肯尼亚15头大象神秘死亡,官方启动紧急调查

Mysterious deaths of elephants in Kenya prompts urgent inquiry

BBC News · Environment & Culture · C1 Advanced · 2 min read · 2026-07-29

摘要

肯尼亚南部安博塞利国家公园附近一个月内有15头不同年龄和性别的大象死亡,官方正检查尸体并开展实验室检测,目前尚无证据表明存在单一死因。

Kenyan wildlife authorities are investigating the unexplained deaths of 15 elephants near Amboseli National Park, with laboratory tests under way to determine whether disease, poisoning or another factor was responsible.

长难句拆解

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) told the BBC that experts were examining the carcasses and said that tissue samples had been sent to laboratories to determine whether the deaths were caused by disease, poisoning or another factor.

肯尼亚野生动物管理局(KWS)告诉BBC,专家正在检查大象尸体;该机构还表示,组织样本已送往实验室,以确定这些大象是死于疾病、中毒还是其他因素。

主干KWS told the BBC that A and [KWS] said that B.

先抓住同一个主语KWS的两个并列动作:told和said;两个that分别引出不同的消息内容。

  • 同一主语控制两个并列动作:优先结构是KWS told ... and [KWS] said ...。and连接两个报告动作,而不是简单地把said理解为experts的动作;原文没有再次写出KWS。
  • tell与say采用不同的搭配:tell后直接出现接收消息的人,所以是told the BBC that ...;say在这里直接接消息内容,因此是said that ...。
  • 过去进行时表示报告时仍在进行:were examining不是只说“检查过”,而是把观察点放在KWS讲话的那个过去时段:检查尸体这一过程当时正在进行。
  • 过去完成时的被动形式突出此前已完成的送样结果:had been sent表示送样发生在KWS说这件事之前;被动形式把tissue samples放在前面,因为消息重点是样本已经送出,而不是谁送的。
  • 不定式说明送往实验室的目的:to determine回答“为什么送样”:目的是查明一个尚无答案的问题。whether在这里相当于“是否”,引出需要判断的两种可能。
  • 死因从句用被动语态并列多个可能原因:were caused by把the deaths作为讨论中心,随后列出疾病、中毒或其他因素三类可能原因。whether表明这些都只是待检验的可能性,并未确认任何一种。
The carcasses include elephants of different ages and sexes, suggesting the deaths are not limited to a single family or demographic.

死亡的大象年龄和性别各不相同,这表明死者并非仅来自同一个家族或特定群体。

主干The carcasses include A, suggesting [that] B.

先抓住两层关系:主句陈述尸体样本具有多样性;逗号后的 suggesting 根据这一事实推断死亡事件并非只涉及一个群体。

  • 现在分词 suggesting 表示由前述事实引出的推断:suggesting 不是说“尸体正在说话”,而是把前面整个事实作为证据:尸体涉及不同年龄和性别,因此这个现象说明死亡范围可能更广。
  • suggesting 后省略了连接词 that:the deaths are not limited 是一个完整陈述,充当 suggest 的内容。that 可以省略;补出来后,句子的层级更容易辨认。
  • be limited to 表示“范围仅限于”:这里用被动形式突出死亡事件所涉及的范围。not limited to 表示其范围不只局限于后面提到的对象。
  • a single family or demographic 连接两个可能的限制范围:or 并列 family 和 demographic。family 指一个大象家族;demographic 指按年龄、性别等特征划分的某一类群体。not limited to 否定的是“只局限于其中某一个范围”。
According to figures from the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, which monitors the movements of the animals, there were more than 2,000 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem as of 2025.

根据安博塞利大象信托基金的数据,截至2025年,安博塞利生态系统内有超过2,000头大象;该机构负责监测这些动物的活动。

主干According to figures from A, which B, there were C as of 2025.

先抓住主干“there were C”;“According to...”只说明数据来源,“which...”只补充介绍这个机构。

  • 先找存在句的核心信息:there were 表示“当时存在/有……”。there 只是引出存在信息,真正需要关注的是 more than 2,000 elephants;were 用过去时,是因为数量被限定在2025年这个过去时间点。
  • According to 标明信息来源:这一部分表示“两千多头”是该基金会提供的数据所显示的结果,并不表示基金会拥有这些大象。
  • which 补充介绍基金会:which 指前面的 the Amboseli Trust for Elephants,而不是 elephants。monitors 是单数形式,也与单数中心词 Trust 呼应。逗号表示这只是额外介绍;去掉后,主句的数量信息仍然完整。
  • as of 表示“截至某时”:as of 2025 把数量固定在截至2025年的统计状态上;它不表示这些大象是在2025年才出现的,也不保证这一数量后来仍然不变。

核心词汇

carcasses /ˈkɑː.kəs.ɪz/ plural noun
动物尸体
the dead bodies of animals
animal carcasses · examine carcasses · decomposing carcasses
straddles /ˈstræd.əlz/ verb, third-person singular
横跨;跨越两侧
extends across both sides of a place, boundary or division
straddles the border · straddles two regions · straddles the line between
mortalities /mɔːˈtæl.ə.tiz/ plural noun
死亡事件;死亡数量
deaths within a particular population or during a particular event
elephant mortalities · mass mortalities · record mortalities
cracked down on /krækt daʊn ɒn/ phrasal verb, past tense
严厉打击;采取强硬措施制止
took severe measures to stop or punish an illegal or undesirable activity
crack down on poaching · crack down on crime · crack down on illegal activity
demographic /ˌdem.əˈɡræf.ɪk/ noun
具有共同人口特征的群体
a section of a population sharing particular characteristics
target demographic · key demographic · younger demographic
boundaries /ˈbaʊn.dər.iz/ plural noun
边界;界线
the lines marking the limits of an area
park boundaries · within the boundaries · cross boundaries
monitors /ˈmɒn.ɪ.təz/ verb, third-person singular
持续观察并监测
observes and checks something continuously or regularly
monitors movements · closely monitors · monitors changes
as of /æz əv/ prepositional phrase
截至;从某一时间起
at or from a specified time
as of today · as of 2025 · as of the end of the year

原文来源:BBC News · Mysterious deaths of elephants in Kenya prompts urgent inquiry(版权归原出版方所有,本站仅提供中文讲解)