高一英语 课外知识扩读 印度动物权力保护者蛇节救蛇（中英对照）

Activists Save Snakes on Festival Day印度动物权力保护者蛇节救蛇An Indian animal activist holds snakes during the Naag-panchami, a popular Hindu snake festival, in Bombay August 13, 2002.Indian animal rights activists said Tuesday they had rescued about 50 snakes from cruel treatment by their owners during an annual festival.Every year the Naag Panchami festival draws snake charmers to cities, especially Bombay and Calcutta, hoping to make money from Hindus who believe the snakes bring good luck.But Jyoti Nadkarni from the state-run Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the snakes were often ill-treated.Some are defanged in the most unprofessional way. They suffer from mouth infection and their poison gland is punctured. We have kept them under medical observation, she told reporters.Forest officials would release the healthier snakes in the jungle, animal rights activists said.For several years animal groups and SPCA inspectors, armed with bags and sacks, have conducted raids before and during the festival to rescue the snakes, many of them cobras.But undeterred, the snake charmers return every year, gathering in Hindu areas, around temples or at railway stations.Poor nomads hunt down the snakes in fields and forests during the monsoon season when they come out in the open after their holes are inundated with rain water.Since the nomads are unable to feed them, the snakes are starved and suffer from severe infections even before being sold to snake charmers, activists say.A snake is considered a farmers friend because of its carnivorous nature. It survives on rats, birds, lizards, frogs and not milk as people would like to offer, said Issac Khemkar, spokesman for the Bombay Natural History Society.Animal rights activists say hundreds of snakes die during the festival every year, many as a result of drinking milk which causes severe dehydration and allergic reactions. 8月13日是印度一年一度的蛇节，印度的动物权力保护者称，他们在这一天解救了大约50条蛇，使得它们得以脱离苦海。每年的Naag Panchami节都会吸引众多的耍蛇艺人蜂拥到城市里来，尤其是孟买和加尔各答，他们希望能够靠此大捞一笔，因为印度教徒相信蛇能够带来好运。但是国家动物保护协会的乔蒂o纳德卡尔尼说，这些蛇往往会惨遭虐待。她告诉记者说：一些蛇被拔去毒牙，方法当然是最不专业的，并且会因此而口腔感染。它们的毒腺往往也被刺破。目前我们一直在对它们进行医疗观察。动物权力保护者说，森林管理官员会把那些健康状况较好的蛇放归到丛林中。几年来，每到蛇节前夕和节日期间，动物保护团体和英国动物保护协会的检查员们，就会手拎大袋子，到处搜捕耍蛇人藏匿的蛇，其中大部分是眼镜蛇。然而这些行动却并没有让耍蛇者们知难而退，他们依旧是每年返回到印度教地区，聚集在寺庙和火车站周围耍蛇卖艺。一些穷苦的牧民会在雨季期间到田间和森林里去捕蛇，因为在这个期间雨水会淹没蛇洞，而洞里的蛇就会纷纷爬到外面来。动物保护者们说，由于牧民们没有能力喂养它们，所以那些蛇往往在卖给耍蛇者之前不是被饿死就是患上严重的伤口感染