英语听力：自然百科 Giant Pandas 大熊猫的困境

 There is just something about them. Maybe it’s the way they plow¹ through bamboo with no regard to dinner table etiquette², or maybe it’s the leisurely³ strolls.  From the outset, a panda’s life appears to be pretty easy. But appearances don’t tell the whole story.

 

Their natal⁴ habitat in China continues to disappear. With about 1,000 left living in the wild, giant pandas are one of the most critically endangered species in the world. As a result, conservationists are doing their best to get captive pandas to reproduce, a difficult task given the animal's biology.

 

But when you have a female that only cycles once a year, you know, if you don’t get her to breed that year, you have to wait again, so that’s a big challenge with pandas.

 

Rebecca Snyder is the curator of giant panda research at Zoo Atlanta where Yang Yang and his female counterpart Lun Lun are big attractions, both were closely studied from the moment they were born.  Yang Yang, the male, was kept with his mother for almost a full year, a departure of captive breeding programs which usually separate cubs⁵ from their mothers at a much earlier age.

 

We think that removing these cubs at a very young age maybe prevents them from developing properly, socially that they are not having a chance to socialize with their mothers or learn from their mothers and that might be one of the  reasons that some of them are not successful in breeding later in life.

 

Snyder and her colleagues recently tested that theory. The female Lun Lun, went into estrus, sexually mature, she was now ready to mate.  But Yang Yang just was't getting the message.

 

She did everything she could do basically like suddenly slapped and everything you could expect. And he again was very interested in her, and you know, did everything he could do, too, but I think it's just gonna take him a little while longer to catch up with her.

 

These pandas who were raised together are being forced to go their separate ways whenever romance is not in the air. The giant panda is by nature solitary⁶. So to simulate life in the wild, scientists at Zoo Atlanta separate Yang Yang and Lun Lun once a month for 24 hours. Researchers are finding that the male and female have distinctly different responses to their solitary confinement⁷.

 

She used to show a little bit more overreaction when they were separated, at least go and look at him if she could, or sometimes scratch or paw a little bit at the barrier. But the last few times, she has not seemed to be particularly upset by being apart from him. He on the other hand, has been upset each time, really seems to prefer to be with her.

 

So while Lun Lun is acting⁸ like a spurned⁹ lover, after repeated separations, Yang Yang may be starting to understand what he is missing. In an echo of human behavior, when she plays hard to get, he suddenly can’t get enough of her.

 

It gets a good sign for the future. That’s the way males should be, generally for them to be good breeders, usually they should be interested in the female, wanting to interact with the female.

1 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

2 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

3 leisurely   

adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的

参考例句：

• We walked in a leisurely manner,looking in all the windows.我们慢悠悠地走着，看遍所有的橱窗。
• He had a leisurely breakfast and drove cheerfully to work.他从容的吃了早餐，高兴的开车去工作。

4 natal   

adj.出生的，先天的

参考例句：

• Many music-lovers make pilgrimages to Mozart's natal place.很多爱好音乐的人去访问莫扎特的出生地。
• Since natal day,characters possess the visual elements such as dots and strokes.文字从诞生开始便具有了点画这样的视觉元素。

5 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

7 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句