英语听力：自然百科 臭鼬的日记

 This new mom has six helpless kids. The babies are born with black and white markings on their naked skin that are soon covered with fur of the same pattern. At the age of four weeks, they open their eyes for the first time. In another three weeks or so, around the time of weaning, mom will lead them on their first trip out of the den¹. This mother seldom leaves her kids alone, that's because if a male enters the den, even the dad, he's likely to kill her babies. 

 

Jerry Dragoo's pregnant female has given birth. 

 

What a good girl you are! Yeah, you are being really good!

 

And she and her new kids are doing well. 

 

You get a few of them in there, don't you?

 

But not all baby skunks³ are so lucky.

 

We're coming down. 

 

Another litter lost their mother at a very young age. Dragoo picked them up from New Mexico Game and Fish. For these six-week old orphans⁴, he's acting⁵ in loco parentis, but many would call him just plain "loco". 

 

Okay, who wants to be the first? Come on. When we got them, they were hungry. They were being fed cat food. Cats require a lot more protein in their diet than skunks do. And a lot people, for some reason, seem to think skunks and cats are closely related, but really they're not. So we switch them over to the puppy formula real quick.

 

And your teeth are starting to come in. Yeah, here you go. That's what you are looking for.

 

The babies are born ready to spray.

 

They don't have quite as much oil, so it's more of a, kind of a "poof" rather than a liquid. You get the same odor, but it just doesn't last with these guys. 

 

The kids won't start eating solid food for another couple of weeks. 

 

There you go! There you go!

 

Come on, you characters! Come here. Come on. 

 

You see, the female has got a lot of white on her tail; and then these two males, they've got a little white tip on their end; and this guy, I call him Blackie 'cause he didn't have a white tip.

 

With 30 to 80 skunk² guests a year, Gragoo finds it challenging to get on a first-name basis with all of them.

 

Let's go this way. Come here. We used to run out of names. You can't call them all "Flower" or (Where have you gone? Come here.) "Stinky” or "Peppy".

 

Come on, sweetie. There you go.

 

Dragoo will release these four orphans as soon as they can fend⁶ for themselves.

1 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

2 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

3 skunks   

n.臭鼬( skunk的名词复数 )；臭鼬毛皮；卑鄙的人；可恶的人

参考例句：

• Slim swans and slender skunks swim in the slippery slime. 苗条的天鹅和纤细的臭鼬在滑滑的黏泥上游泳。 来自互联网
• But not all baby skunks are so lucky. -We're coming down. 但不是所有的臭鼬宝宝都会如此幸运。-我们正在下来。 来自互联网

4 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。