很多动物园为了吸引更多的游客都圈养了大象，但你不知道动物园的大象平均寿命不到野生大象的一半，是什么因素导致了圈养大象寿命的缩短？动物园应该如何改善大象的生活环境？
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I'm visiting the zoo to find out about a novel approach to animal welfare, a vision that's raising a question for all zoos.
我来到这家动物园是为了找到有关保护动物福利的新方法，该想法给所有动物园提出了问题。
★ novel a.新颖的
★ approach n.方法
★ welfare n.福利
This used to be the indoor enclosure for Detroit's two Asian elephants. Now, notice, there is more room for people than there is for elephants.
这里原本是底特律两头亚洲象的室内围场，请注意，留给人们的空间比大象的空间更大。
★★ enclosure n.围场
When they lived here, both elephants developed arthritis and chronic foot problems. Many captive elephants have major problems with their feet because they're not walking enough and they're not walking on the right material.
住在这里的两头大象都患上了关节炎和慢性足部疾病，许多圈养大象都会有足部疾病，因为它们走路太少，也没走在适宜的材质上。
★★★ arthritis n.关节炎
★★ chronic a.慢性的
★ captive a.圈养的
The Michigan climate exacerbated the problem of not giving the elephants enough space. When we had particularly long, harsh winters, and the elephants had to stay indoors for long periods of time, we knew that wasn't good for them.
密歇根的气候更是加剧了无法给予大象足够空间的这一问题，漫长严酷的冬天来临时，大象就不得不长时间待在室内，我们知道那对它们不好。
★★★ exacerbate vt.使加剧，使恶化
★ harsh a.恶劣的
In 2004, Detroit announced it was moving its elephants to a sanctuary. There were people that said, oh, your attendance is going to drop and this is going to hurt revenue. We said, you know, we don't think that's right. But we're just not prepared to knowingly keep animals that we don't think are doing well.
2004年，底特律宣布将大象送往一处避难所。有人说你们的访客量会下降，会有损你们的收益。我们说，我们认为那是不对的，但我们不准备明知道动物身体不好，还刻意圈养它们。
★ announce v.宣布
★★★ sanctuary n.避难所
★ attendance n.出席人数
★ revenue n.收入
★★★ knowingly ad.故意地
Because, as is often the case in a profession. People don't like dealing with complex ethical issues in a public forum. And that was very unsettling for a lot of people in the zoo world.
这种情况在每个行业都常见，人们不喜欢在大众平台上，处理复杂的道德问题，那使得动物园界的许多人，非常不安。
★★ ethical issue 道德问题
★★ public forum 公共论坛
★★★ unsettling a.令人不安的
But Ron was determined to push on with a radical rethink of what a zoo should be. Instead of going well, a good zoo must have elephants and rhinos and tigers and lions, you go, a good zoo must have animals that it knows can thrive and it should not have animals that can't thrive.
但罗恩仍决心要彻底重思动物园应该是怎样的。与其觉得一座好的动物园必须有大象、犀牛、老虎和狮子，不如想想一座好的动物园必须养殖他们确保能健康生长的动物，不该养殖无法健康生长的动物。
★ radical a.彻底的
★ thrive vi.兴盛，茁壮成长
Zoos have what are called stud books for most of the animals they keep records of their genealogical background as well as births, deaths, transfers and imports of animals. No one really knew how well the European zoo population of elephants were doing until scientists studied these records. And what they found was disturbing.
动物园的大部分动物都在种畜簿上登记过，动物园记录了它们的宗谱背景，动物的出生、死亡、转移和引进信息。科学家研究这些记录前没人知道欧洲动物园大象种群的生存状况到底如何，他们的发现令人不安。
★★★ genealogical a.宗谱的
★ transfer n.转移
★★ disturbing a.令人不安的
The most significant revelation was how long the elephants in European zoos were living. It turned out captive-born female Asian elephants - the majority of the zoo population - were living 19 years on average. Scientists wanted to benchmark this against the wild.
最重要的发现是，欧洲动物园里的大象能活多久，结果发现占动物园种群大部分圈养出生的雌性亚洲象平均能活十九年，科学家想以此和野生大象做个比较。
★★ revelation n.揭露
★★★ captive-born a.圈养出生的
★★★ benchmark vt.参照
The research was published and a backlash began. From zoos, it was on the whole quite negative and hostile. And there was a reaction to discrediting us, rather than looking at their practices and the welfare of their elephants so that something could be done about it.
研究公开后遭到了强烈反对，动物园对此的态度大多是否认和敌对的。而有些动物园的反应是来诋毁我们，而不是反思他们自己的行为，考虑他们园中大象的福利，并就此采取一些行动。
★★★ backlash n.强烈反对
★ hostile a.敌对的
★★★ discredit vt.败坏…的名声
★ welfare n.福利
According to the science, two risk factors limit the life spans of elephants in captivity - stress and obesity.
科学研究证明，两大缩短圈养大象寿命的危险因素是：压力和肥胖。
★ life span 寿命
★★ captivity n.圈养
★★ obesity n.肥胖
The Government has told British zoos they must improve the welfare of their elephants by 2021, or risk having to phase them out. I think the jury's still out in terms of whether enough will be done, because I think the changes needed are probably so big. I'm very skeptical as to whether that will happen in this time period.
政府已经告知英国的动物园必须在2021年前改善大象的生存状况，否则会将动物园逐步取缔。动物园能不能达到改善标准我觉得这个问题目前还不能下定论，因为我觉得他们可能需要翻天覆地的改变，我很怀疑在有限的时间内有没有可能办得到。
★★★ phase out 逐步淘汰
★★★ the jury is still out 尚无定论
★ in terms of 在…方面
★★ skeptical a.怀疑的
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