实战口语情景对话 第658期:Camels,Koalas,Kangaroos 骆驼考拉和袋鼠

Todd: Rebecca, I'm a huge animal lover. I love animals and Australia has lots of wildlife and animals. I was wondering, could you talk about them and starting with, what's the deal with the camels? Why do you have camels?
托德：丽贝卡，我非常喜欢动物。我喜欢动物，我知道澳大利亚有很多野生动物和其他动物。我想请你谈一谈，先从骆驼开始怎么样？澳大利亚为什么会有骆驼？

Rebecca: Camels are not really Australian animals but Australia's really big. It has a lot of desert in the center part of Australia so when white people first arrived in Australia, they decided to explore inland and because it's so dry, there's no water, the couldn't use horses so they brought camels over, but some got away and they went wild and they started breeding and now there's hundreds, maybe thousands, of camels running around wild in the desert.
丽贝卡：骆驼并不是澳大利亚特有的动物，不过澳大利亚的骆驼非常大。澳大利亚中部有大片的沙漠，所以当白人抵达澳大利亚时，他们决定开发内陆，可是因为那里太干了，又没有水，所以没办法用马，所以他们带来了骆驼，不过有些骆驼逃跑了，他们很生气，所以他们开始饲养骆驼，现在澳大利亚沙漠区大概有数百头，甚至是上千头骆驼。

Todd: No, way, really. So these camels are just free to do whatever, like, do people try to catch them or just let them be or what's the deal?
托德：天哪。这些骆驼可以自由活动吗？人们会把骆驼拴起来吗？还是就让它们自由地待着？是怎么样的？

Rebecca: As far as I know they have no jobs, no obligations. I think they can just do what they want. No, but in the northern part of Australia, actually they have a famous camel race every year, and it's like a horse race but with camels. That's pretty funny.
丽贝卡：据我所知，骆驼没有做事的义务。它们可以自由活动。澳大利亚北部地区每年会举办著名的骆驼赛跑比赛，就像赛马比赛一样。骆驼赛跑非常有意思。

Todd: Cool. That would be cool to see. OK, I got to ask about the Koala. Now I heard that the Koala actually is not such a cute creature. That it has sharp claws and this and that. Is that true?
托德：真酷。观看骆驼赛跑比赛一定很酷。好，下面我要问考拉了。我听说考拉其实并不是那么可爱的生物。考拉的爪子很锋利，是吗？

Rebecca: Yeah, something I could never really understand is why tourists want to cuddle a koala. I've never cuddled one and I don't want to because I've heard that they don't smell very nice. They're a little bit, not very friendly. Yes, they do have sharp claws and they can hurt you if they choose to. I think they genuinely are pretty peaceful, but I think they would rather sleep so.
丽贝卡：对，所以我非常不理解为什么游客要去抱考拉。我从来没有抱过考拉，我也不想这么做，因为我听说考拉身上有不太好闻的味道。考拉其实不太友好。而且考拉的爪子很锋利，可能会伤到你。我认为其实考拉很平静，它们可能宁愿睡觉。

Todd: OK, and could the same be said for the kangaroo? So the kangaroo, are they these fun loving creatures or are they kind of wild and dangerous?
托德：好，那袋鼠的情况也是一样吗？袋鼠是可爱的动物还是危险的动物？

Rebecca: Kangaroos are definitely wild and dangerous. I think wallabies are safer. They're smaller and usually more friendly with people. You do have to be careful especially with male kangaroos. When I was a kid I tried to feed a kangaroo but the kangaroo got a little bit over excited about my sandwich and he pushed me over and he stole my sandwich.
丽贝卡：袋鼠绝对是又野又危险的动物。我认为沙袋鼠要安全的多。沙袋鼠体型比袋鼠小，而且对人类更友好。接触雄性袋鼠的时候一定要特别小心。我小时候曾试图喂袋鼠，但是那只袋鼠看到我的三明治以后有点兴奋过头了，所以它把我推倒，然后拿走了我的三明治。

Todd: Man. Whoa. Cool. Well, it's kind of cool that a kangaroo has an attitude. Ok, thans a lot, Rebecca.
托德：天哪，哇，酷。一只袋鼠有这种心理也挺酷的。谢谢你，丽贝卡。