Feeding Mandarin Ducks Is Not an Act of Kindness喂鴛鴦不是善舉

A flock2 of wild Mandarin ducks are the big draw in the WestLake scenic area in Hangzhou， with tourists flocking from around thecountry to see them.

杭州西湖風(fēng)景區(qū)的一群野生鴛鴦頗具吸引力，全國各地的游客紛紛前來一睹它們的風(fēng)采。

However， some of the tourists have been feeding the ducks， even pulling themby the neck to force3 them. A video claiming4 that some of the ducks had diedfrom over-feeding went viral5 on social networking sites.

然而，一些游客卻給鴛鴦喂食，甚至拽著鴛鴦的脖子強(qiáng)行喂食。一段聲稱部分鴛鴦因遭過量投喂而死亡的視頻在社交網(wǎng)站上瘋傳。

Although there are prominent6 signboards warning people against feedingthese Mandarin ducks， tourists just cannot hold back. Some even believe the ducksare short of food and they are doing them a favor， little realizing that their actioncan be harmful to the birds’health. Human food does not always go down wellwith ducks， particularly potato chips， as the oily snack can be harmful to thehealth of Mandarin ducks.

盡管有醒目的告示牌警告人們不要給它那些鴛鴦喂食，但游客們還是按捺不住。有些人甚至認(rèn)為鴛鴦的飼料不足，他們是在幫忙，幾乎沒有意識到他們的行為可能會損害鳥類的健康。人類的食物并不總是適合鴛鴦，尤其是薯片，因?yàn)橛湍伒牧闶硶?yán)重?fù)p害鴛鴦的健康。

However， tourists can often be seen feeding the ducks food that the birdscannot digest7.

然而，經(jīng)?？梢钥吹接慰徒o鴛鴦喂食鳥類無法消化的食物。

Besides， feeding the ducks could stop them from competing in the wild tofind their food. If they become dependent on food provided by humans， they willlose their survival8 skills.

此外，給鴛鴦喂食可能阻止它們在野外競爭覓食。如果它們變得依賴于人類提供的食物，它們就會失去生存技能。

Also， by giving food to them， the tourists are polluting the environment.Especially， food thrown into the water could harm the ecosystem there.

而且，游客給他們提供食物是在污染環(huán)境。特別是扔進(jìn)水中的食物可能會損害那里的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

However， the tourists know little about the harm they cause to the environmentand there is a need to create awareness about it. Meanwhile， the number of Mandarinducks at West Lake has dropped from 336 last year to 260 this year. Maybe thedeclining9 numbers will wake the tourists up to this reality.

然而，游客對他們給環(huán)境造成的危害知之甚少，因此有必要提高他們的環(huán)保意識。與此同時，西湖鴛鴦的數(shù)量也從去年的336 只下降到今年的260 只。也許鴛鴦數(shù)量的下降會讓游客們意識到這一現(xiàn)實(shí)。

（英語原文選自：chinadaily.com）

Discussion 議一議：

1. Have you ever fed the animalsin the wild？你投喂過野外的動物嗎？

2. What do you think of the act of feeding animals in the wild？ 你怎樣看待投喂野生動物這種行為？