评论
打印
LESSON 4 The condor of the andes
第四课 安第斯山的秃鹰
In those sterile heights Nature withholds her fostering influence alike from vegetable and from animal life. The scantiest vegetation can scarcely draw nutriment from the ungenial soil, and animals shun the dreary and shelterless wilds. The condor, or South American vulture, alone finds itself in its native element amidst these mountain deserts. On the inaccessible summits of the Cordillera, and at an elevation of from 10,000 to 15,000 feet, this bird builds its nest, and hatches its young in the months of April and May.
在那些贫瘠的高山上，大自然鲜有植物、动物的生命迹象。稀少的植物艰难地从坚硬的土壤中吸取营养，而动物则避开这些沉寂的，毫无遮蔽的荒野。秃鹰，或南美秃鹰，独自在荒山野地里寻找自身所需的食物。这种鸟在科迪勒拉山脉难以接近的山峰上，在海拔1万到1.5万英尺的高处筑巢安家，在4月和5月孵化幼鸟。
Few animals have attained so wide a celebrity as the condor. This bird was known in Europe at a period when its native land was numbered among those fabulous regions which are regarded as the scenes of imaginary wonders. The most extravagant accounts of the condor were written and read; and general credence was granted to every story which travellers brought from the fairy-land of gold and silver. It was only at the commencement of the present century that Humboldt overthrew the extravagant notions that had previously prevailed respecting the size, strength, and habits of this extraordinary bird.
很少有动物能像秃鹰那样广为人知。这种鸟在欧洲为人熟知，因为人们认为这种动物会在很多奇幻仙境的地区筑巢，那些地方令人神往。有关秃鹰最夸张的描述被文字记载和口头传诵。只要从金银仙境来的旅行者所讲的故事，大家都笃信不疑。直到本世纪初，Humboldt推翻了那些民间流传的关于这种非凡鸟类的体型、力量及习性的概念。
The full-grown condor measures, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, from four feet ten inches to five feet; and from the tip of one wing to that of the other, from twelve to fourteen feet! This bird feeds chiefly upon carrion; it is only when impelled by hunger that it seizes living animals, and even then only the small and defenceless, such as the young of sheep, vicunas, and llamas.
一只成年秃鹰，其喙到尾巴的长度约为4尺10英寸到5尺；从翅膀的一端到另一端的长度为12尺至14尺！这种鸟主要以腐肉为食；只有在饥不择食的情况下才会抓活动物果腹，甚至包括那些弱小、无防御能力的动物，比如小羊羔、小羊驼和美洲驼。
It cannot raise great weights with its feet; which, however, it uses to aid the power of its beak. The principal strength of the condor lies in its neck and in its feet; yet it cannot, when flying, carry a weight exceeding eight or ten pounds. All accounts of sheep and calves being carried off by condors are mere exaggerations.
它的双脚无法承重较大物体，因此，当它抓起重物时需要其喙的帮助。秃鹰主要的力量在于它的颈和双脚，不过它飞行时抓住的物体不能超过8英镑或者10英镑。因此，所有关于秃鹰抓绵羊与牛的说法都是夸大其词。
