Lesson 1
A Puma at large
逃遁的美洲獅

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽(tīng)錄音徐矩，然后回答以下問(wèn)題涎永。
Where must the puma have come from?

Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.
The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of "cat-like noises' at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)

puma
n. 美洲獅

spot
v. 看出，發(fā)現(xiàn)

evidence
n. 證據(jù)

accumulate
v. 積累点楼，積聚

oblige
v. 使……感到必須

hunt
n. 追獵南蓬；尋找

blackberry
n. 黑莓

human being
人類

corner
v. 使走投無(wú)路歇父，使陷入困境

trail
n. 一串坏怪，一系列

print
n. 印痕

cling
v. 粘

convince
v. 使……信服

somehow
adv. 不知怎么搞地，不知什么原因

disturb
v. 令人不安

參考譯文

美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動(dòng)物积糯，產(chǎn)于美洲掂墓。當(dāng)倫敦動(dòng)物園接到報(bào)告說(shuō)，在倫敦以南45英里處發(fā)現(xiàn)一只美洲獅時(shí)看成，這些報(bào)告并沒(méi)有受到重視君编。可是川慌，隨著證據(jù)越來(lái)越多吃嘿，動(dòng)物園的專家們感到有必要進(jìn)行一番調(diào)查祠乃，因?yàn)榉彩锹暦Q見(jiàn)到過(guò)美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。
搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開(kāi)始的兑燥。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時(shí)的看見(jiàn)“一只大貓”亮瓷，離她僅5碼遠(yuǎn)，她剛看見(jiàn)它降瞳，它就立刻逃走了嘱支。專家證實(shí)，美洲獅非被逼得走投無(wú)路挣饥，是決不會(huì)傷人的除师。事實(shí)上搜尋工作很困難，因?yàn)槌３Ｊ窃绯吭诩椎匕l(fā)現(xiàn)那只美洲獅扔枫，晚上卻在20英里外的乙地發(fā)現(xiàn)它的蹤跡汛聚。無(wú)論它走哪兒，一路上總會(huì)留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類的小動(dòng)物茧吊，在許多地方看見(jiàn)爪印贞岭，灌木叢中發(fā)現(xiàn)了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。有人抱怨說(shuō)夜里聽(tīng)見(jiàn)“像貓一樣的叫聲”搓侄；一位商人去釣魚(yú)，看見(jiàn)那只美洲獅在樹(shù)上话速。專家們?nèi)缃褚呀?jīng)完全肯定那只動(dòng)物就是美洲獅讶踪，但它是從哪兒來(lái)的呢？由于全國(guó)動(dòng)物園沒(méi)有一家報(bào)告丟了美洲獅泊交，因此那只美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養(yǎng)的乳讥，不知怎么設(shè)法逃出來(lái)了。搜尋工作進(jìn)行了好幾個(gè)星期廓俭，但始終未能逮住那只美洲獅云石。想到在寧?kù)o的鄉(xiāng)村里有一頭危險(xiǎn)的野獸繼續(xù)逍遙流竄，真令人擔(dān)心研乒。