美国小学英语教材6:第26课 卡尔·阿克利将丛林带到美国(7)

 　　All have been finished and are ready to be installed in African Hall as soon as it shall have been built. 所有一切准备完成，一旦非洲馆落成就等待搬进馆中。

　　Around this central hall there will be forty wonderful habitat groups of animals, 在中央大厅旁边将有40个栖息地动物标本，

　　twenty of which will be viewed from the main floor and twenty from the balcony. 其中20个要在主层观看，其它20个在楼厅观看。

　　In all these groups the animals will be shown in their natural surroundings of forest, 所有展品都会以自然景观为背景呈现，有森林，

　　plain, river, or mountain, with backgrounds painted by trained artists from sketches¹ made in the field. 平原，湖泊或者山峰，背景都是艺术家在野外绘画草图后复制到背景上。

　　An indoor field-trip through this hall when completed will be almost as good as touring the African wilds. 在室内展览馆中探寻野外和走进非洲丛林的感觉一样好。

　　Since the great game animals are now decreasing, 由于狩猎动物正在逐渐减少，

　　it will soon be impossible to see in Africa as much of African wild life as is shown in this great hall. 在非洲原野看到它们的机会要小于展览馆。

　　As a part of his third expedition to Africa, Akeley had planned to go into the forests of gorilla² country. 在他的第三次非洲之行中，阿克利曾计划前往非洲丛林，这个大猩猩国家。

　　He was compelled, however, to postpone³ his study of the gorillas⁴ because of a skirmish he had with an old elephant. 但他被迫暂缓对大猩猩的研究，因为他与一头老象发生了小摩擦。

　　In this sudden encounter Akeley was left crushed and unconscious, and several months were required for his recovery. 在这次突然袭击中，阿克利被打倒并不省人事，他需要数月的康复时间。

　　It was not until his fourth expedition, in 1921-22, that he entered the country where the gorillas live, 直到1921-1922年，他才再一次来到大猩猩生活的国度，

　　a country of marvelous beauty with large open forests and sunny hillsides. 这里的美让人惊艳，有广阔的森林和日照充足的山坡。

　　At this time he made the first motion pictures ever taken of wild gorillas in their natural surroundings. 这次，他第一次在野外为野生大猩猩拍摄了电影。

　　By his studies he showed that these man-like apes are hardly wild, 通过研究他向人们证明了，这些人形猿类动物并不野蛮，

　　that they are not at all the ferocious⁵ beasts they were formerly⁶ considered to be. 它们并不是之前人们认为的凶残野兽。

　　The gorillas already prepared for the African Hall 非洲馆中展出的大猩猩标本是人类的首次，

　　are the only ones ever mounted by a man who has seen them free in their native surroundings. 人类之前只在野外环境中看到过它们。

1 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

3 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

4 gorillas   

n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• the similitude between humans and gorillas 人类和大猩猩的相像
• Each family of gorillas is led by a great silverbacked patriarch. 每个大星星家族都由一个魁梧的、长着银色被毛的族长带领着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

6 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。