科學美國人60秒聽力練習：昆蟲外來入侵

　　科學美國人60秒英文文本

　　每年通過木材航道被帶入的昆蟲對當地政府與戶主造成25億美元的損失。

　　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

　　科學美國人60秒中文翻譯：

　　許多進入美國的運送木材的船舶攜帶了一種饑腸轆轆的偷渡者：外來物種昆蟲。雖然這些害蟲通常在樹上進餐，但它們也會狼吞虎咽的吃光一種其他資源：金錢。

　　在根據他們的進食偏好——有些昆蟲喜歡鉆空樹木，其它的喜歡吮吸樹葉的汁液或者咀嚼繁茂的綠葉，把這些入侵者分為三類后，研究者們在每種中挑選出了造成損失最大的物種。然后他們在五個層面分析了外來入侵昆蟲所造成的損失：聯(lián)邦政府以及當地政府，戶主，住宅資產價值，木材的價值。這些外來入侵昆蟲每年給當地政府造成了17億美元的巨額損失，同時也消耗掉8億3千萬美元的住宅資產價值。(Juliann E.Aukema等，“在美國大陸的外來入侵昆蟲對經濟的影響”發(fā)表于《公共科學圖書館——綜合》)

　　為避免這些饑腸轆轆的昆蟲造成更大的經濟損失，此次研究報告的作者之一，Juliann Aukema,呼吁更強有力的法規(guī)監(jiān)管。偷運者可能會幫忙。畢竟，他們在保證樹木健康方面擁有既得利益。

　　—Sophie Bushwick