英语听力文摘 English Digest 588、真实的熊的生活是怎样的？

 　　The Bare Necessities Of Bears

 

　　In the movie “The Jungle Book,” Balloo the bear spends his days singing and dancing and munching¹ paw-paws.

 

　　Actually, this is a pretty accurate picture of real bears, except for the singing and dancing. North American bears also spend the summer foraging² for food.

 

　　Even cartoon bears like Yogi and Balloo know that eating is serious business. Bears must acquire enough fat over the rich summer months to last through their winter sleep, when stored fat is the bear’s main source of energy.

 

　　Black bears and grizzly³ bears are omnivorous⁴, and eat both meat and vegetation. The average bear eats mostly nuts, berries and veggies, although bears also enjoy delicacies⁵ like insects, fish and small mammals.

 

　　Female bears have yet another reason for chowing down during the summertime. Although bears mate in the spring, the fertilized⁶ eggs don’t begin to develop until the females return to the den⁷ for the winter. The females must have stored up enough fat over the summer to support themselves and their developing cubs⁸ over the long winter. If not enough fat is stored, the embryos⁹ won’t develop at all, and the female bear won’t produce any cubs that year.

 

　　Like Yogi Bear, real bears also seek out humans who might be carrying a snack, and many bears look for garbage, pet food, livestock¹⁰, and campers for an easy supply of food.

 

　　Contrary to popular belief, bears don’t eat humans. Unless humans surprise the bear or threaten the cubs, bears will avoid human contact. They really are more interested in your picnic basket.

 

 

 

 

　　熊的真实生活是怎样的

 

　　在电影“森林王子”中，熊巴鲁整天都在唱歌、跳舞和咀嚼番木瓜。

 

　　实际上，除了唱歌和跳舞的部分，这是对现实中的熊最真实的写照。北美熊也会用一整个夏天来觅食。

 

　　甚至像Yogi和Balloo这样的卡通熊都知道，吃是件很重要的事情。熊必须要在食物充沛的夏季摄取足够的脂肪来度过冬眠期，那时，储存的脂肪将是熊获得能量的主要来源。

 

　　黑熊和灰熊属于杂食动物，既吃肉也吃素。一般的熊多食坚果、浆果及蔬菜类食物，但它们也爱吃昆虫、鱼和小型哺乳动物。

 

　　雌雄在夏天觅食还有另一个原因。虽然熊在夏天交配，但受精卵要等到冬天雌熊回到洞穴才会开始发育。雌熊必须要在夏季储存足够的脂肪来帮助自己和正在发育的幼仔度过冬天。如果储存的脂肪不够多，胚胎就不会发育完全，雌熊当年将不会产下任何幼仔。

 

　　现实中的熊像Yogi一样也会去寻找携带零食的人类。很多熊为了觅食更加容易，它们会去寻找垃圾、宠物粮、家畜和野营者来获取食物。

 

　　熊其实并不会像一般人所想的那样会吃人。它们会尽量避免和人类接触，除非是受到惊吓或者幼仔受到威胁。事实上，它们对你的野餐篮更有兴趣。

1 munching   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was munching an apple. 他在津津有味地嚼着苹果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Munching the apple as he was, he had an eye for all her movements. 他虽然啃着苹果，但却很留神地监视着她的每一个动作。 来自辞典例句

2 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

3 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

4 omnivorous   

adj.杂食的

参考例句：

• Brown bears are omnivorous,eating anything that they can get their paws on.棕熊是杂食性动物，抓到什么吃什么。
• Man is an omnivorous animal.人是肉类与蔬菜均食用的动物。

5 delicacies   

n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到

参考例句：

• Its flesh has exceptional delicacies. 它的肉异常鲜美。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After these delicacies, the trappers were ready for their feast. 在享用了这些美食之后，狩猎者开始其大餐。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

6 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

7 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

8 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

10 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。