科学美国人60秒:捡垃圾生活让鹳忘却自古流传迁徙习惯

Humans   aren't   the   only   creatures   who   love   junk   food — many   animals   are   known   to   enjoy   sifting  through   our   garbage   to   find   edible   treats .

And now we learn that some storks have stopped migrating from Europe to sub-Saharan Africain the winter—they'd rather feed at landfills.

sifting  ['siftiŋ]    n. 过筛，过滤；筛选 v. 筛撒，纷落，详察

edible  ['edibl]      adj. 可食用的

storks  [stɔ:k]    n. 鹳

landfills  ['lændfil]    n. 垃圾填埋地；垃圾堆

“ They   use   landfill   sites   heavily   during   the   winter   and   they   travel   very   long   distance   to   get   to   the  sites .”
Aldina   Franco   of   the   University   of   East   Anglia ,  one   of   the   scientists   who   studied   the   storks'   use  of   landfills   in   Portugal .

GPS tracking devices on 17 birds showed that the landfill life might mean up to 100-kilometer round-trips to feed—healthy distances, but far shorter than their historic migration routes.

Portugal    n. 葡萄牙（欧洲西南部国家

historic  [his'tɔrik]    adj. 有历史意义的；历史上著名的

“ And   also   they   use   the   nests   throughout   the   year   and   look   after   the   nests .
So   these   resident   birds   are   in   perfect   condition ,  they   are   always   ready   to   start   breeding .

So as soon as spring arrives they're ready to go, the nest is in good condition, and they start breeding earlier.”

shoot up射出；发芽；暴涨；迅速成长

booming  ['bu:miŋ]    adj. 兴旺的，繁荣的；大受欢迎的

The   number   of   storks   overwintering   in   Portugal   has   shot   up   from   fewer   than  2,000  in  1995  to  14,000  in  2014.
The   increase   appears   to   reflect   both   changes   in   behavior   and   a   booming   stork   population   in  general .

The study is in the journal Movement Ecology.

The   Portuguese   landfills   are   slated   to   close   in  2018,  with   the   trash   diverted   to   covered  recycling   and   composting   facilities .
How   will   the   storks   respond ?

Franco thinks they'll get back to basics.

composting    n. 堆肥化；堆制肥料 v. 把…做成堆肥（compost的ing形式

• be slated to V 预定

Li Keqiang, slated to be China's next premier, said this month that reforming the system was a priority.  跟读

被内定为中国下一届总理的李克强本月表示，将把城镇化改革作为一项工作重点

“So the storks are social animals.They live in colonies.They migrate in groups.

So   potentially   as   long   as   there   are   a   few   birds   that   still   know   the   route ,  they   can   teach   the  ones   that   are   currently   residents   how   to   migrate .”