Lesson 9 Flying cats飛貓
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
How do cats try to protect themselves when falling from great heights?
Cats never fail to fascinate human beings. They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well. They never become submissive like dogs and horses. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline independence. Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives. One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives. Apparently, there is a good deal of truth in this idea. A cat's ability to survive falls is based on fact.
Recently the New York Animal Medical Center made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months. All these cats had one experience in common: they had fallen off high buildings, yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries. Of course, New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study, because there is no shortage of tall buildings. There are plenty of high-rise windowsills to fall from! One cat, Sabrina, fell 32 storeys, yet only suffered from a broken tooth. 'Cats behave like well-trained paratroopers.' a doctor said. It seems that the further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves. In a long drop, they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax. They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels. This increases their air-resistance and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.
參考譯文
貓總能引起人們的極大興趣。它們可以對人友好，充滿柔情。但是，它們又有自己神秘的生活方式。它們從不像狗和馬一樣變得那么順從。結果是人們已經(jīng)學會尊重 貓的獨立性。在它們的一生中，大多數(shù)貓都對人存有戒心。最使我們感興趣的一件事情就是一種通俗的信念——貓有九條命。顯然，這種說法里面包含著許多真實 性。貓在跌落時能夠大難不死是有事實作為依據(jù)的。
最近，紐約動物醫(yī)療中心對132只貓進行了為期5個月的綜合研究。所有這些貓有一個共同的經(jīng)歷：它們都曾從高層建筑上摔下來過，但只有其中的8只貓死于震 蕩或跌傷。當然，紐約是進行這種有趣的試驗的一個理想的地方，因為那里根本不缺乏高樓大廈，有的是高層的窗檻從上往下墜落。有一只叫薩伯瑞的貓從32層樓 上掉下來，但只摔斷一顆牙。“貓就像訓練有素的跳傘隊員，” 一位醫(yī)生說。看起來，貓跌落的距離越長，它們就越不會傷害自己。在一個長長的跌落過程中，它們可以達到每小時60里甚至更快的速度。在高速下落中，貓有時 間放松自己。它們伸展四肢，就像飛行中的松鼠一樣。這樣就加大了空氣阻力，并減少了它們著地時沖擊力帶來的震動。
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
fascinate
v. 迷住，吸引住
affectionate
adj. 充滿深情，柔情的
mysterious
adj. 神秘的，難以理解的
submissive
adj. 服從的，順從的
feline
adj. 貓的
independence
n. 獨立，獨立性
high-rise
adj. 高層的
windowsill
n. 窗檻
paratrooper
n. 傘兵
squirrel
n. 松鼠
air-resistance
n. 空氣阻力
impact
n. 沖擊力
Notes on the text課文注釋
1 Cats never fail to fascinate human beings.在這句話中有一個否定詞never和一個含有否定意義的動詞fail，這兩個否定詞就組成了雙重否定，而雙重否定往往用來表示肯定。這句話可以譯成:“貓總能引起人們的極大興趣。”
2 be based on，在...基礎之上。
3 have…in common，有...共同之處。
4 the further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves，貓跌落的距離越長，它們就越不會傷害自己。
"the+形容詞或副詞比較級...the+形容詞或副詞比較級”的結構常用來表示比較關系，往往可以譯成“越...越..." 。 be likely to是“很可能會”的意思。
Lesson 9 課后練習和答案Exercises and Answer
