2005年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Jim and Jamie Dutcher, 'Living with Wolve

Wolves have been cast as villains¹ in stories -- almost since there have been stories. Jesus warned against them in the Bible; Little Red Riding Hood² was tormented³ by one. They've been favorite symbols of evil from Aesop to Prokofieff.

A new documentary shatters many lupine myths-- and shows just how much like people wolves can be. Jim and Jamie Dutcher are the husband-and-wife team behind Living with Wolves. It premieres tonight on the Discovery Channel and the Dutchers join us from Caher, Idaho.

Jennifer: Welcome.
Jamie Dutcher: Thanks for having us , Jennifer.
Jim Dutcher: Thank you, Jennifer.

Jennifer: Jim, let's start with you, because that’s where the story does begin. It's in 1990. You got a permit to set up a wolf observation camp in the Sawtooth Mountains there in Idaho, where you and, and later Jamie came to live with you. You were there until 1996. Why did you first want to study wolf behavior?

Jim Dutcher: Well, I've always been interested in animals—— they are, elusive⁴, shy. And telling a story about an animal that has been misunderstood, I found it to be very intriguing⁵.

Jennifer: And Jamie, you were in Washington D.C., before you join Jim.
Jamie Dutcher: I was.
Jennifer: He was writing you letters telling you what he was doing. What did you think?

Jamie Dutcher:I really hadn't experienced mountains like this before, or snow and cold like this before. But it was so breathtakingly beautiful, and then to finally meet the wolves was an incredibly special moment. I was a little bit concerned that what they are gonna think of me, but I had been working at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., and knew a lot about animals and animal behavior, and just a kind of let it all unfold and let them come to me. And let, it , it was fine and I was accepted quite well.

Jennifer: So,as you both are watching these wolves, you are trying to stay at the sidelines and observe them. You describe a very intricate social structure. I mean tell me about the social structure that you see.

Jim Dutcher: Well,at the top of a pack of wolves is an Alpha pair : a male and a female. Now they are the ones that make all the decisions. Where to cross the rivers? Which animal to prey⁶ upon? And they are the only two that mate. If there is a lots game, the Beta wolf which is just under the Alpha will get a chance to mate. Then,there are mid⁷ -ranking wolves in the middle of a pack. They jostle back and forth⁸ to be on top of one another. There's always lots of squabbling during the feeding on carcasses that we would l bring them road chaos⁹, deer, elk¹⁰ and, antelope¹¹. And at the bottom of the pack is the Omega. And We've always ,sort of, had a warm spot in our hearts form the Omega, because they are so picked on. It's really sad, but they have a very important position in the pack. They instigate¹² play, kind of, defuses pack tension. And they get a game of tag going, pull tail, and things like that. And it was during one occasion when we had a wolf that was the omega that she went missing. And we found her and she had been killed. What happened next was what surprised us, is the pack, they mourn the loss of this wolf. They stopped playing for six weeks. They sort of mope around and howl as if trying to call her back.

Jennifer: Jamie, you became a sound engineer for wolf camp. We have some of your recordings¹³ here. Let's listen to it a bit.

(Listen to a part of wolf howling)

Jim Dutcher: Sometimes the wolf would howl at night when we were sleeping and they would kind of talk back and forth to each other, like "Are you there? I'm here. How are things?" Whatever they were saying, I would have no idea.

Jennifer: Well, these wolves were in an enclosed space, a very large one. But it was closed off. You brought them meat. Given that they were provided for that way, how honest do you think your observations of their lives were?

Jamie Dutcher: Well, I think they’ve very accurately¹⁴ mimicked¹⁵ wolves in the wild. And what Jim and I wanted to do was really delve¹⁶ into this social life of wolves, and its hierarchies¹⁷ and camaraderie¹⁸ they had. And really what we learned is that you can watch wolves, and even though wolves are completely unrelated to us, humans. Our social lives, our family lives are so similar.

Jennifer: What do you think the effect of your project is, if any, on the wolf population?

Jamie Dutcher: I think it really has actually help quite a bit. A perfect example is we've had people come up to us, hunters. And they say “Jee, you know, I've always wanted to bag a wolf and I can't do it now. I didn't know they were family animals. I didn't know they are so social.” And to have that come from a hunter, you know, is huge.

Jim Dutcher: At the end of the project, we have to move the wolves. Our permits with the US Forest Service had expired. And from the beginning I had a foundation that would take care of them and we had a deal with the Nesper tribe. When we had to say goodbye and move them up there. It was really, really sad because we had a bond with these animals. And we did say good-bye and they all came up to us, you know, licked our faces and we went our separate ways. And after about a year, we went back to see if the wolves would remember us and this is in the film. And it was so special because they did remember us, they were just like " oh, my! They are back again!” They jumped up on us, licked our faces, whined¹⁹ and whined. They just were so excited. It probably was the most special part of the whole project for me.

Jennifer: Jim and Jamie Dutcher, are the husband-and-wife team behind Living with Wolves. It premieres tonight on the Discovery Channel and a companion book comes out later this month. Thank you both so much!
Jim and Jamie Dutcher: Thank you! Thank you very much!

To see photos of the Dutchers and their wolves you can go to our website: NPR.org.

1 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

3 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

4 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

5 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

7 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

10 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

11 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

12 instigate   

v.教唆，怂恿，煽动

参考例句：

• His object was to instigate a little rebellion on the part of the bishop.他的目的是，在主教方面煽起一场小小的造反。
• It would not prove worthwhile to instigate a nuclear attack.挑起核攻击最终是不值得的。

13 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

14 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

15 mimicked   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• He mimicked her upper-class accent. 他模仿她那上流社会的腔调。 来自辞典例句
• The boy mimicked his father's voice and set everyone off laughing. 男孩模仿他父亲的嗓音，使大家都大笑起来。 来自辞典例句

16 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

17 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

18 camaraderie   

n.同志之爱，友情

参考例句：

• The camaraderie among fellow employees made the tedious work just bearable.同事之间的情谊使枯燥乏味的工作变得还能忍受。
• Some bosses are formal and have occasional interactions,while others prefer continual camaraderie.有些老板很刻板，偶尔才和下属互动一下；有些则喜欢和下属打成一片。

19 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句