2017新托福听力解析:昆虫外来入侵

　　科学美国人60秒听力练习：昆虫外来入侵

　　科学美国人60秒英文文本

　　每年通过木材航道被带入的昆虫对当地政府与户主造成25亿美元的损失。

　　Many wooden shipping crates that enter the U.S. contain hungry stowaways: invasive species of insects. Although these pests often dine on trees, they also devour a different resource: money.

　　After dividing up the invaders into three categories based on their diet—some insects bore through wood while others chew foliage or slurp sap—researchers chose the most damaging species from each category. Then they analyzed the cost of these “poster pests” to five sectors: federal and local governments, households, residential property values and timber values. The non-native bugs cost local governments a whopping $1.7 billion every year, while also gobbling up $830 million dollars in residential property values. [Juliann E. Aukema et al., "Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States," in PLOS One]

　　To keep the ravenous insects from causing more economic damage, one of the study’s authors, Juliann Aukema of U.C. Santa Barbara, urges stronger regulations on international trade. Bug-sniffing dogs might help. After all, they have a vested interest in keeping trees healthy.

　　—Sophie Bushwick

　　科学美国人60秒中文翻译：

　　许多进入美国的运送木材的船舶携带了一种饥肠辘辘的偷渡者：外来物种昆虫。虽然这些害虫通常在树上进餐，但它们也会狼吞虎咽的吃光一种其他资源：金钱。

　　在根据他们的进食偏好——有些昆虫喜欢钻空树木，其它的喜欢吮吸树叶的汁液或者咀嚼繁茂的绿叶，把这些入侵者分为三类后，研究者们在每种中挑选出了造成损失最大的物种。然后他们在五个层面分析了外来入侵昆虫所造成的损失：联邦政府以及当地政府，户主，住宅资产价值，木材的价值。这些外来入侵昆虫每年给当地政府造成了17亿美元的巨额损失，同时也消耗掉8亿3千万美元的住宅资产价值。(Juliann E.Aukema等，“在美国大陆的外来入侵昆虫对经济的影响”发表于《公共科学图书馆——综合》)

　　为避免这些饥肠辘辘的昆虫造成更大的经济损失，此次研究报告的作者之一，Juliann Aukema,呼吁更强有力的法规监管。偷运者可能会帮忙。毕竟，他们在保证树木健康方面拥有既得利益。

　　—Sophie Bushwick