胡敏读故事记单词托福词汇117

（单词翻译）

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 humble¹ occupation, not at all well suited to hypersensitive individuals, such as myself, camels are quite arrogant² beasts, only too ready to try and humiliate³ 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 humility⁴, living at the edge of the desert presents a great many hurdles⁶ to economic survival, clearly, herding⁷ 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 precarious⁸, likewise, they do not have much of a problem with the sand storms that rage like hurricanes in springtime, hurling¹⁰ clouds of dust and clods of earth over long distances, hustling¹¹ 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 hybrid¹² 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 fodder¹³ for the camels, that leaves the problem of personal hygiene¹⁴. 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

Hurdle⁵ n.篱笆，障碍

Hurl⁹ 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

Hustle¹⁵ 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。