2016年考研英语二阅读 Text 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens – a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands – once lent red to the often grey landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species' historic range.

生物学家估计，曾有多达200万只小草原鸡——一种栖息于广阔草原的鸟类——为美国中西部和西南部常年灰暗的景观增添过红色。但如今仅剩约22,000只，仅占该物种历史分布区的16%左右。

The crash was a major reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to formally list the bird as threatened. "The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation," said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as "endangered," a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the "threatened" tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservation approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action, and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken's habitat.

种群数量的急剧下降是美国鱼类及野生动物管理局（USFWS）决定正式将该鸟类列为“受威胁”物种的主要原因。USFWS局长Daniel Ashe表示：“小草原鸡正处于绝境。”然而，一些环保人士对此感到失望。他们曾推动该机构将该鸟类指定为“濒危”状态，这一状态赋予联邦官员更大的监管权力来打击威胁。但Ashe等人认为，“受威胁”标签使联邦政府能够灵活尝试新的、可能对抗性较弱的保护方法。具体而言，他们呼吁与常常对联邦行动感到不安的西部州政府，以及控制着小草原鸡约95%栖息地的私人土地所有者建立更紧密的合作。

Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowners or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat. USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let "states remain in the driver's seat for managing the species," Ashe said.

例如，根据该计划，该机构表示不会起诉无意杀死、伤害或干扰该鸟类的土地所有者或企业，只要他们签署了恢复小草原鸡栖息地的全范围管理计划。该计划由USFWS和各州谈判达成，要求因运营而破坏栖息地的个人和企业向一个基金付款，以每破坏一英亩就用两英亩新适宜栖息地来替代。该基金还将用于补偿那些保留栖息地的土地所有者。USFWS还设定了一个临时目标，即在未来10年内将小草原鸡种群恢复到年均67,000只。并将监督进展的任务交给了西部鱼类及野生动物机构协会（WAFWA），一个州级机构联盟。总体而言，这个想法是让“各州在管理该物种方面保持主导权”，Ashe说。

Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric. Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court. Not surprisingly, industry groups and states generally argue it goes too far; environmentalists say it doesn't go far enough. "The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction," says biologist Jay Lininger.

并非所有人都接受这种双赢的说辞。一些国会议员正试图阻止该计划，至少十几家行业团体、四个州和三个环保组织正在联邦法院对该计划提出挑战。不出所料，行业团体和各州普遍认为该计划做得太过；环保人士则表示做得不够。生物学家Jay Lininger说：“联邦政府正在将管理该鸟类的责任交给那些将其推向灭绝的行业。”