胡敏读故事记单词托福词汇117（在线收听）

living at the edge of the desert

住在沙漠边缘

You don’t need a humanistic education in order to become a herdsman. Tending camels is a humble occupation, not at all well suited to hypersensitive individuals, such as myself, camels are quite arrogant beasts, only too ready to try and humiliate those who care for them, for example, by spitting at them.

As a herdman, there is no need to hypothesise on the meaning of life, what you do need, though, is a well-balanced nature, plus a fair amount of humility, living at the edge of the desert presents a great many hurdles to economic survival, clearly, herding camels must be one of the most difficult forms of animal husbandry.

Still, camels are well-adapted to life around the desert, they drink lots of water when they find it and store it in their humps, for when conditions are more precarious, likewise, they do not have much of a problem with the sand storms that rage like hurricanes in springtime, hurling clouds of dust and clods of earth over long distances, hustling anyone in their path to look for shelter, the howling of the wind alone is enough to hypnotise humans and animals alike.

New breeds of hybrid grains have been developed that thrive under conditions that are less than humid, these grains are easy to husk, while the husks themselves can be used as fodder for the camels, that leaves the problem of personal hygiene. How do you keep yourself clean and healthy in conditions of such severe shortage of humidity, let alone in the middle of a dust storm?

Living at the edge of the desert is tough, to say the least. My hypothesis is that I would not last longer than a week under such conditions of hardship.

要成为一个牧人，你不需要接受人文主义的教育。照料骆驼是一份微贱的工作，一点也不适合高度敏感的人，比如我自己。骆驼是很高傲的野兽，随时准备好试图羞辱照顾它们的人，比如朝他们吐唾沫。

作为牧人，没有必要假设生命的意义。然而，你确实需要平衡的天性，再加上一定程度的谦卑。住在沙漠边缘给经济的维持造成很多障碍。显然，放牧骆驼肯定是畜牧业中最困难的行当之一。

尽管如此，骆驼很适应沙漠的生活。它们发现水时会喝很多，并且贮藏在驼峰里，以防遇到更危险的情况。同样，春天像飓风一样肆虑的沙尘暴对它们来说也算不上什么问题，沙尘暴把灰尘和土块投掷到很远的地方，粗野地推搡那些正在找庇护所的人。大风的咆哮声就足以把人和动物都催眠了。

新品种的杂交谷物已经研制出来，能在不太潮湿的环境下茂密生长。这些谷物很容易去壳。外壳可以作为骆驼的饲料。剩下的问题就是个人卫生。如何让自己在这种严重缺少湿气的条件下保持清洁健康呢，更何况在沙尘暴中呢？

至少可以这么说，住在沙漠边缘是艰苦的，我的假设是我在这种艰苦的条件下，只能坚持不超过一个星期的时间。

Humble adj.微贱的，谦逊的

Humid adj.潮湿的

Humidity n.湿气，湿度

Humiliate vt.羞辱，使丢脸

Humility n.谦卑

Hump n.驼背，峰，圆形隆起之物

Hurdle n.篱笆，障碍

Hurl vt.用力投掷

Hurricane n.飓风，暴风雨

Husbandry n.节俭， 耕种，务农 ，农牧业

Husk n.外壳，皮 vt.剥….的壳。 削皮

Hustle n.拥挤喧嚷，催促，粗野地推

Hybrid n.杂种，混血儿

Hygiene n.卫生

Hypersensitive adj.高灵敏度的，感觉过敏的

Hypnotise vt.催眠

Hypothesis n.假设，假说

Hypothesise vt.假设，假定。