访谈录 2009-07-19&07-22 硬汉电锯勇斗美洲狮

A man who used a chainsaw to fight off an attacking mountain lion. Dustin Britton was camping in Wyoming with his wife and two toddlers. The ex-marine¹ alone, cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite when he saw the beast staring at him through the brush. And then it charged. Dustin joins us this morning from Thermopolis, Wyoming to tell us what happens next. Good morning!

Good morning!

So how big are we talking? 100 pounds? 200 pounds?

Of course, it seemed really big to me. It seemed plenty big to me. I guess I was told it weighed 100 pounds.

OK. And you are cutting wood, the noise of the saw, obviously didn’t scare it off. What happened next?

Er, I just, within seconds, I see this lion, over, 20 feet from me, just standing² there, and looking at me. I can see about just tad there in the grass. Of course it scared the pants off me and I ran backwards³, and doubled the distance between me and it. I was kind of in a clearing and I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t afraid of me or the saw especially. And I just kept revving⁴ that chainsaw and watching it. For probably three seconds it just watched me. And then it slowly, it came out of the brush and out into the open and then it just charged right at me and lunged at me. I guess it leapt right up, it came right up to eye level. And right as it did, I had that saw running and I just beared down on it. Ur, my goal was to fend⁵ it off. That was the only weapon I had. So, you know, there wasn’t a whole lot of choice there. It was me or that lion.

So the thing is literally⁶ in the air. It’s going for you. What happened next? Did it knock you off balance?

It pushed me back a few steps. You know, I was kind of in a stance where I was ready for an impact or some sort. You know, real, just kind of muscle memory thing from my training in the Marine. It seemed like, later I thought that’s exactly what my body did. And yet, as it came up, I brought the saw up and so it batted my arms and the saw three or four times. And then I hit it as hard as I could with that saw at full throttle⁷. I tried to hit it in the neck of course. It, just downed and went. And it left. It didn’t leave in a big hurry. But it left. And I was pretty scared.

Did you get bit? You have a wound at all? It’s almost healed now. I had a tiny little puncture⁸ on my forearm. That’s all I got.

Amazing thing to show for it or something like that. I have to ask you, two toddlers were 100 feet away, what was going through your mind while this was happening in terms of them.

Of course I wanted to get to them. They were my number one priority⁹. Once I knew I was safe I was to get back there and make sure they weren’t in danger as well. I went back to the camp and got them inside the camper, and got the dog inside of the car. We just tried to stay inside the camper as much as possible for the rest of the evening.

Well, it’s a happy ending to an amazing story. Congratulations! And enjoy the rest of your vacation, Dustin. Thanks for getting up and sharing it with us.

I will. Sure.

All right, they think that maybe the lion was starving. This is so rare, this occurrence¹⁰.

 

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

4 revving   

v.（使）加速( rev的现在分词 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来

参考例句：

• The team are revving up for next week's game. 这个队伍对下周的比赛跃跃欲试。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Since the introduction of new techniques, the production has been revving up. 自从新技术的引进，产量一直都在增加。 来自互联网

5 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

8 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

9 priority   

n.优先处理的事，居先，优先（权）

参考例句：

• The development of the national economy is a top priority.发展国民经济是应予以最优先考虑的事。
• Things should be taken up in order of priority.办事应有个先后次序。

10 occurrence   

n.发生，出现，事件，发生的事件

参考例句：

• Two things account for its occurrence.发生这件事的原因有两个。
• For a military commander，winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence.胜败乃兵家常事。