【趣谈英语】松鼠不喜欢水仙花-Squirrels Don’t Like Daffodils

 Pre-Listening Vocabulary

• daffodil: a yellow trumpet-shaped flower that blossoms in early spring
• bulb: a rounded plant part that is planted under the soil
• discard: reject or get rid of
• toxic¹: poisonous
• intersperse²: to place or spread in between other things
• bone meal: a type of fertilizer that contains animal waste products, including bones
• inhumane: cruel; causes suffering

• • Squirrels Don’t Like Daffodils - 松鼠不喜欢水仙花

  • Squirrels are often a gardener’s worst nightmare. Squirrels love to dig in freshly planted garden beds, especially if it means digging up tulip bulbs. Though squirrels don’t always eat the bulbs they find, they usually run off with the bulbs and take a few bites before they discard them around a yard or field. Fortunately for gardeners, squirrels don’t eat daffodils. Daffodils are toxic to squirrels, so they tend to stay clear of them. Many gardeners intersperse their tulip and daffodil bulbs to keep squirrels away. Another trick is to scatter³ blood or bone meal around bulbs and flowers. Some people use cayenne or chilli pepper, but this is actually inhumane. Pepper can get in the squirrel’s eyes causing temporary blindness and severe pain.

1 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 intersperse   

vt.散布，散置，点缀

参考例句：

• Intersperse exclamation marks in the text.在文章中加进一些感叹号。
• You should intersperse colorful anecdotes about your experience with perceptive queries about the vacancy.讲述自己的经历时应该加入一些有声有色的轶事，中间巧妙穿插对所应聘职位的询问。

3 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。