基本信息
歌手：英語聽力
所屬專輯：新概念英語(第三冊)
內容簡介
--- lesson 1 A puma at large
逃遁的美洲獅
--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
^聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。
--- Where must the puma have come from?
Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America.
^美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動物，產於美洲。
When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously.
^當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45英里處發現一隻美洲獅時，這些報告並沒有受到重視。
However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate,
^可是，隨著證據越來越多，動物園的專家們感到有必要進行一番調查，
for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.
^因為凡是聲稱見到過美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。
The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from her.
^搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。那裡的一位婦女在採摘黑莓時的看見“一隻大貓”，離她僅5碼遠，
It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered.
^她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。專家證實，美洲獅非被逼得走投無路，是決不會傷人的。
The search proved difficult,
^事實上搜尋工作很困難，
for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening.
^因為常常是早晨在甲地發現那隻美洲獅，晚上卻在20英里外的乙地發現它的蹤跡。
Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits.
^無論它走哪兒，一路上總會留下一串死鹿以及死兔子之類的小動物。
Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes.
^在許多地方看見了爪印，灌木叢中發現了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。
Several people complained of 'cat-like noises' at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree.
^有人抱怨說夜裡聽見“像貓一樣的叫聲”；一位商人去釣魚，看見那隻美洲獅在樹上。
The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from?
^專家們如今已經完全肯定那隻動物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢?
As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country,
^由於全國動物園沒有一家報告丟了美洲獅，
this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape.
^因此那隻美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養的，不知怎么設法逃出來了。
The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught.
^搜尋工作進行了好幾個星期，但始終未能逮住那隻美洲獅。
It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.
^想到在寧靜的鄉村裡有一頭危險的野獸繼續逍遙流竄，真令人擔心。
