An Elephant Refuge 大象收容所
- 详细资料
- 创建于 2003年9月24日
- 最后更新于 2024年5月25日
- 发布于 2011年6月06日
- 作者：Mike Lee
- 点击数：479
课文朗读
课文讲解
Beverly has just returned from Sri Lanka and is telling her friend, Grant, about her vacation over a glass of wine: 白芙丽刚从斯里兰卡渡假回来，边喝着小酒，边向朋友葛兰特叙述旅行见闻：
B: The whole country was amazing, but the cherry on top was my visit to Pinnewala Elephant Farm.
整个国家都很令人吃惊，不过最棒的是我去拜访的滨那瓦拉大象农场。
G: Name rings a bell. Isn’t that the world’s only orphanage for homeless elephants?
这名字我有点印象。它不是全世界唯一的孤儿大象收容所吗？
B: That’s right. It provides refuge for abandoned elephant calves. They’ve got forty-six elephants on the farm right now.
没错，它专门提供庇护给被遗弃的幼象，现在收容所里共有46只象。
G: Taking care of forty-six babies – that sounds like a nightmare! How do they manage?
要照顾46只小象──听起来真像一场梦魇！他们怎么搞得过来？
B: Well, each elephant is assigned a keeper, who’s like a human foster parent. They even feed the calves mike out of elephant-sized bottles.
每只小象都有一位专属管理员，就像人类的养父母。他们甚至用超大奶瓶来喂小象喝奶。
G: Feeding and caring for them must make a huge dent in their pocketbooks!
要饲养照顾牠们必定得花一笔满大的花费！
B: Actually, the farm is able to partly support itself through profit generated by tourists. Many people will pay for a close-up view of these majestic pachyderms.
实际上这所农场有一部份开销，是靠得自观光客的收入来维持的。有不少人愿意付费在近距离亲睹这种雄伟的厚皮类动物。
G: I guess it’s worth paying for a glimpse of them now because, with a burgeoning world population, who knows what the future holds.
我想现在花点钱去看看牠们是划得来的，因为世界人口增长快速，谁晓得将来是怎样的局面。
B: Sadly true. The more forests we bulldoze, the less chance wild elephants have of surviving.
真遗憾，不过却是千真万确。人类开发的森林愈多，野生大象存活的机会就愈少。
G: I’ve heard that an elephant never forgets, but I wonder how soon it will be before elephants are themselves forgotten?
我听说大象过目不忘，不过不晓得多久以后，牠们就会被我们人类给忘了？
Vocabulary
单词发音
Sri Lanka 斯里兰卡（国名）
cherry on top 意思接近中文的"画龙点睛" Something good that follows a series of other fortunate events.
ring a bell【口】模糊地记得；听起来耳熟 to seem familiar
calf [kæf] n.（鲸、象等的）仔
foster [ˋfɔstɚ] v.〔在一定的时间内〕抚育﹐ 收养〔别人的孩子〕
make a dent in 削弱, 损害 to reduce the amount or level of something
pocketbook [ˋpɑkɪt͵bʊk] n.【美】钱包，皮夹子
pachyderm [ˋpækə͵dɝm] n.【动】厚皮类
burgeoning [ˋbɝdʒənɪŋ] adj. 增长迅速的，发展很快的
bulldoze [ˋbʊl͵doz] v.〔用推土机〕推倒
Sentence of the Day
They may see pink elephants soon.
他们酒喝多了，很快会产生幻觉。
pink elephants 幻觉
课文讲解
Beverly and Grant continue discussing elephants: 白芙丽和葛兰特继续讨论有关大象的议题：
G: I read that elephants can cry and laugh. What was it like being so close to them?
我读过资料说大象会哭与笑。和牠们靠那么近的感觉是什么？
B: Fantastic! I never realized they’re so sensitive. They even grieve the loss of fellow elephants.
很棒！我从来不知道大象是如此敏感的动物，牠们甚至会哀悼死去的同伴。
G: Really? Then, is it true that if a baby elephant cries the entire family will rumble and caress it?
当真？那么倘若一只小象哭了，整个象群都会发出声音并安抚牠，是真的吗？
B: I saw it happen! Apparently, in addition to communicating through a broad range of sounds, they talk to each other at subsonic levels.
我见过！除了用宽广的音域沟通外，很明显地牠们还用低频的声波相互交谈。
G: Imagine being able to understand an elephant matriarch.
想想看能够去了解象群的女统治者！
B: I’m sure she would have some tales to tell after surviving seventy years in the wilds of Africa or Asia. Speaking of survival, have you heard of “The Curse of the Elephant”?
毕竟在非洲或亚洲的野生丛林里存活了七十年，我相信她必定有一箩筐的故事可说。讲到存活，你听过「大象的诅咒」吗？
G: “Curse of the Mummy,” yes; elephant, nope.
「木乃伊的诅咒」听过；「大象的诅咒」倒没有。
B: Apparently, a certain British elephant hunter in the 1840s killed about 1,500 elephants within four years. He went too far, though, when he killed an elephant within one of Sri Lanka’s holiest sites.
显然是1840年代的一位英国大象猎人，他在四年内杀了一千五百只大象。然而当他在斯里兰卡的一处圣地杀死一头象时，那就太过份了。
G: Lemme guess: he suddenly dropped dead?
我【注】猜：他突然死了？
B: You got it, but here’s how: he was struck by lightning. Moreover, tradition has it that his tomb was also struck by lightning.
你说对了，不过他是被闪电击毙的，而且依照传统说法，他的坟墓也被闪电击中。
G: They say lightning never strikes twice, but I suppose an elephant never forgets his murderer.
传言说闪电不击第二回，但是我想大象绝对不会忘记谋害牠的人。
【注】：Let me在口语中的发音常常成为Lemme的音。
－by Wade Barnett
Vocabulary
单词发音
grieve [griv] v. 悲伤；哀悼
rumble [ˋrʌmb!] v. 声音低沉地说话；咕哝
caress [kəˋrɛs] v. 爱抚；抚摸；抚抱
subsonic [sʌbˋsɑnɪk] adj. 亚音速的
matriarch [ˋmetrɪ͵ɑrk] n. 女家长; 女族长; 〔社会团体的〕女统治者
curse [kɝs] n. 咒语；诅咒
go too far 做得过分
lightning [ˋlaɪtnɪŋ] n. 闪电，电光
Sentence of the Day
Elephant hunters are now themselves white elephants.
大象猎人现在反而变成累赘无用之物。
white elephants 个人无用物品; 无价值的东西