书城外语课外英语-零点故事夜话(双语版)
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第19章 动物拾趣(7)

我的人是善良而又仁爱的。他不是老得不善于步行。他甚至还可以跑步。最好的事是他学东西很快,就是说,作为一个人,他学东西相当快。

在一节很容易的课里,我教他如何滚我的球。他坐在地板上。然后,我把球滚向他。他学会了每当我接到球时就说“拿来”。

我们一而再,再而三地玩这种球的游戏。但往往我还没有累,他就累了。我猜想,人不像狗那么强壮。

在街上,我们需要相互靠紧,因此,我才要他把皮带系到我的颈圈上。他把皮带的另一端绕在手腕上。那样,他就无法跑开了。

我们顺着街慢慢走去。有时,我的人用劲拽皮带,把它拉紧。如果我在他两腿之间跑,皮带就会缠绕在他的脚上,他只得不再用力拽!

有一天,我的人在我前面跑。我不愿跑,于是,我突然停住,他差一点摔个仰面朝天!此后,他总是静静地在我身后走着。

不过,对我的人来说,有时跑跑步是件好事。于是,我就加速跑开,连着皮带一起。在乡下,我常常想追猎兔子,他看上去并不总是愿意这么干。不过,我们还是一起跑了!可笑的是,他从没有逮住过兔子。我反复试着教会他该如何逮兔子。

有时他跑得那么快,以致跌倒了。那时,我对他非常仁爱,用舌头舔他的脸。如果他受了伤,我就把他径直带回家。然后,我们就吃些东西,他就会觉得好一些。

我知道一条狗,他很愿意单独住在那种叫做狗窝的小房子里。他让他的人住到另一所房子里。不过我想,有人和你在一起是挺好的。我让我的人住在我的房子里。这房子对我俩来说足够大了。

他有自己的软椅,但在上面坐得时间太久对他来说实在并非好事。我经常跳到软椅上。如果我在上面装作睡觉,他就得坐在硬椅子上。那时他可能会想起去散散步。

教一个人,实在麻烦。我不得不再三再四地为我的人讲解。不过,我并不生他的气。我从没有用爪子揍过他。想要让他知道他该做什么时,轻轻一声吠叫常常就够了。

有时,他不让我出去,或不给我送吃的来,那时,我可能不得不吠叫两三声。

有一件事我从不让我的人干--他决不能从家里跑走。

当他收拾他的提包时,我知道该怎么办。我躺在他的脚边,难过地仰望着他。我一句话不说,只是看着他。他知道我在想什么。

有一回,他把包里的东西又取出来了,他待在家里没有走。因此,晚饭后我让他坐在软椅里。我舔他的手,让他知道我高兴。

一个人应当住在家里,他的狗应当把他看好,不让他离开。

Days of the Dinosaurs

It was a terrible fight! But no man was there to see it. It happened more than 100 million years ago.Before the battle, one large lizard hid

in the thick jungle. With small, hungryeyes he watched his prey, a larger liza

rd, about 90 feet long! It was eating grass by a lake.

Both beasts were like animals that we m

ight see in a bad dream. The one in the

jungle stood 20 feet tall on his powerful back legs. His two front legs were short, with sharp claws on the feet. His teeth were like long knives.

With a great roar, this meat-eater cras

hed through the jungle toward his prey.There was only one hope for the great lizard. Even though he was three times aslarge as his enemy, he was not a fighte

r. He could only try to get away, into deep water. There he would be safe.The grass-eater tried to move fast. Theround footprints he left were as large

as washtubs. But the enemy was faster. His three-toed footprints show that he ca

me closer and closer…

How did the fight end? We can‘t be sure

. We can only tell by the animals’ footprints that the fight did take place. Themud where the two dinosaurs walked has

turned into stone.

We can see those footprints today-in Te

xas. They tell us that the meat-eater did catch up with the great lizard. Who won we can only guess. But we know that meat eating dinosaurs often killed those that ate grass and the leaves of trees.

Footprints are not all that tell us about dinosaurs. Their bones and teeth havealso been found. We even have some of t

heir eggs in museums.

Scientists know how to fit a dinosaur‘s

bones together. Then they can tell how

the animal may have looked. From its teeth they know whether it ate meat or grass.The word dinosaur means “terrible lizar

d”. The beast with teeth like knives wasa tyrannosaur. This name the scientists

gave him means“tyrant lizard.”

His prey was a brontosaurk, or “thunderlizard”. A brontosaur was very slow andheavy. His small head and four small te

eth were of no use for fighting. He could fight only with his long tail.

Dinosaurs were of many sizes and shape

s. Some were as small as chickens. But all of them had very small brains.

Millions of years ago, the dinosaurs ru

led the earth. Since then, there have been no dinosaurs. What happened to them?

We know they did not all die at once. It may have taken a few million years for all of them to die.In the days of the dinosaurs, the whole earth was warm and wet. There were many green jungles. But the earth change slowly, all the time. When parts of the earth became cold and dry,the jungles there died. Then dinosaurs could not find enough. to eat. This must be one reason why the dinosaurs died out.We can guess another reason. New kinds of animals came on the earth. Some had big brains and were fast and strong. They could kill dinosaurs. Some ate dinosaur eggs, too.There may be other reasons that we do not yet know about. Each year, more dinosaur prints and bones are found. Scientists tell us that the most exciting discoveries about these “terrible lizards” may yet be made.恐龙时代

这是一场可怕的战斗!但没有人在那儿亲眼目睹。这是发生在一亿多年以前的事了。

搏斗之前,一只巨大的蜥蜴躲在茂密的丛林中,他的小眼睛饥饿地盯着他要捕食的动物,一只更大的约90英尺长的蜥蜴!它正在湖边吃草。

这一对野兽正像我们在噩梦中可能见到的动物。丛林中的一只,用强有力的后腿站立着,有20英尺高。他的两条前腿很短,脚上长着锋利的爪子,牙齿像长长的利刃。

随着一声怒吼,这食肉兽闯过丛林,扑向他要捕食的动物。对于那一只巨大的蜥蜴来说,希望只有一个。即使他有敌人三倍大,可他不是斗士。他只能试图逃脱,钻进深水里。在那儿他才会安全。食草兽企图跑得快些,他留下的圆脚印如同洗衣盆那么大。但敌人跑得更快,他的三个脚趾的脚印表明,他追得越来越近了。

战斗是如何结束的呢?我们无法肯定。我们只能依据这两只动物的脚印来断定确实发生了战斗。那两条恐龙踏过的泥土已经变成石头。

今天,我们可以看到那些脚印--在得克萨斯州。那些脚印告诉我们,食肉兽确实追上了那只大蜥蜴。究竟是谁赢得了胜利,我们只能猜测。但是,我们知道,食肉的恐龙经常杀死那些吃草和树叶的恐龙。

告诉我们有关恐龙的事的,不仅是脚印而已。人们还发现它们的骨骼和牙齿。博物馆里甚至还有一些恐龙蛋。

科学家们知道如何将一条恐龙的骨骼装配在一起。然后,他们能判断这个动物可能是什么样子。从它的牙齿,科学家可以看出它是食肉的还是食草的。

恐龙这个词的意思是“可怕的蜥蜴”。那种长有如同利刃一般的牙齿的野兽是霸王龙。科学家们给它们取的这个名字意思是“恶霸蜥蜴”。

他的捕食对象是一只雷龙,即“雷蜥蜴”。雷龙非常迟钝和笨重,他那小小的脑袋和四颗小牙,对于格斗毫无用处。他只能用长长的尾巴进行格斗。

恐龙的大小和形状是多种多样的,有一些才像小鸡那么大。不过,所有的恐龙脑子都很小。

千百万年以前,恐龙统治着大地。从那时以后,就再也没有恐龙了。它们发生什么事了呢?

我们知道,他们并不是一下子死光的。它们可能经过几百万年才灭绝。

在恐龙时代,整个地球温暖而潮湿,到处是绿色的丛林。但是,地球一直在缓慢地变化。

当地球上的某些部分变得寒冷干燥时,那里的丛林便枯死了。那时,恐龙就无法找到足够的东西吃,这一定是恐龙灭绝的原因之一。

我们还可以猜到另一种原因。一些新的动物在地球上出现,有的具有发达的大脑,奔跑迅速,力气很大。它们能够杀死恐龙。有些动物还吃恐龙的蛋。

也许还有我们至今尚不知道的其他原因。每年都有更多的恐龙脚印和骨骼被发掘出来。科学家们告诉我们,有关这些“可怕的蜥蜴”的最激动人心的发现,还有待做出!