Camels Rampage 駱駝橫行霸道
By Jack Izzard, BBC News
Not all camels are this friendly
媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。
Background: 澳大利亞當局決定對一大批蜂擁而至的野生駱駝采取驅趕行動。多達六千頭駱駝橫沖直闖進入該國北部一個小居民區(qū)，踐踏了民宅的籬笆，污染了水源，讓當?shù)鼐用駠樀貌桓页鲩T。現(xiàn)在民眾要反擊了。
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A dusty outpost in the Aussie outback, Docker River has a population of 355... humans that is. But in recent weeks thousands of wild camels have descended on the town in search of water. The result has been chaos according to the head of the local authority Graham Taylor.
''Water supplies have been broken and damaged, sewers under the ground have been trampled and crushed, the airport is actually virtually unusable."
A million wild camels are thought to roam the red, sandy plains of Australia's Northern Territory but a drought has made natural water scarce, driving the thirsty beasts to head into populated areas. In Docker River their overwhelming numbers have forced residents to stay indoors. Now the state government has authorised a cull. Rob Knight is a spokesman.
"Docker River is under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels."
We'll be pushing them out 15km and shooting them and letting them decay into the desert.''
Animal rights campaigners say using helicopters to round up the camels for shooting them en masse is barbaric but Docker's River human residents say they are determined to get their town back.
Glossary 詞匯表 (收聽發(fā)音, 請單擊英語單詞)
- dusty outpost 塵土飛揚的前哨
- outback 內地的
- descended on the town 蜂擁入城
- chaos 混亂
- sewers 下水道
- trampled 踐踏/摧殘
- virtually unuseable 幾乎無法使用的
- roam 漫游/閑逛
- drought 干旱
- beasts 野獸
- populated areas 人口稠密地區(qū)
- overwhelming numbers 無計其數(shù)的
- cull剔除/殺戮
- under siege 受到襲擊
- marauding 劫掠
- decay 腐爛
- animal rights campaigners動物權益倡導人士
- round up 搜捕
- en masse 大群的
- barbaric 野蠻的
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