Zoo Stock Take

The script of this programme 本节目台词

Neil: Hello. This is On the Town from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

Helen: 大家好，我是 Helen, 欢迎收听都市掠影。

Neil: Welcome to London Zoo. Animal heaven!

Helen: 伦敦动物园，孩子们的天堂，也是动物的天堂。

Neil: And did you know that the first month of every year is the busiest time for the zoo keepers?

Helen: Zoo keepers 动物园管理员，1月份是动物园最忙的季节，为什么？Why?

Neil: Well, it's the time that zoo keepers have dusted off their calculators and dug out their tally charts to begin the tricky task of counting every animal at London Zoo.

Helen: 拿出他们计算器 calculators 和统计表 tally charts, 把动物园里的所有动物都挨个数清楚。 这能数得清楚吗？

Neil: It's not an easy task. The keepers are taking note of every mammal, bird, fish, reptile, amphibian and invertebrate.

Helen: 哎呀，我听着都头晕了。包括哺乳动物 mammal, 鸟 bird, 鱼 fish, 爬行动物 reptile, 两栖动物 amphibian, 还有无脊椎的动物 invertebrate.

Neil: Last year, there were over 18,000 animals and 750 species. But that will change this year. Let's find out what each department is doing.

Helen: 在动物园里，企鹅是一大热点，管理员 Adrian Wall, 已经开始点数了。

It's not an easy job to count them. Obviously with 60+ penguins black and white, they all look fairly similar, it's very very important that we know exactly what we've got, so we can input all their information into huge global databases, run stud book programmes, make sure we've got all the genetic side of the penguins mapped out.

Neil: Adrian says it's not easy to count the 60+ penguins in his care.

It's not easy to count the penguins - they all look alike!

Helen: 60多只企鹅，都是黑白相间，长得差不多。要分清楚也不容易。Adrian 说知道这些动物的准确数目和性别对他们的科研和繁殖工作非常重要。

Neil: The information is put into huge global databases and is accessed by other zoos around the world. So they can run stud programmes, which are breeding programmes.

Helen: 数据库 database, 世界各国的动物园都可以分享这些信息，可以帮助配种项目 stud programmes.

Neil: But counting the animals is not as easy as 1,2,3. Some of them are not exactly human friendly.

Nobody wants to count the tarantulas!

Helen: Gareth Kother 负责数爬行动物 reptiles. 接近这些蜥蜴 lizards 的时候，可得当心点。

Neil: You don't want to be too close to them, and if they do get their teeth into you, you'll know.

It would hurt a lot, you'd try not to get bitten by one of them. You wouldn't die, but it'd be a very painful bite, and you will not be doing well for a while.

Helen: 如果被蜥蜴咬了的话，虽然死不了，但也不好过。要好久才能恢复。

Neil: Ouch! Over in the bug house.

Helen: Where?

Neil: Bugs, insects. Like ants and millipedes.

Helen: Yuck, I don't like bugs 虫子，那这么多虫子怎么数得清楚？虫子太小了。

Neil: Well, Kate Pearce is a bug handler.

Helen: Kate 是昆虫管理员 bug handler.

Neil: She has the bugs under control.

We do keep a really close eye on the numbers of these animals, so we will be doing regular counts throughout the year as well. I also know that some of these species will be from certain generations, so I know how old they are as well. So it's quite important to keep a really good track of how they are going really.

Helen: Kate 说，平时都密切关注昆虫的数量是关键。 她用了一个很有用的表达 to keep a close eye on something 就是密切关注的意思。

Neil: Her team does regular counts throughout the year. And amazingly she knows which generation some of these bugs are from.

Some creatures, like this butterfly, are hard to catch.

Helen: 是啊，这可了不起。就连虫子的辈分她都知道。她的跟踪工作做的很好，she's keeping track of how the bugs are doing.

Neil: As we mentioned, counting the animals is important for the zoo. Here is Dave Clark. He explains the reasons behind the annual stock take to us once more.

Well, there are various reasons, because of the zoo license and we do keep tabs during the year. This is a point in time, where we double check what numbers we've got and particularly important for things like, we have got relatives for this giant land snails and a little snail from Polynesia which are extinct in the wild. So depend totally on captive breeding. And that's a vital conservation programme, and we need to know exactly how many we've got.

Helen: 动物园每年都要数一次动物数量的。另一重要原因是续签动物园的执照 the zoo license. 这是当地政府发的许可证，拿不到 zoo license, 那动物园就没法开门了。

Neil: Dave also mentioned that some species are extinct in the wild.

Helen: 在野外已经绝种了 extinct in the wild.

The Zoo keepers have to check all the animals both big and small.

Neil: So they totally depend on captive breeding.

Helen: 人工繁殖 captive breeding.

Neil: This is a vital conservation programme.

Helen: 所以清点动物数目也成了非常重要的保护项目。Vital 就是关键，conservation 是保护的意思。

Neil: Well, stock taking at the zoo is not a five minute job. It's expected to take a week.

Helen: 那我们别打扰工作人员了，they've got lots of counting to do. 别忘了在我们的网站上有更多有趣的节目， 我们的网址是www.bbcukchina.com. 谢谢收听。 Bye.

Neil: Bye.