第2545期:Most rainforests too degraded to provide good habitats

The world's tropical rainforests are home to more than 16,000 different mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, from colourful monkeys and parrots living high in the canopy, to weird and wonderful frogs and toads on the forest floor. 世界上的热带雨林是超过 16000 种不同的哺乳动物、鸟类、两栖动物和爬行动物的家园：这里有生活在上层树冠区域的色彩鲜艳的猴子和鹦鹉，也有生活在森林地面上奇特又奇妙的青蛙和蟾蜍。 But now a study by Canadian scientists has revealed that while there may be tree cover remaining, most of the tropical rainforests across the globe are too degraded by logging, mining and roads to provide good quality habitat for wildlife. 但现在，加拿大科学家开展的一项研究表明，尽管许多热带雨林可能还被树木覆盖，但全球大多数热带雨林都因伐木、采矿和修路的破坏而严重退化，无法为野生动物提供优质的栖息地。 They're calling for urgent conservation action to protect tracts of undisturbed forest before extinction for many rainforest species becomes a foregone conclusion. And they say as rainforests are one of nature's best defences against climate change, this would also help stabilise the Earth's climate. 科学家们呼吁各国采取紧急保护行动，以保护大片未受侵扰的森林，否则许多热带雨林物种的灭绝将成为定局。他们表示，热带雨林是大自然抵抗气候变化的最佳屏障之一，这也将有助于稳定地球的气候。 词汇表canopy 树冠tree cover 树木覆盖logging 伐木mining 采矿habitat 栖息地conservation action 保护行动tracts 大片土地undisturbed 未被打扰的species 物种foregone conclusion 预料中的必然结局defences 保护，防御stabilise 使…稳定