美国学生世界地理教材 第224期:财富岛(3)

 Men poisoned millions of them and trapped millions more, but for every million killed, millions more were born. 人们毒死了几百万只兔子，又捕捉了几百万只兔子，但是，每消灭一百万只兔子，几百万只兔子又出生了。

It was like some of the plagues¹ that visited Egypt in Bible times. 就像在《圣经》时代埃及遭受的瘟疫一样。

The people built a wire fence all the way across the country to try to pen the rabbits in. 人们建起了一道铁丝网栅栏，穿越整个地区，试图将兔子圈进去。

But some of them escaped through the fence, so another fence was built. 但还是有些兔子钻过栅栏逃出来，于是又建起另一道栅栏。

Men are still killing² them off by the millions. 人们现在仍然成百万地杀掉兔子。

They pack some of the rabbit meat in cans and send it to England, and they send the skins back also—"a rabbit skin to wrap up Baby Bunting in." 他们把兔肉做成罐头送回英国，也将兔子的皮送回去——“一张兔皮包住了一个邦廷宝宝”。

But they cannot get rid of the little creatures altogether and probably never will. 但是他们无法完全摆脱这些小动物，很可能永远都摆脱不了。

The native animals in Australia are very peculiar³. 澳大利亚的土生动物非常独特。

One curious animal is the kangaroo, an animal as big as a man. 一种奇特的动物就是袋鼠，长得与人一样大。

He stands on his two hind⁴ legs like a dog begging for food. 它靠两条后腿站立，像立起来要东西吃的狗。

He uses his tail as if it were a third leg, sitting upon his two legs and tail as if on a three-legged stool⁵. 袋鼠还把自己的尾巴用作“第三条腿”，坐在两条腿和尾巴上，就好像坐在一只三条腿的凳子上。

His two front legs are very small and almost useless. 袋鼠的两条前腿非常短小，几乎没有用。

He doesn't run along on all fours; he jumps over the ground on his hind legs, making long hops⁶. 袋鼠不是靠四条腿向前奔跑，而是靠两条后腿跳跃，一下能跳得很远。

The mother kangaroo carries her babies in a pocket made of the skin of her stomach; it is a nest and a cradle⁷. 袋鼠妈妈的肚子上长着一只口袋，用来装袋鼠宝宝，这只口袋既是窝，又是摇篮。

Sailors used to return from long voyages and say they had seen living in the sea beautiful girls—from the waist up—with bodies like fish from the waist down. 以前，长途航海回来的水手们常说他们见过生活在海洋里的美丽的姑娘——腰部以上似人，腰部以下身体像鱼。

They called them mermaids⁸. 他们称这种生物为“美人鱼”。

You have heard of them in fairy-tales, of course. 当然，你们在童话故事中就听说过美人鱼了。

Well, there are real mermaids on the west coast of Australia. 你知道吗？在澳大利亚西海岸有真的美人鱼。

They do live in the sea, and they do hold their babies in their arms. 它们确实生活在海里，也确实用前肢抱着自己的孩子。

From a distance a sailor might imagine them beautiful; 可能水手从远处看就想象它们多么美丽，

but close up they do not look like the beautiful girls with fish tails you read about, for they are really ugly animals called sea-cows. 但是近看，它们并不像你从童话故事里读到的那样是长着鱼尾的美丽姑娘，其实它们是一种很丑的动物，叫做“海牛”。

How disappointing! 多么令人失望啊！

1 plagues   

瘟疫( plague的名词复数 )； 灾害，折磨

参考例句：

• Plagues aside, many critics see xenotransplantation as a colossal waste of resources. 除了疫病外，许多批评家把异种移植看作是资源的巨大浪费。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• Plagues were for merly regarded as a visitation of God. 瘟疫从前被认为是上帝的惩罚。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

4 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

5 stool   

n.凳子；粪便；根株；v.长出新枝，排便

参考例句：

• The stool is steady enough.这个凳子很稳。
• The boy was straining at stool.那个男孩在用力大便。

6 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

7 cradle   

n.摇篮，策源地，支船架；vt.把...放在摇篮里

参考例句：

• The baby was rocked to sleep in a cradle.婴儿在摇篮里被摇得睡着了。
• Tokyo was the cradle of Japanese culture.东京是日本文化的发源地。

8 mermaids   

n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
• This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白