美語情景對話 第1075期:In the Tropics 熱帶地區
Aimee: So Paul, what's the most memorable job experience that you have?
艾米：保羅，你從事過的工作中哪個是令你最難忘的？Paul: Hmm, well, I think the most memorable one is the volunteering time that I spent in Australia. And I was up in the northeastern corner where there's a relatively small rainforest's. And I was helping with a research station that's located in the rainforest. So we do a range of different things, going from trying to control coconuts—coconut trees.
保羅：嗯，我想令我最難忘的工作是我在澳大利亞擔任的志願者工作。當時我前往澳大利亞東北角一個相對較小的熱帶雨林。我在那個熱帶雨林爲一個研究站提供幫助。我們做了很多事，其中包括控制椰樹。Aimee: Control?
艾米：控制？
Paul: Yeah, because, like, believe it or not, you imagine this kind of tropical paradises to have coconut trees but they're actually very invasive and they're not native to that area. And basically, if you let a population of coconut trees to go out of control, nothing else can grow.
保羅：對，不管你信不信，你可能認爲這種有椰樹的地方是熱帶天堂，但其實這些椰樹會造成侵害，而且椰樹並不是當地的本土植物。如果大量椰樹不受控制地生長，那就會導致其他植物無法生長。Aimee: Oh.
艾米：哦。Paul: They drop their fronds, and they drop, obviously, the coconuts, and nothing else can grow. So you basically lose a lot of the native species there. So we're trying to keep them under control. There was also caring for bats that had been orphaned.
保羅：椰樹會長樹葉和椰子，這會導致其他植物無法生長。然後進一步導致該地區本土物種流失。我們要盡力去控制。另外，我們還會救助蝙蝠孤兒。Aimee: Bats?
艾米：蝙蝠？Paul: Sometimes they're born with physical disabilities that mean they can't survive in the wild.
保羅：有些蝙蝠甚至有身體殘疾，這使它們無法在野外生存下去。Aimee: Like a sanctuary then.
艾米：你們會爲它們提供庇護所。Paul: Yes. Just like a sanctuary, yeah. So they take care of—
保羅：對。我們會提供類似庇護所的地方。然後照顧它們。Aimee: What size of bats, like any other—
艾米：那些蝙蝠有多大？就像一般的蝙蝠那麼大嗎？Paul: Fruit bats.
保羅：是果蝠。Aimee: What size are they?
艾米：它們有多大？Paul: They're pretty, like, once they spread—they're like little monkeys with big wings.
保羅：它們非常大，如果它們把翅膀張開，它們就像長了翅膀的小猴子。Aimee: Yeah. So what's their wing span then?
艾米：嗯，它們的翼展有多長？Paul: Let's say, maybe, I guess up to probably 4 feet. Does that sound too much?
保羅：我想想，大概有四英尺。聽起來是不是太長了？Aimee: So about a meter?
艾米：大約一米長？Paul: Yeah. Some of the big dudes, they got huge wingspan.
保羅：對。有些大蝙蝠的翼展非常長。Aimee: Oh, the only bats I've seen in real life are really tiny. They're just like mice.
艾米：哦，我在現實生活中看到的蝙蝠都非常小。就像小老鼠一樣。Paul: Oh, the micro-bats.
保羅：哦，微型蝙蝠。Aimee: They're like little birds, you know. You see them flying around and you think, "Oh that's birds." No, they're bats. So these guys sound pretty big.
艾米：它們就像小鳥一樣。如果你看到它們在你旁邊飛，你會想“哦，那是鳥”。但是其實不是，那是蝙蝠。而你照顧的蝙蝠聽起來非常大。Paul: Hmm, but they're completely like omnivorous. They only eat fruit, so like, they really—
保羅：嗯，它們非常像雜食動物。它們只吃水果。Aimee: Do they eat the coconuts?
艾米：它們吃椰子嗎？Paul: Well, the coconuts are kind of tough for them to get into. You need to be able to make a hole, I suppose, to get that.
保羅：對它們來說，椰子很難吃到。因爲你要在椰子上弄個洞，然後才能吃到。Aimee: Of course, yeah.
艾米：當然了。Paul: But they eat all, mostly like fleshy fruits; apples or whatever they can get really—berries. They're really important for spreading—because obviously they eat the flesh of the fruit but they don't eat the seeds. So they just kind of pass through them and they're really useful for dispersing seeds. So rainforest regeneration, they're very important animals.
保羅：它們通常以多肉的水果爲食，比如蘋果或是漿果等它們能吃到的水果。這些蝙蝠爲種子的散播做出了重要貢獻，因爲它們只吃果肉，但是不吃種子。所以它們會把種子排出體外，這非常利於散播種子。可以說，對熱帶雨林的再生來說，它們是非常重要的動物。Aimee: So they're like the big bumble bees of the rain forest, then.
艾米：它們就像熱帶雨林的大黃蜂。Paul: Yeah. I guess you could look at it like that, yeah. So yeah, that was an interesting volunteering kind of odd job that I had, I suppose.
保羅：對。我認爲可以這樣看。我想這是我做過的既有趣又特別的志願工作。Aimee: Yeah. Essentially yet really cool.
艾米：嗯。而且還非常酷。Paul: I really like to go back there someday.
保羅：我非常希望有一天能再回到那裏去。
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重點講解：
1. believe it or not （強調剛纔所述之事令人吃驚）信不信由你；
例句：That's normal, believe it or not.
那很正常，信不信由你。
2. be born with 生下來（有某種疾病或問題）；天生（具有某種性格）；
例句：He was born with only one lung.
他生下來就只有一葉肺。
3. under control 被控制住；得到控制；
例句：All effluent discharges are now under control.
現時所有污水排放已受到管制。
4. out of control 失去控制；不受控制；
例句：Forest fires were raging out of control.
森林大火迅速蔓延，就要失去控制。
5. take care of 照顧；照看；看護；
例句：He had no one to take care of him.
他無人照顧。
