Lifesaver——African giant pouched rats

2020 is the Year of Rat according to the Chinese calendar,but a rat doesn’t have a good reputation in most cultures of the world.Usually people will sniff or frown when they see a rat or even talk about one.And many idioms related to rats have negative meaning.For example,Americans use the phrase“ smell a rat ”to express something is not right or suspicious.But there is one kind of rats which are not only useful but also can save people`s life.They are African giant pouched rats.

In Tanzania,trainers of APOPO,a non-profit organization train rats to find landmines.The secret weapon of these rats is their extraordinary sense of smell.

When the rats smell or find a landmine underground,they will stop and scratch on the spot with their paws and hence the trainers know it and place a marker there.

APOPO says its rats have discovered more than 107,000 landmines and unexploded explosives,making life safer for almost a million people.Humans have used metal-searching devices to do this work for years.But rats--it turns out--do it better.And they also cost less money.

2020年是中国农历鼠年，但是世界范围内老鼠的名声都不太好。人们看到甚至谈到老鼠，就会皱眉或者嗤之以鼻。许多和老鼠有关的习语也贬义居多。例如，美国人用短语“smell a rat”来表达“某事不对或可疑”。但是，有一种老鼠不但有用而且能救人的命。那就是非洲巨袋鼠。

在坦桑尼亚，非盈利组织APOPO 的训练人员训练非洲巨袋鼠来发现地雷。这些老鼠的秘密武器是它们非凡的嗅觉。

当老鼠发现地雷时，它们就会停下来并用爪子抓地，这样，训练人员就会知道地雷的位置并标记出来。

APOPO说他们的老鼠已经发现了多于107000颗地雷及其他未引爆的爆炸品，让近一百万人生活得更安全。人类一直利用金属探测器来寻雷，但是老鼠做得更好，而且省钱。

Notes：

reputation 名声；声誉

sniff 嗅；嗤之以鼻

frown 皱眉

negative 负面的；消极的

pouch小袋；育儿袋

landmine 地雷

extraordinary 非凡的；不同寻常的

scratch 抓；刮

marker 标记；记号