剑桥雅思17Test4Passage1阅读原文翻译 Bats to the rescue 马达加斯加蝙蝠
剑桥雅思17阅读第四套题目第一篇文章的主题为马达加斯加蝙蝠。作者首先强调马达加斯加农民与环保主义者的紧张关系，然后转向蝙蝠对维持生物多样性和控制害虫的重要作用，最后说明目前所存在的问题和需要做的进一步研究。下面是具体每一段的翻译，以供大家参考。
点击查看这篇雅思阅读中出现的常考词汇与对应的答案解析：
雅思阅读真题词汇 剑桥雅思17 Test 4 Passage 1 马达加斯加蝙蝠
剑桥雅思17Test4Passage1阅读答案解析 Bats to the rescue 马达加斯加蝙蝠
剑桥雅思17 Test4 Passage1阅读原文翻译
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第1段
There are few places in the world where relations between agriculture and conservation are more strained. Madagascar’s forests are being converted to agricultural land at a rate of one percent every year. Much of this destruction is fuelled by the cultivation of the country’s main staple crop: rice. And a key reason for this destruction is that insect pests are destroying vast quantities of what is grown by local subsistence farmers, leading them to clear forest to create new paddy fields. The result is devastating habitat and biodiversity loss on the island, but not all species are suffering. In fact, some of the island’s insectivorous bats are currently thriving and this has important implications for farmers and conservationists alike.
世界上很少有其他地方，农业与自然保护之间的关系是如此紧张。马达加斯加的森林正在以每年百分之一的速率转化为农业用地。推动这一破坏的主要原因是该国家所种植的主要粮食作物：大米。而造成这一破坏的一个关键因素则是各种害虫正在摧毁大量当地农民为了维持生计而种植的粮食。这迫使他们不得不清除森林以开辟新的耕地。结果就是岛上栖息地的破坏和生物多样性的损失。但并非所有的物种都饱受其害。事实上，岛上一些以昆虫为食的蝙蝠就过的很好。这对于农民和环保主义者来说都有重大意义。
第2段
Enter University of Cambridge zoologist Ricardo Rocha. He’s passionate about conservation, and bats. More specifically, he’s interested in how bats are responding to human activity and deforestation in particular. Rocha’s new study shows that several species of bats are giving Madagascar’s rice farmers a vital pest control service by feasting on plagues of insects. And this, he believes, can ease the financial pressure on farmers to turn forest into fields.
以剑桥大学动物学家Ricardo Rocha为例。他对环境保护和蝙蝠都充满热情。更确切的说，他对蝙蝠如何回应人类活动和森林砍伐尤其感兴趣。Rocha最近的研究表明，某些种类的蝙蝠通过捕食成灾的昆虫，为马达加斯加的稻农提供至关重要的害虫控制服务。他认为，这可以减轻农民将森林变为田地的经济压力。
第3段
Bats comprise roughly one-fifth of all mammal species in Madagascar and thirty-six recorded bat species are native to the island, making it one of the most important regions for conservation of this animal group anywhere in the world.
蝙蝠大约占马达加斯加所有哺乳动物的五分之一。36种有记录的蝙蝠都是该岛的原生物种。这使得它成为世界上保护这一动物群体最重要的区域之一。
第4段
Co-leading an international team of scientists, Rocha found that several species of indigenous bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects swarming above the country’s rice fields. They include the Malagasy mouse-eared bat, Major’s long-fingered bat, the Malagasy white-bellied free-tailed bat and Peters’ wrinkle-lipped bat.
作为国际科学家团队的共同领队，Rocha发现，几种本土的蝙蝠正利用栖息地的变化，捕食该国稻田里泛滥的昆虫。它们包括马达加斯加鼠耳蝠、马加长趾蝠、马达加斯加白腹犬吻蝠和彼氏皱唇蝠。
第5段
‘These winner species are providing a valuable free service to Madagascar as biological pest suppressors,’ says Rocha. ‘We found that six species of bat are preying on rice pests, including the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm. The damage which these insects cause puts the island’s farmers under huge financial pressure and that encourages deforestation.’
“这些赢家物种作为生物害虫抑制者为马达加斯加提供宝贵的免费服务，”Rocha说。“我们发现六种蝙蝠以水稻害虫为食。其中包括灰翅夜蛾和水稻切叶野螟。这些害虫所造成的破坏给岛上的农民带来沉重的经济压力，而这又鼓励砍伐森林的行为”。
第6段
The study, now published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, set out to investigate the feeding activity of insectivorous bats in the farmland bordering the Ranomafana National Park in the southeast of the country.
这一研究，如今发表在期刊《农业，生态系统与环境》上，着手调查食虫蝙蝠在该国东南部拉努马法纳国家公园边界处农田里的捕食行为。
第7段
Rocha and his team used state-of-the-art ultrasonic recorders to record over a thousand bat ‘feeding buzzes’ (echolocation sequences used by bats to target their prey) at 54 sites, in order to identify the favourite feeding spots of the bats. They next used DNA barcoding techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats at the different sites.
Rocha和他的团队利用最先进的超声录音设备记录了来自54个地点，超过1000段蝙蝠的“进食嗡鸣”（即蝙蝠用来定位猎物的回声定位序列），以界定这些蝙蝠文章来自老烤鸭雅思最喜欢的捕食地点。他们随后使用DNA条码技术分析在不同地点所收集的蝙蝠粪便。
第8段
The recordings revealed that bat activity over rice fields was much higher than it was in continuous forest – seven times higher over rice fields which were on flat ground, and sixteen times higher over fields on the sides of hills – leaving no doubt that the animals are preferentially foraging in these man-made ecosystems. The researchers suggest that the bats favour these fields because lack of water and nutrient run-off make these crops this article is from laokaoya website more susceptible to insect pest infestations. DNA analysis showed that all six species of bat had fed on economically important insect pests. While the findings indicated that rice farming benefits most from the bats, the scientists also found indications that the bats were consuming pests of other crops, including the black twig borer (which infests coffee plants), the sugarcane cicada, the macadamia nut-borer, and the sober tabby (a pest of citrus fruits).
记录显示，蝙蝠在稻田上的活动要远高于连绵的森林 – 稻田上的活动比平地上高7倍，比山坡上的区域高16倍。毫无疑问，这些动物更喜欢在这些人造生态系统中寻找食物。研究者认为，蝙蝠喜欢这些地方是因为缺水和营养流失使得这些农作物更容易受到害虫的侵扰。DNA分析显示，所有六种蝙蝠都以对经济有重大影响的害虫为食。尽管研究表明稻田从蝙蝠身上受益最多，但科学家也发现一些迹象，证明蝙蝠同样会捕食其他庄稼的害虫，其中包括黑色枝小蠹（侵害咖啡作物）、甘蔗蝉、坚果异胫小卷蛾，以及平纹林翅蛾（一种侵害柑橘类水果的害虫）。
第9段
‘The effectiveness of bats as pest controllers has already been proven in the USA and Catalonia,’ said co-author James Kemp, from the University of Lisbon. ‘But our study is the first to show this happening in Madagascar, where the stakes for both farmers and conservationists are so high.’
“蝙蝠作为害虫控制者的有效性已经在美国和加泰罗尼亚得以证实”，来自里斯本大学的共同作者James Kemp说到。“但我们的研究第一次表明马达加斯加也有相同的情况。这里农民和环保主义者所承担的风险都是如此之大”。
第10段
Local people may have a further reason to be grateful to their bats. While the animal is often associated with spreading disease, Rocha and his team found evidence that Malagasy bats feed not just on crop pests but also on mosquitoes – carriers of malaria, Rift Valley fever virus and elephantiasis – as well as blackflies, which spread river blindness.
当地人有更深一层的理由来感谢蝙蝠。虽然该动物经常与传播疾病联系在一起，Rocha和他的团队发现，有证据表明，马达加斯加的蝙蝠不仅吃庄稼害虫，而且也吃蚊子（它们是疟疾、裂谷热病毒和象皮病的携带者 ）和传播河盲症的黑蝇。
第11段
Rocha points out that the relationship is complicated. When food is scarce, bats become a crucial source of protein for local people. Even the children will hunt them. And as well as roosting in trees, the bats sometimes roost in buildings, but are not welcomed there because they make them unclean. At the same time, however, they are associated with sacred caves and the ancestors, so they can be viewed as beings between worlds, which makes them very significant in the culture of the people. And one potential problem is that while these bats are benefiting from farming, at the same time deforestation is reducing the places where they can roost, which could have long-term effects on their numbers. Rocha says, ‘With the right help, we hope that farmers can promote this mutually beneficial relationship by installing bat houses.’
Rocha指出，其关系很复杂。当食物匮乏的时候，蝙蝠会成为当地人重要的蛋白质来源。即便是孩子也会捕捉它们。而且除了栖息在树上之外，蝙蝠有时候也会栖息在建筑里。但它们在此并不受欢迎，因为它们会弄脏这些地方。然而，与此同时，它们与神圣的洞穴和祖先联系在一起，它们也因此被当成可以穿越不同世界的生物。这使得它们在当地民众的文化中十分重要。另外，一个潜在的问题是，虽然这些蝙蝠正从农耕中受益，但同时发生的森林砍伐却在减少它们可以栖身的地点。这对其数量有着长期的影响。Rocha说：“在正确的帮助下，我们希望农民可以通过建造蝙蝠屋来促进这种互利关系”。
第12段
Rocha and his colleagues believe that maximising bat populations can help to boost crop yields and promote sustainable livelihoods. The team is now calling for further research to quantify this contribution. ‘I’m very optimistic,’ says Rocha. ‘If we give nature a hand, we can speed up the process of regeneration.’
Rocha和其同事认为，蝙蝠数量的最大化能够帮助提升农作物产量，推动可持续的谋生之道。其团队如今需要更进一步的研究来量化这一贡献。“我十分乐观”，Rocha说。“如果我们给予自然帮助，我们就能加速恢复的过程”。
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