剑桥雅思15阅读Test4Passage1原文翻译

苦槠树在干旱的环境中生存能力强，它的根系能够吸取深层水源，并为其他植物提供水源。然而，随着时间的推移，苦槠树逐渐被庄稼取代，导致土壤侵蚀和沙漠化。为了保护和恢复苦槠树的栖息地，一些科学家和农民正在努力推动当地人重新热爱苦槠树，并将其产品加工成食品以创造可持续收入。他们还试图建立森林走廊来保护动植物的生态通道。这个项目有望成为其他干旱地区的模范，为解决类似问题提供希望。

 

第1段

The south coast of Peru is a narrow, 2,000-kilometre-long strip of desert squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. It hardly ever rains there, and the only year-round source of water is located tens of metres below the surface. This is why the huarango tree is so suited to life there: it has the longest roots of any tree in the world. They stretch down 50-80 metres and, as well as sucking up water for the tree, they bring it into the higher subsoil, creating a water source for other plant life.

秘鲁南海岸是一片狭窄的沙漠地带，位于安第斯山脉和太平洋之间，长达2000公里。它也是地球上最脆弱的生态系统之一。那里几乎从不下雨，而唯一的全年水源位于地下几十米处。这就是为什么苦槠树在那里生活得如此适应：它拥有世界上最长的根系。它们向下延伸50-80米，并且除了吸水供树木使用外，它们还将水带入较高的次土层，为其他植物提供水源。

第2段

Dr David Beresford-Jones, archaeobotanist at Cambridge University, has been studying the role of the huarango tree in landscape change in the Lower lea Valley in southern Peru. He believes the huarango was key to the ancient people’s diet and, because it could reach deep water sources, it allowed local people to withstand years of drought when their other crops failed. But over the centuries huarango trees were gradually replaced with crops. Cutting down native woodland leads to erosion, as there is nothing to keep the soil in place. So when the huarangos go, the land turns into a desert. Nothing grows at all in the Lower lea Valley now.

 剑桥大学的考古植物学家卫·贝瑞斯福德-琼斯博士一直在研究苦槠树在秘鲁南部利亚河谷景观变化中的作用。他认为苦槠树对古代人的饮食起到了关键作用，并且由于它可以达到深层水源，使当地人能够在其他作物歉收的干旱年份中生存下来。但是几个世纪以来，苦槠树逐渐被庄稼取代。砍伐土著林地会导致土壤侵蚀，因为没有东西使土壤保持在原位。因此，当苦槠树消失时，土地变成了沙漠。利亚河谷下游现在完全没有植物生长。

第3段

For centuries the huarango tree was vital to the people of the neighbouring Middle lea Valley too. They grew vegetables under it and ate products made from its seed pods. Its leaves and bark were used for herbal remedies, while its branches were used for charcoal for cooking and heating, and its trunk was used to build houses. But now it is disappearing rapidly. The majority of the huarango forests in the valley have already been cleared for fuel and agriculture – initially, these were smallholdings, but now they’re huge farms producing crops for the international market.

几个世纪来，苦槠树对邻近的中下游利亚河谷居民来说也是至关重要的。他们在苦槠树下种植蔬菜，并食用其种荚制成的产品。它的叶子和树皮被用于草药，它的树枝被用于烹饪和取暖的木炭，它的树干被用来建造房屋。但现在它正在迅速消失。利亚河谷中的大多数苦槠森林已经被清除用于燃料和农业 – 最初是小农场，但现在是为国际市场生产作物的大农场。

第4段

‘Of the forests that were here 1,000 years ago, 99 per cent have already gone,’ says botanist Oliver Whaley from Kew Gardens in London, who, together with ethnobotanist Dr William Milliken, is running a pioneering project to protect and restore the rapidly disappearing habitat. In order to succeed, Whaley needs to get the local people on board, and that has meant overcoming local prejudices. ‘Increasingly aspirational communities think that if you plant food trees in your home or street, it shows you are poor, and still need to grow your own food,’ he says. In order to stop the Middle lea Valley going the same way as the Lower lea Valley, Whaley is encouraging locals to love the huarangos again. ‘It’s a process of cultural resuscitation,’ he says. He has already set up a huarango festival to reinstate a sense of pride in their eco-heritage, and has helped local schoolchildren plant thousands of trees.

来自伦敦基尔植物园的植物学家奥利弗·惠利说：“1000年前这里有的森林中，99%的已经消失了。”他与民族植物学家威廉·米利肯博士一起开展了一项保护和恢复这一正在迅速消失的栖息地的开创性项目。为了成功，惠利需要让当地人接受，并克服当地的偏见。他说：“越来越有抱负的社区认为如果你在家里或街上种植食用树，那表明你很穷，仍然需要种植自己的食物。”为了阻止中下游利亚河谷走上与下游利亚河谷相同的道路，惠利鼓励当地人再次热爱苦槠树。他说：“这是一种文化复兴的过程。”他已经建立了一个苦槠节日，以恢复对生态遗产的自豪感，并帮助当地学生种植了成千上万棵树。

第5段

‘In order to get people interested in habitat restoration, you need to plant a tree that is useful to them,’ says Whaley. So, he has been working with local families to attempt to create a sustainable income from the huarangos by turning their products into foodstuffs. ‘Boil up the beans and you get this thick brown syrup like molasses. You can also use it in drinks, soups or stews. ‘ The pods can be ground into flour to make cakes, and the seeds roasted into a sweet, chocolatey ‘coffee’. ‘It’s packed full of vitamins and minerals, ‘ Whaley says.

惠利说：“为了引起人们对栖息地恢复的兴趣，你需要种植对他们有用的树。”因此，他一直与当地家庭合作，试图将苦槠树的产品加工成食品。他说：“煮豆子可以得到像糖蜜一样浓稠的棕色糖浆。你也可以在饮料、汤或炖菜中使用它。”豆荚可以磨成面粉制作蛋糕，种子可以烘烤成甜美的巧克力味“咖啡”。惠利说：“它富含维生素和矿物质。”

第6段

And some farmers are already planting huarangos. Alberto Benevides, owner of lea Valley’s only certified organic farm, which Whaley helped set up, has been planting the tree for 13 years. He produces syrup and flour, and sells these products at an organic farmers’ market in Lima. His farm is relatively small and doesn’t yet provide him with enough to live on, but he hopes this will change. ‘The organic market is growing rapidly in Peru, ‘ Benevides says. ‘I am investing in the future.

一些农民已经开始种植苦槠树。阿尔贝托·贝内维德斯是利亚河谷唯一一家有机农场的主人，惠利帮助他建立了这个农场，他种植苦槠树已经有13年了。他生产糖浆和面粉，并在利马的有机农产品市场销售这些产品。他的农场相对较小，目前还不能让他独立生活，但他希望这将会改变。贝内维德斯说：“秘鲁的有机市场正在迅速增长。”我正在为未来投资。

第7段

But even if Whaley can convince the local people to fall in love with the huarango again, there is still the threat of the larger farms. Some of these cut across the forests and break up the corridors that allow the essential movement of mammals, birds and pollen up and down the narrow forest strip. In the hope of counteracting this, he’s persuading farmers to let him plant forest corridors on their land. He believes the extra woodland will also benefit the farms by reducing their water usage through a lowering of evaporation and providing a refuge for bio-control insects.

但即使惠利能够说服当地人重新热爱苦槠树，还是面临着较大农场的威胁。其中一些农场穿越森林，并打破了允许哺乳动物、鸟类和花粉在狭窄森林带中上下移动的走廊。为了抵消这种情况，他说服农民让他在他们的土地上种植森林走廊。他认为额外的林地也将通过降低蒸发量和提供生物控制昆虫的避难所来使农场受益。

第8段

‘If we can record biodiversity and see how it all works, then we’re in a good position to move on from there. Desert habitats can reduce down to very little, ‘ Whaley explains. ‘It’s not like a rainforest that needs to have this huge expanse. Life has always been confined to corridors and islands here. If you just have a few trees left, the population can grow up quickly because it’s used to exploiting water when it arrives.’ He sees his project as a model that has the potential to be rolled out across other arid areas around the world. ‘If we can do it here, in the most fragile system on Earth, then that’s a real message of hope for lots of places, including Africa, where there is drought and they just can’t afford to wait for rain.’

惠利解释说：“如果我们能够记录生物多样性并了解其运作方式，那么我们就有很好的机会继续前进。沙漠栖息地可以减少到很少。”他将他的项目视为一个潜力能在世界其他干旱地区推广的模式。“如果我们能在地球上最脆弱的系统中做到这一点，那对包括非洲在内的许多地方都是一个真正的希望。”