Indian elephants are being squeezed out of their habitats
印度大象正被挤出栖息地
文化中的敬重大象，与现实中的保护之间存在距离。文章沿着栖息地破碎、人象冲突、保护行动和生态作用展开；读懂两处段首 but，就能避免把全文概括成一片悲观，也能看清“廊道增多”为什么未必是好消息。
原文来源：The Economist
学习目标
- 区分尊重动物与实际保护的关系
- 读懂数量变化背后的栖息地含义
- 拆解后置分词、关系从句和倒装的引语归属
- 用准确而有分寸的语言概括问题与改善
中英对照阅读
IN “ARTHASHASTRA”, an ancient Indian manual on statecraft, elephants were prized assets. Kings presented them to forge alliances. Generals relied on them to destroy the gates of forts. Today Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god, is still worshipped as the remover of obstacles, and children, as elsewhere, learn “E for Elephant”.
在古印度治国手册《政事论》中，大象是备受珍视的资产。 国王将大象作为礼物赠送，以结成联盟。 将领依靠大象撞毁堡垒的大门。 今天，长着象头的印度教神祇伽内什，仍被奉为消除障碍之神；和其他地方一样，孩子们也学着念“E代表Elephant（大象）”。
But reverence has not translated into protection. A survey published last year by the Wildlife Institute of India counted 22,446 elephants, 18% fewer than in 2017. The decline in some states was “a shocker”, says Qamar Qureshi, the report’s lead author. Part of the problem is geography. Unlike in Africa, villages are scattered throughout the forests of densely populated India. Elephants are often confined to narrow corridors between patches of forest. Vivek Menon of the Wildlife Trust of India says that in 2010 his team identified 88 such routes. Today there are about 150, reflecting shrinking habitats.
然而，敬重并未转化为保护。 印度野生动物研究所去年公布的一项调查，统计到22,446头大象，比2017年少18%。 报告主要作者卡马尔·库雷希说，部分邦的大象数量下降“令人震惊”。 问题的一部分出在地理条件上。 与非洲不同，在人口稠密的印度，村庄散布于森林之中。 大象往往只能活动在连接片片森林的狭窄廊道里。 印度野生动物信托组织的维韦克·梅农说，2010年他的团队确认了88条这样的通道。 如今约有150条，这反映出栖息地正在缩小。
As infrastructure cuts through forests, elephants stray into farms. Mining and blasting sites also get in their way. In West Bengal hulla (“noise”) parties see mobs hurl fireballs and firecrackers to drive the animals away, despite a Supreme Court ban. Electric fences sometimes block the elephants’ path. But they are excellent physicists, says Raman Sukumar, an ecologist. They use their tusks, which are poor electrical conductors, to break fences, or toss logs to short-circuit them. Forest guards and workers steering elephants back to safety are “utterly under-equipped and woefully unprepared”, says Prerna Bindra, a conservationist. Most lack basic equipment such as torches.
随着基础设施穿过森林，大象会误入农田。 采矿和爆破场地也挡住了它们的去路。 在西孟加拉邦，尽管最高法院已经禁止这种做法，hulla（“噪声”）驱赶行动中仍有人群投掷火球和鞭炮，试图赶走大象。 电围栏有时会挡住大象的路。 但生态学家拉曼·苏库马尔说，它们可是出色的物理学家。 它们利用不易导电的象牙破坏围栏，或者抛掷木头，使围栏短路。 自然保护人士普雷尔娜·宾德拉说，引导大象回到安全地带的护林员和工作人员，“装备极其不足，准备也糟糕透顶”。 其中大多数人连手电筒之类的基本装备都没有。
But not all is doom. Poaching for ivory has fallen since the 1980s. Co-ordination between state forestry departments and national customs has improved. Today India has a Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and states have anti-poaching plans. Last month India’s Supreme Court upheld the removal of commercial activity from an elephant corridor in Tamil Nadu.
但也并非全是坏消息。 自20世纪80年代以来，为获取象牙而进行的偷猎有所减少。 各邦林业部门与国家海关之间的协调有所改善。 如今，印度设有野生动物犯罪管制局，各邦也有反偷猎计划。 上个月，印度最高法院维持了清除泰米尔纳德邦一条大象廊道内商业活动的决定。
Elephants act as landscape architects. They disperse seeds, shape forests and fertilise soil. They keep wetlands alive by digging. “Arthashastra” advised India’s rulers to protect forests inhabited by the magnificent beasts. Those in charge today would do well to take note.
大象扮演着景观设计师的角色。 它们传播种子，塑造森林，并使土壤肥沃。 它们通过挖掘维持湿地的生机。 《政事论》曾建议印度统治者保护这些雄伟动物栖居的森林。 今天的管理者也不妨认真听取这一建议。