万花筒 2012-01-19&01-21 奶牛生下四胞胎

 Holy cow ! You have to take a look at this picture. Yeah, this bovine¹ has given birth to not one, but four calves². I guess that will really earn her the world heifer. They got us thinking how common is this? Of course, we crunch³ the numbers and we found out the odds⁴ of quadruplet calves being born. All female and all alive,1 in 179.2 million. They got us wondering about how natural this is? And if hormones⁵ were involved. We asked Paul Roberts, who is author of the End of food. Why are the first reaction to this picture which is rather cute was actually alarm. Well, because you know, the first thing we think is what we're wrong. You know, a hundred years ago, four healthy births we would've thought is a miracle. Today, given all the questions we have about food system, where food comes from about the ingrediants and about the conditions under which is made. We are wondering whether this is another sign of another problem. And that's really indication where we're, and the food system in level distressed⁶ a lot of consumers have about food system. All right, it's pretty interesting, I think, think about. Let us know what you think on our facebook page about our food supply.

1 bovine   

adj.牛的；n.牛

参考例句：

• He threw off his pack and went into the rush-grass andand munching,like some bovine creature.他丢开包袱，爬到灯心草丛里，像牛似的大咬大嚼起来。
• He was a gentle,rather bovine man.他是一位文雅而反应迟钝的人。

2 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

4 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

5 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

6 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。