英语听力：自然百科 Panda Sensed Earthquake 熊猫预感地震

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"They had been really lazy and just eaten a little bit of bamboo and, and all of a sudden they were sort of parading around their pen. And, looking back[1],  they must have sensed something was wrong."

 

Some scientists say animals can sense impending¹ danger by detecting subtle or abrupt² shifts in the environment. When the tsunami³  hit in 2004, there were reports that elephants in Sri Lanka fled to higher ground well before the waves crashed into the coastline. National Geographic⁴ grantee and Panda researcher Marc Brody says some animal species, such as elephants who are known to hear low frequency sound waves, hear things sonically and may get an early warning.

 

Some animal species have a greater awareness⁵ than humans of vibrations⁶ in the ground. And they may sense smaller tremors⁷ prior to a big earthquake. A group of tourists was airlifted to safety from Wolong and taken to the provincial⁸ capital of Chengdu on Thursday morning.

 

"We were looking forward then to moving onto the larger  panda, where we were not sure whether that panda was going to come out of the enclosure or whether that someone was going into  an  enclosure just to be with that panda. So we were waiting for that to happen and then suddenly we had this horrendous⁹ noise which is just what you can't describe out what it’s like, it’s just a huge huge noise and the land shaking underneath¹⁰, you[2]… "

 

Twelve Americans, part of a World Wildlife Fund-sponsored tour of China, were visiting the Panda Reserve in Wolong when the earthquake struck.

 

"Certainly it was a  surreal  experience to be standing¹¹ there going through a, whatever was  7.9 Richter earthquake surrounded by 25 pandas all sort of[3] reacting to that as well. "

 

Wolong’s 86 pandas were reported safe on Tuesday. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit on Monday with the epicenter near Wolong Reserve. Rescuers are still making their way to the more remote areas affected¹². So far the death toll¹³ stands at almost 20,000 and is expected to climb higher as rescue efforts progress.

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