英语听力:自然百科 Giant Pandas 大熊猫的困境
时间:2018-12-03 作者:英语课 分类:自然百科2008年
英语课
There is just something about them. Maybe it’s the way they plow 1 through bamboo with no regard to dinner table etiquette 2, or maybe it’s the leisurely 3 strolls. From the outset, a panda’s life appears to be pretty easy. But appearances don’t tell the whole story.
Their natal 4 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 cubs 5 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 solitary 6. 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 confinement 7.
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 acting 8 like a spurned 9 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 )
- 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
- 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
- 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。