第1402期：Saving Mr Chimp

更多地道美式聽力和口語的

音訊

和

影片

，請訂閱微信公眾號［

VOA英語每日一聽

］或點下方

原文連結

進行聆聽和觀看，不提倡應試英文。

原文連結

：

第1402期：Saving Mr Chimp

口語集錦

： 見原文連結。

聽力文字內容

：

Should animals be entitled to the same rights as people? The question is not so outlandish. A judge in the US once suggested that chimpanzees had the right to habeas corpus. Judge Barbara Jaffe was ruling on the case of Leo and Hercules. These two primates have their own lawyers arguing that they should be moved from a university lab to an animal sanctuary. She did change her mind after a while.

動物是否應該享有與人相同的權利？這個問題並沒有那麼古怪。美國的一位法官曾經建議黑猩猩有權獲得人身保護令。Barbara Jaffe 法官正在裁決 Leo 和 Hercules 的案件。這兩隻靈長類動物有自己的律師，主張將它們從大學實驗室搬到動物保護區。一段時間後，她確實改變了主意。

Animals have always intrigued us. Some people find them very intelligent and capable of friendship, jealousy and longing. That's enough to give them rights, isn't it? Not for people like Professor Carl Cohen of the University of Michigan. He says that rights are a concept special to the human moral code. And animals don't know anything about right and wrong. The academic points out: "Animals do not commit crimes; animals are not attacked for their moral views."

動物總是讓我們著迷。有些人發現他們非常聰明，能夠交友、嫉妒和渴望。這足以賦予他們權利，不是嗎？不適合像密歇根大學的卡爾·科恩教授這樣的人。他說，權利是人類道德準則所特有的概念。動物對是非一無所知。學者指出：“動物不犯罪；動物不因其道德觀而受到攻擊。”

In any case, humans have become more sensitive to animal suffering throughout the years. In 1999, New Zealand granted basic rights to five great ape species. Their use in research, testing or teaching was banned in a move seen as the greatest legal success in animal rights history.

無論如何，多年來，人類對動物的痛苦變得更加敏感。1999 年，紐西蘭授予五種類人猿基本權利。他們在研究、測試或教學中的使用被禁止，此舉被視為動物權利歷史上最大的合法成功。

In 2002, in an unprecedented move in the European Union, Germany granted some rights to animals in its constitution.

2002 年，在歐盟前所未有的舉動中，德國在其憲法中授予動物一些權利。

The ambiguous relationship between people and animals can be perceived in language. In English the pronoun used for an animal is 'it'. But many people refer to their pets as 'he' or 'she'. It makes them more of an equal to us.

人與動物之間的曖昧關係可以用語言來感知。在英語中，用於動物的代詞是“它”。但許多人稱他們的寵物為“他”或“她”。這使他們與我們更加平等。

What do you think? Should animals have rights similar to humans?

你怎麼認為？動物是否應該擁有與人類相似的權利？