歡迎來到今天的VOA慢速專區。
今天為大家帶來一則生態新聞。（文末左下角點擊閱讀原文，可獲取中英文分開版本）
Wild horses, bison and other large animals once moved freely in much of Europe.
野馬、野牛和其他大型動物曾經在歐洲大部分地區自由活動。
Now, these animals are changing a former military base outside of Prague, the Czech capital.
現在，這些動物正在改變捷克首都布拉格郊外的一個前軍事基地。
Where Soviet soldiers once held military exercises,
在蘇聯士兵曾經舉行軍事演習的地方，
large cattle called tauros now eat invasive plants that began growing on the property years ago.
一種叫做tauros的大型牛群正在吃著入侵植物，這些植物幾年前就開始在這片土地上生長。
The animals are turning the former Milovice military base back into a kind of grassland or steppe.
這些動物正在把以前的米洛維茨軍事基地變成一個草原。
Five years ago, conservationists released the large animals at Milovice.
五年前，環保主義者在米洛維茨放養了這些大型動物。
The animals' job is to improve diversity among local plants.
這些動物的作用是提高當地植物的多樣性。
They do this by eating invasive plants while saving rare or endangered ones, said Dalibor Dostal,
達利博爾·多斯特爾說，它們在保護珍稀或瀕危植物的同時，也會食用入侵植物，
the director of European Wildlife, an organization supporting the project.
他是該項目的資方歐洲野生動物組織的負責人。
"Nobody expected that the whole process would go ahead so fast and the area would change so much in just a few years," Dostal said.
多斯特爾說:「沒有人預料到整個過程會進行得如此之快，該地區在短短幾年內能發生如此大的變化。」
He added the large animals are as important to saving the grassland "as trees are for forests."
他補充說，大型動物對於拯救草原的重要性，就像「樹木對於森林的重要性」一樣。
This year, conservationists hope to increase the size of the wildlife sanctuary by one-third to 360 hectares.
今年，環保人士希望將野生動物保護區的面積擴大三分之一，達到360公頃。
David Storch is a professor at Charles University in Prague.
大衛·斯託奇是布拉格查爾斯大學的教授。
Storch, who was not involved in the project, described it as "absolutely unique."
斯託奇沒有參與這個項目，他形容這個項目「絕對獨一無二」。
He believes that it shows that nature can be saved not only by protecting it from human activities, but also by using large animals to shape the environment.
他認為，這表明，大自然不僅可以通過保護它免受人類活動的影響來拯救，還可以通過大型動物來保護環境。
While wild horses like to eat invasive grasses, European bison and tauros enjoy eating larger plants like bushes.
野馬喜歡吃入侵的草，而歐洲野牛和tauros喜歡吃像灌木叢這樣的大植物。
The Czech project includes tauros that came from the Netherlands.
捷克項目還引進了來自荷蘭的 tauros（大型牛）。
There, a special breeding program attempted to bring back a creature that was like the aurochs, which are the wild ancestor of modern cattle.
這個項目在實施一項特殊的育種計劃試圖培育一種類似歐洲野牛的動物，它們是現代牛的野生祖先。
Aurochs died out in the 17th century.
這種野牛在17世紀滅絕了。
The wild horses came from Britain's Exmoor National Park, while European bison came from Poland.
這些野馬來自英國埃克斯穆爾國家公園，而歐洲野牛來自波蘭。
The project now has 25 tauros, about 70 wild horses, and 27 European bison.
這個項目現在包括25頭tauros，大約70匹野馬和27頭歐洲野牛。
The animals move freely. They can care for themselves, even in winter.
這些動物自由活動。即使在冬天，它們也能照顧自己。
After the animals' release, the landscape quickly showed signs of change.
在這些動物被放生後，環境迅速開始發生了變化。
Flowers started to appear as early as the second year of the project.
早在項目實施的第二年，這些地方就開始開花了。
Today, the whole area changes colors over the course of the year, depending on which flowers are in bloom.
如今，整個地區每年都會根據盛開的花朵而改變顏色。
One of the rarest is the star gentian, also known as a cross gentian.
其中最罕見的是星龍膽草，也被稱為雜交龍膽草。
The blue flower is now growing at Milovice more than anywhere else in the Czech Republic.
現在在米洛維茨這種藍色的花比捷克共和國其他任何地方都要多。
Many other animals and insects are now plentiful at the former base.
許多其他動物和昆蟲種類現在也比以前基地的豐富。
The Adonis blue butterfly has been seen there for the first time since 1967.
自1967年以來，人們第一次在那裡看到阿多尼斯藍蝴蝶。
Miloslav Jirku, a biologist with the Czech Academy of Sciences, has been involved in the project from its beginning.
捷克科學院的生物學家Miloslav Jirku從一開始就參與了這個項目。
"If we give nature a chance, if we give it time and space, it can take care of many things," he said.
「如果我們給大自然一個機會，如果我們給它時間和空間，它可以照顧很多事情，」他說。
"At the very beginning, I thought that lots of species that used to be here in the 1990s would have to be returned artificially.
「一開始，我認為20世紀90年代在這裡生存過的許多物種必須靠人為培養。
Today, a number of them are already here without us doing anything about it," he added.
今天，一些物種已經回到這裡，而我們卻沒有採取任何行動。」 他補充說。
I'm John Russell.
約翰·羅素報導。