研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，全球氣候變暖可能導(dǎo)致馴鹿體重下降。如果圣誕老人要招募幫手協(xié)助他到全世界發(fā)送圣誕禮物，那么今年他最好多找?guī)字弧?/p>

Dragging a sleigh laden with enough presents for the world's children - not to mention a famously portly white-bearded gentleman?- can be no easy feat.
滿載著全世界兒童的禮物的雪橇拖起來(lái)可不輕松，更別提上面還載著一位大名鼎鼎的白胡子胖先生。

But, since time immemorial, this crucial Christmas Eve duty has been performed with distinction by a team of beloved reindeer.
但是，自古以來(lái)，一群可愛(ài)的馴鹿都能出色完成這個(gè)圣誕夜的重任。

Soon, however, Santa Claus may have to start looking around for a stronger type of animal, as new research reveals the species is becoming increasingly puny.
不過(guò)，圣誕老人可能很快就得開(kāi)始尋找更加強(qiáng)壯的動(dòng)物了。因?yàn)樾碌难芯匡@示，馴鹿正變得越來(lái)越瘦小。

A 16-year survey on the arctic Norwegian island of Svalbard found the reindeer there have declined in weight by an alarming 12 percent.
一項(xiàng)對(duì)挪威北極區(qū)域斯瓦爾巴特群島長(zhǎng)達(dá)16年的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，這里的馴鹿體重下降了12%，這一數(shù)字讓人震驚。

The reduction in average body-mass is being blamed on global warming.
全球變暖是馴鹿平均體重減輕的罪魁禍?zhǔn)住?/p>

In research presented?lately at a meeting of the British Ecological Society in Liverpool, scientists will explain how rising temperatures are depriving female reindeer of nutrients during important phases of gestation.
日前，科學(xué)家們?cè)诶锲钟?guó)生態(tài)學(xué)會(huì)的會(huì)議上展示了這項(xiàng)研究成果，他們將解釋在雌性馴鹿懷孕的關(guān)鍵階段，氣溫升高是如何令其失去營(yíng)養(yǎng)的。

Snow in Svalbard typically covers the ground for eight months of the year, which, combined with low temperatures, limits grass growth to June and July.
通常，斯瓦爾巴德島一年中有八個(gè)月都被白雪覆蓋，而且氣溫極低，小草的生長(zhǎng)期僅限于六月和七月。

But as summer temperatures have increased by around 1.5℃, pastures have become more productive, allowing female reindeer to gain more weight by the autumn and therefore to conceive more calves.
但由于夏季氣溫升高了約1.5℃，牧草地變得更茂盛，這使得雌性馴鹿到了秋天會(huì)變胖且能孕育更多小鹿。

However, warmer winters have brought with them greater rainfall which freezes when it settles on the snow, thereby locking out the reindeer from the life-sustaining food below.
然而，溫暖的冬天帶來(lái)了更多的降雨，雨水落在雪地里會(huì)結(jié)冰，阻止馴鹿獲得冰面下維持生命的食物。

As a result, female reindeer are becoming starved, causing them to abort their calves or giving birth to much lighter young.
結(jié)果，饑餓的雌性馴鹿就會(huì)流產(chǎn)或者誕下體重較輕的小鹿。

The average mass of an adult reindeer in 1994, when the survey began, was 55kg, but by 2010 it had dropped to 48kg.
1994年調(diào)查開(kāi)始時(shí)，一頭成年馴鹿的平均體重為55公斤，但是到2010年，成年馴鹿的平均體重已經(jīng)下降到48公斤。

Professor Steve Albon, an ecologist at the James Hatton Institute in Aberdeen, said that, because the mammals have a relatively high surface-area-to-volume ratio, they are no particularly energy efficient.
史蒂夫?阿爾博教授是阿伯丁詹姆士赫頓研究院的生態(tài)學(xué)家。他表示，這種哺乳動(dòng)物的表面積體積比相對(duì)較高，他們沒(méi)有特殊的節(jié)能功能。

Reindeer can often access the meagre food sources beneath the snow by clearing it away with their antlers, but they cannot break through the hard ice.
馴鹿通常用鹿角清除積雪，獲得下面寥寥無(wú)幾的食物，但他們無(wú)法弄破堅(jiān)冰。

Without access to the food in winter, calves are being born far lighter than they should be.
雌性馴鹿冬天吃不到食物，生下來(lái)的小鹿就比應(yīng)有的體重輕得多。

Numbers of reindeer have also soared in the past 20 years, meaning that those which are born are facing greater competition for food.
馴鹿的數(shù)量在過(guò)去的20年里飆升，這意味著生下來(lái)的小鹿面臨著更加激烈的食物競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

"The implications are that there may well be more smaller reindeer in the Arctic in the coming decades, but possibly at risk of catastrophic die-offs because of increased ice on the ground," said Professor Albon.
阿爾博教授稱，“這背后的含義是，雖然未來(lái)幾十年里很可能出現(xiàn)更多瘦小的馴鹿，但地上的冰面越來(lái)越大，它們因此存在滅絕的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”?

Despite the gloomy findings, reindeer appear to be suffering less from the impact of climate change than some other arctic species.
盡管這一研究發(fā)現(xiàn)很悲觀，但是馴鹿受氣候變化的影響似乎比其他北極生物要小。

Last week the scientists warned that a third of the world's polar bears could disappear in the next 40 years to melting Arctic sea ice.
科學(xué)家們上周警告稱，隨著北冰洋冰面的消融，全球三分之一的北極熊可能在未來(lái)40年內(nèi)消失。

Vocabulary

meager: 土地不毛的
gestation: 懷孕

英文來(lái)源：每日電訊報(bào)
翻譯：董靜
編審：丹妮