(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.
Trees in cities do measurable good for biodiversity and for human health. They scrub pollution from the air. They provide habitat for wildlife. They make streets look nicer. And they even reduce stress and have been linked to reductions in crime.
Back in 2015 a group of Toronto-based researchers discovered that planting just eleven more trees per city block would reduce heart-related conditions by the same amount as if everybody living on that block became a year and a half younger.
But in Detroit between 2011 and 2014 a quarter of eligible homeowners turned down an offer from a local nonprofit for free street trees. Ironic, considering Detroit's nickname was once the City of Trees.
"It was actually over 1,800 trees that were rejected out of an eligible 7,425. So it was a big enough issue at that point where it warranted further investigation."
Forestry researcher Christine Carmichael, who did the research at Michigan State and has since moved to the University of Vermont.
The nonprofit created an education campaign to get more residents to accept the free trees. The assumption being that if people had all the facts, they'd be more likely to take the trees. But when Carmichael talked to residents, she found that they understood the benefits of trees. Their unease was about trust.
"Basically what I found was that opposition in Detroit to tree planting among some of these residents resulted primarily from negative past experiences with street trees, particularly in low-income neighborhoods that were grappling with blight from vacant properties, which created an additional burden of care for their neighborhood."
In the last half-century or so, more than half a million Detroit trees died from disease and neglect. At the same time, the city underwent dramatic demographic shifts. By 2016, Detroit was 82 percent African-American and had the highest percentage of low-income residents in the country. As a result, it was primarily low-income African-American communities who were forced to deal with the consequences and the hazards, like falling limbs, posed by dead trees.
In speaking with residents, Carmichael found that they would be more willing to accept free trees if they could be more involved in the decision-making process. Locals wanted input on tree size and whether they produced flowers. They also very reasonably wanted to avoid trees that could drop rotting fruits or sap on cars and sidewalks. The findings by Carmichael and Maureen McDonough are in the journal Society and Natural Resources.
"It's important to provide a space for people's stories to be heard, about what their experience of community change has been. And let them know that you understand and respect their experience. I think that would open people up more to trusting the intentions of organizations that come into a neighborhood to do good."
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.
参考译文
这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。
城市中的树木对生物多样性和人类健康都大有裨益。树木消除了空气中的污染物。它们为野生动物提供了栖息地。它们令街道变得更美丽。它们甚至还能减轻压力，减少犯罪。
早在2015年，多伦多的一个研究小组就发现，每个城市街区只要多种11棵树就能减少与心脏有关的疾病，效果相当于该街区的居民每个人都年轻了1.5岁。
但在2011年至2014年期间，底特律有四分之一符合条件的房主拒绝了当地非营利机构提供的免费行道树。讽刺的是，底特律曾有“树之城”的美称。
“事实上，在7425棵合格树木中，已有1800棵被房主拒之门外。因此，这是一个足够大的问题，需要进行进一步调查。”
林业研究员克里斯汀·卡迈克尔说到，她在密歇根州立大学开展了这项研究，后转移到佛蒙特大学。
这家非营利组织发起了一项教育宣传活动，以让更多居民接受免费树木。假设是：如果人们知道所有事实，那他们会更愿意接受这些树木。但当卡迈克尔和居民交谈时，她发现他们知道树木的益处。他们的不安源于缺乏信任。
“基本上来说，我发现底特律一些居民反对植树的主要原因是过去行道树带来的负面经历，尤其是低收入社区，这些社区要努力应对空置物业引起的树木枯萎病，而这为他们照顾社区的树木带来了额外负担。”
在过去的半个世纪左右，底特律有50多万棵树死于疾病和疏于打理。与此同时，这座城市也经历了巨大的人口变化。截至2016年，底特律人口中有82%都是非裔美国人，低收入居民比例是美国最高的。因此，像树枝掉落等由树木枯死造成的后果和危险，基本上不得不由低收入非裔美国人社区来应对。
卡迈克尔在与当地居民交谈时发现，如果居民能更多地参与到决策过程中，他们会更愿意接受免费树木。当地居民想了解树木大小及是否能开花等信息。他们还非常合理地希望避免种植会将烂果实或树液掉到车辆和人行道上的树木。卡迈克尔和莫林·麦克多诺的研究发表在《社会与自然资源》期刊上。
“重要的是，要提供空间来倾听居民的故事，让居民可以讲述社区变化的经历。让他们知道你们理解并尊重他们的经历。我认为这有助于居民打开心扉，相信那些组织进入社区的意图是做善事。”
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. turn down 拒绝(某人或其请求、提议等)；
There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.
没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
2. result from 由…产生；由…引起；
The discrepancies resulted from different methods of computation.
这些差异是由不同的计算方法造成的。
3. grapple with 努力解决（问题）；设法克服（困难）；
Both China and the US are grappling with these fundamental issues that globalisation poses.
中国和美国都正在努力应对全球化带来的这些根本问题。
4. be willing to do sth. 乐意的；愿意的；
I'm perfectly willing to discuss the problem.
我十分乐意讨论这个问题。
