研究人员们发起了一项行动，这项行动追踪野生动物在新冠肺炎疫情封锁开始之前、期间及之后的生存状况。这个由英国领头的研究小组主要是为了研究所谓的 “人类活动暂停”（anthropause）现象，即全球范围内人类活动暂时减缓的现象。“人类活动暂停” 可能给其它物种带来深远的影响。

It's been for tragic, costly reasons, but we've pushed the pause button on human activity all over the world. And on an increasingly crowded planet, wildlife scientists think this will have some profound effects.

因为这场悲剧的、代价惨重的疫情 ，我们按下了全世界人类活动的暂停键。在这个日益拥挤的星球上，野生动物科学家们认为人类活动的减少将产生一些深远的影响。

Videos of urban wildlife encounters have been widely shared on social media, but the way to study what's actually happening, researchers say, is with bio-loggers: tracking devices fitted to animals to record their movement, position; sometimes even audio and video.

在城市中邂逅野生动物的视频在社交媒体上被广泛分享，但研究人员们说，研究实际情况的方法是使用生物记录器，就是安装在动物身上的追踪装置，用来记录它们的行动、位置，甚至可以录音和拍视频。

In dozens of studies, researchers have fitted trackers to species from African elephants to migrating cuckoos, and some of their data's been automatically uploaded throughout lockdown, giving a unique insight into how our presence and absence affect those animals.

在数十项研究中，研究人员们为非洲象、迁徙的布谷鸟等物种安装了追踪器，从它们身上获取的一些数据在疫情封锁期间会自动上传，这让我们有了独特的视角，了解我们的存在和不存在对这些动物造成的影响。

A glimpse of how animals move around while roads are much less busy, for example, could show us where to put wildlife crossings and corridors, or where small changes in our transport network could have the most positive impact for nature.

例如，观察动物是如何在道路不那么繁忙的时候四处走动的，可以告诉我们在哪里设置野生动物安全桥和通道，或提示我们在交通网络中做出微小的变化以给大自然带来最积极的影响。

词汇

pushed the pause button on 按下了暂停键
human activity 人类活动
crowded 拥挤的
wildlife 野生动植物
encounters 偶然相遇
bio-loggers （用来追踪动物行为的）生物记录器
tracking devices 追踪装置
African elephants 非洲象
migrating 迁徙的
cuckoos 布谷鸟，杜鹃

阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。

1. True or false? Scientists think the pause in human activity could have some profound impacts on nature.

2. What videos have been widely shared because of the lockdown, according to the text?

3. What are bio-loggers?

4. What could the movement of animals on a much less busy road show us?

答案

1. True or false? Scientists think the pause on human activity could have some profound impacts on nature.
True. Wildlife scientists think that pushing the pause button on human activity around the world could have some profound impacts.

2. What videos have been widely shared because of the lockdown, according to the text?
Videos of urban wildlife encounters have been widely shared on social media.

3. What are bio-loggers?
They are tracking devices fitted to animals to record their movement, position; sometimes even audio and video.

4. What could the movement of animals on a much less busy road show us?
It could show us where to put wildlife crossings and corridors, or where small changes in our transport network could have the most positive impact for nature.