坏，使这一动物种群被孤立开来。

India has done a reasonable job of protecting its elephants. It has some 60% of the remaining total of 44,000-56,000 Asian ones. Whereas in India the population is stable, elsewhere numbers have slumped. Laos, once dubbed “the land of a million elephants”, may have only 1,000 left. Indians are generally keen on the animal in whose form is manifested a popular god, Ganesh. But even that fondness can cause misery: some 3,500 elephants are kept captive for temple rituals, political processions and spoilt children’s birthday parties.

在保护大象方面，印度政府的做法是适当的。亚洲象总共还余下4.4-5.6万头，印度约占60%。尽管印度大象数目保持稳定，但其他地方的数量已大大减少。老挝曾号称“万象之国”，现在也许只剩下1000头了。一般来说，印度人十分钟爱这种动物，因为“甘尼许”在印度是一个广受欢迎的神，他们认为大象的形状是对该神的显现。但甚至连这一喜爱也不能使大象免遭不幸：大约有3500头象被关押着，以候被宠溺小孩的生日聚会，政治游行和祭祀之用。

The Indian elephants’ good health is not assured. Many are hit by trains or cars, or electrocuted by low-hanging power lines. Others fall to ivory poachers. Unlike African elephants, only the males have tusks, which has skewed the gender ratio in some places to one male for every 100 females.

印度象的健康没有任何保障。许多大象常被火车和汽车撞死，或是因为电线挂的太低而被电死。其他大象则落入偷猎象牙者的手里。和非洲象不同，印度象中只有雄象才长象牙，因此在一些地方，公象和母象的数量发生了巨大偏斜，比例为1：100。

The report suggests forming an elephant-conservation body and legal protection for the migratory corridors. The government will name the elephant a “national heritage animal”, giving it the same protection as the tiger. But that should really worry jumbo. Four decades after the much trumpeted setting up of Project Tiger, the big-cat population has continued its disastrous fall from 40,000 a century ago to 1,400 now.

该报告建议成立一个保护大象的机构，并立法保护大象的迁移路线。政府将把大象确定为“国家动物遗产”，使它受到同老虎一样的保护。但此举反而会起人们对这一庞然大物的担忧。因为一个世纪以前，印度有老虎40000只，但40年前，在印度政府的大肆宣扬下建起了一个“老虎工程”，此后老虎数量损失惨重，持续下降，如今这种大型猫科动物的数量只剩下1400只了。