美国学生世界地理教材 第128期:战争和童话故事(3)

 There are millions of birds called auks which fly so low and so thick over the land that the Eskimos catch them with a net as you would catch butterflies.  那里有一种叫海雀的海鸟，非常多，成百上千万，它们成群成群地飞得很低。爱斯基摩人就用网捕捉它们，就像你用网捕捉蝴蝶一样。

They can catch enough to last them for many months, and as all out-of-doors is a refrigerator  他们可以抓到足够多的鸟来维持好几个月的生活，而且户外就是冰箱，

the birds that are caught can be kept on ice without having the ice man call every day.  捕捉到的鸟可以放在冰上贮存，而不用让卖冰的人每天都来。

Eskimos use the auk's soft feathers to line their clothes to keep themselves warm and comfortable,  爱斯基摩人用海雀柔软的羽毛做衣服的衬里来保暖，穿起来也很舒适，

for the thermometer¹ sometimes goes to seventy de-grees below zero.  因为气温有时候会达到零下70多度。

Another bird, the eider-duck, has still softer feathers. They are called down.  另外一种鸟，绒鸭，有更柔软的、叫做绒的羽毛，

Eider-down is one of the softest and lightest things imaginable and makes the best filling for bed quilts, as it is both light and warm.  鸭绒是你可以想象的最软和最轻的东西之一，是棉被的最佳填充物，因为它既轻又保暖。

Eskimos eat the eider-duck's eggs, too, and they gather thousands of them at a time. 爱斯基摩人也吃绒鸭的蛋，他们一次可以搜集到上千只蛋。

Instead of beef, the Eskimo eats the flesh² of an animal called the musk-ox.  爱斯基摩人吃的是一种叫麝牛的肉，而不是我们吃的那种牛肉。

The musk-ox has hooklike horns³ and a shaggy long-haired coat to keep himself warm in the terrible cold.  麝牛长着钩子状的角，长长的粗浓蓬松的体毛可以在极度寒冷的时候为它们抵御寒冷。

His coat makes him look big, but when he is killed and the coat removed, there is only a poor little lean⁴ animal left inside. 它的皮毛让它看起来体格很庞大，但是，当它被杀死，剥了皮之后，看起来却是一只又瘦又小、非常可怜的动物。

There is another animal which the Eskimo hunts. It lives both in the water and on the land and has tusks⁵ like an elephant.  爱斯基摩人还猎食另外一种动物，这种动物既生活在水里也生活在陆地上，还像大象一样长有一对长牙。

It is called a walrus⁶. It is also caught for meat, but chiefly for its ivory⁷ tusks, which are two big teeth that hang far down out of its mouth. 人们称之为海象。爱斯基摩人捕捉海象不仅是为了它的肉，更是为了它白色的牙——两只露在嘴外面的长长的大獠牙。

What the Eskimo likes best to eat, however, is not lean meat but fat.  爱斯基摩人最爱吃的不是瘦肉而是肥肉。

A big, greasy⁸ strip⁹ of fat to him is as delicious as a banana to us.  对他们来说，一长条油腻的肥肉，就像香蕉对于我们来说一样，是绝对的美味。

Fat food keeps people warm, and nature in its wonderful way makes fat taste good to the Eskimo because it makes him warm.  富含脂肪的食物可以帮助人们保持温暖。大自然以她神奇的方式让肥肉变为爱斯基摩人的美食，因为肥肉可以使他们感到温暖。

People in warm countries don't like fat food because it would make them warm when they want to be cool. 生活在气候温暖的国家的人则不喜欢肥肉，因为肥肉使他们在需要凉爽的时候感到浑身发热。

One of the most valuable furs that ladies wear is made from the coat of the seal, another animal that lives both in the water and on the ice.  女士们穿的最有价值的皮毛之一是海豹的皮毛。海豹是另一种既生活在水里也生活在冰上的动物。

The Eskimo uses the sealskin to make his tents in which he lives in the summertime.  爱斯基摩人用海豹皮来制作他们夏季居住用的帐篷。

1 thermometer   

n.温度计，寒暑表

参考例句：

• She put the thermometer in his mouth.她把体温表放入他口中。
• The thermometer fell to zero last night.寒暑表昨夜降至零度。

2 flesh   

n.肉；（供食用的）肉；果肉

参考例句：

• A fat man has much more flesh than a thin man.胖人较瘦人肉多。
• The flesh of the peach was sweet and juicy.桃子的果肉甜而多汁。

3 horns   

n.角( horn的名词复数 )；号；角质；（蜗牛等的）触角

参考例句：

• The young goat was just beginning to grow horns. 这只小山羊刚开始长角。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The blare of horns could be heard in the distance. 可以听到远处传来的号角声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 lean   

n.瘦肉，倾斜，弯曲；adj.瘦的，贫乏的，歉收的；v.倚靠，倾斜，依赖

参考例句：

• The seats have no back against which to lean.这些座位都没有靠背可倚。
• Please don't lean your chair back,you'll break it.请不要坐在椅子上往后仰，你会把椅子弄坏的。

5 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

6 walrus   

n.海象

参考例句：

• He is the queer old duck with the knee-length gaiters and walrus mustache.他穿着高及膝盖的皮护腿，留着海象般的八字胡，真是个古怪的老家伙。
• He seemed hardly to notice the big walrus.他几乎没有注意到那只大海象。

7 ivory   

n.象牙，乳白色；adj.象牙制的，乳白色的

参考例句：

• My grandmother has some jewelry made of ivory.我祖母有一些象牙首饰。
• It is carved from ivory.它是用象牙雕成的。

8 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

9 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。