2月21日午间英语新闻：啄木鸟在民宅墙内私藏650斤坚果被“一窝端”

China resumes regular flights with 58 countries
我国已恢复与58个国家间的客运定期航班

China resumed regular passenger flights with 58 countries last week after the country removed certain COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights from Jan. 8, 2023.
自2023年1月8日起，中国取消了对国际客运航班的部分疫情限制措施后，从上周（2月6日至12日）实际执行的航班情况来看，我国已经恢复与58个国家间的客运定期航班。

From Feb. 6 to 12, some 98 domestic and overseas airlines operated 795 flights, up 65 percent from the week before - Jan. 2 to 8, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press conference on Thursday.

16日，民航局运输司相关负责人在新闻发布会上称，2月6日至12日，98家中外航空公司共执行795班，比“乙类乙管”政策发布前一周（1月2日至8日）增长65%。

The number of countries handling flights to or from China and airlines operating these flights resumed to 64 percent and 80 percent, respectively, at level from the same period of 2019.
通航国家和执飞航空公司数量分别恢复到疫情前64%和80%。

The domestic air transport market would continue to see rapid expansion, and the flight amount is likely to equal and even exceed the pre-epidemic level.
在新航季，在国内客运市场方面，将持续保持较快恢复态势，航班量有望恢复并超过疫情前水平。

They also expected the number of international flights to increase further, driven by the gradual resumption of demand for international business, tourism and education.
发布会还提到，随着国际公商务人员往来和旅游、留学等市场的逐步恢复，国际航班量有望进一步增加。

重点词汇
1、 resume
英/ rɪˈzjuːm /  美/ rɪˈzuːm /
v. 恢复（职位），回到（座位）；继续说，接着说；概述；（中断后）重新开始，继续
n. 梗概，摘要（résumé或resumé）；<美>简历，履历（résumé或resumé）

2、pre-epidemic（level）
大流行前（水平）

700 pounds of acorns found stuffed by woodpeckers inside walls of California home
啄木鸟在民宅墙内私藏650斤坚果，没想到……

A pest control company in California pulled 700 pounds of acorns from the walls of a home during a pest inspection. The exterminator later discovered that a pair of woodpeckers had stored acorns in this house for several years, and now the fruits of the birds’ labor have been removed. 
近日，美国加州一灭虫公司在一处民宅进行检查时，意外地从房屋墙内挖出约650斤橡子。后来发现，这些坚果是由一对橡树啄木鸟花了数年时间私藏的，如今它们的劳动成果被“一窝端”。

The Sonoma County homeowners called on Nick Castro, owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control, when they spotted worms coming from a bedroom wall. When he cut a hole in the wall to find it, Castro witnessed something he’d never seen in more than 20 years in the business.
当加利福尼亚州的一户房主发现有虫子从卧室的墙上爬出来时，他们打电话给灭虫公司老板尼克·卡斯特罗（Nick Castro）寻求帮助。卡斯特罗在墙上挖了一个洞来寻找虫子，没想到却看到了他从事这行20多年来从未见过的情形……

Thousands of acorns spilled out of the wall, and more appeared whenever Castro stuck his hand into the hole. He soon discovered woodpeckers had stored tens of thousands of acorns, which he said weighed roughly 700 pounds, in a wall cavity, likely collected over the past two to five years.
成千上万的橡子从墙里溢出来，每当卡斯特罗把手伸进洞里，就有更多的橡子滚出来……很快他发现，是啄木鸟在墙洞里储存了数万颗橡子，总共重约650斤（700磅），可能是过去两到五年收集的。

It took creating another three holes in the home’s walls to remove all the acorns, which ultimately piled and reached about 20 feet high, Castro estimated. The acorns were thrown away as they were covered in droppings and bits of fiberglass from the wall’s insulation.
最终，灭虫公司在加利福尼亚这户人家的墙上打了三个洞，才把全部的橡子移走，堆在一起约有6米高。然而，由于已经被鸟兽粪便和墙体绝缘材料的玻璃纤维碎片污染，这些鸟儿的攒了多年的“心血”全部被处理掉了。

Often woodpeckers store acorns on the outside of homes, sometimes in rain gutters, but rarely do they get them inside. In this case, Castro discovered the birds dropped their treasures through a hole in the chimney and entered the attic through a separate hole to feast on their stash.
啄木鸟通常把橡子储存在房屋的外面，有时储存在雨水沟里，但很少把橡子放进室内。然而在这户人家中，卡斯特罗发现这些鸟从烟囱的一个洞里，把它们的宝贝扔下来，然后再从另一个洞进入阁楼，享用它们储藏的美食。

Paul Bannick, who has written two books about woodpeckers, said the acorn woodpecker, a species common on the West Coast, often amasses thousands of the nuts for winter. Acorn woodpeckers can drill small holes in almost anything — trees, birdhouses, cabins, houses — to hoard food, he said.
保罗·班尼克曾撰写过两本关于啄木鸟的书，他表示，橡树啄木鸟是美国西海岸常见的一种物种，通常会在冬天收集数千颗橡子。它们几乎可以在任何东西上钻小洞——树木、鸟舍、小屋、房屋——来储存食物。

Acorns are vital for the birds’ breeding, Bannick said, because they help female woodpeckers stay plump and healthy throughout the winter. “It’s a compulsive process,” he said. If the woodpeckers know there are acorns on the ground “they’re going to collect and store as many as they possibly can.”
班尼克说，橡子对橡树啄木鸟的繁殖至关重要，因为它们可以帮助雌性啄木鸟在整个冬天保持丰满和健康。“这是一种强迫性的过程，如果橡树啄木鸟知道地上有橡子，它们就会尽可能多地收集和储存橡子。” 他解释说。

重点词汇
1、acorn
英/ ˈeɪkɔːn /  美/ ˈeɪkɔːrn /
n. 橡子，橡实

2、exterminator
英/ ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪtə /  美/ ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪtər /
n. 根除者；（美）灭鼠药；（美）职业的消灭害虫者

3、woodpecker
英/ ˈwʊdpekə(r) /  美/ ˈwʊdpekər /
n. [鸟] 啄木鸟

4、compulsive
英/ kəmˈpʌlsɪv /  美/ kəmˈpʌlsɪv /
adj. 欲罢不能的；难以抑制的，不能自拔的；(书、电视节目) 使人着迷的；引人入胜的