纪录片《猫的秘密》 第32期 喜欢舒服的猫

They obviously spend a lot of time out of doors,

很明显他们经常待在户外

or at least many of them do, looking around,

或至少他们中大多数是这样 四处活动

as if they're hunting,

就像在捕猎一样

but the actual pouncing¹ attempts are comparatively rare.

但真正意义上的袭击却相对少见

There's a couple of birds actually been eaten,

这里有几只被吃剩下的鸟的残骸

at the back here, a house mouse, just one,

在这边 有一只家鼠 只有一只

which is the traditional prey² of the cat.

是猫的传统猎物

That's a vole,

那是一只田鼠

and here, almost in pride of place, is a mole³,

而这其中最与众不同的 是这只鼹

which is very difficult to catch for a cat,

对猫来说是很难捕捉的

because of course they spend a lot of time under ground.

因为他们大多数时候都在地下

This is no more than a snapshot

这不过是过去一周在村庄中

of what's going on over one week in this village.

发生的一切的惊鸿一瞥

But while we've been here,

但在我们的实验期间

the impact has been rather minimal⁴.

他们的捕猎行动已经很低调了

So what might be going on here?

这里可能会发生什么

It could be that this year's cold spring

也许因为今年寒冷的春天

has delayed the birth of the baby animals.

延迟了动物幼崽的诞生

Or that cats just don't like being outside in bad weather.

或者只是猫猫不喜欢在坏天气下待在户外

But the data from the experiment has thrown up

然而从实验数据中我们还发现了

an even more intriguing⁵ possibility.

一种更有趣的事实

1 pouncing   

v.突然袭击( pounce的现在分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• Detective Sun grinned and, pouncing on the gourd, smashed it against the wall. 孙侦探笑了，一把将瓦罐接过来，往墙上一碰。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• We saw the tiger pouncing on the goat. 我们看见老虎向那只山羊扑过去。 来自互联网

2 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

3 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

4 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

5 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》