Lesson 16
Mary had a little lamb
瑪麗有一頭羔羊
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
Was Dimitri right to apologize to his neighbour? Why not?
Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Mary's prize possessions was a little white lamb which her husband had given her. She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening. One evening, however, the lamb was missing. The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.
When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened. Dimitri at once set out to find the thief. He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or he would call the police. Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his backyard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find the little black lamb was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
prize
adj. 珍貴的，寶貴的
tie
v. 拴，系
theft
n. 偷盜行為，偷盜案
accuse
v. 指控
deny
v. 否認
ashamed
adj. 感到羞恥，慚愧
apologize
v. 道歉
dye
v. 染
蛇是怎樣產(chǎn)生毒液的，這是一個謎。蛇的唾液本來和我們?nèi)说南阂粯尤岷?，但?jīng)過漫長的時間，演變成了今天仍無法分析清楚的毒液。毒液不是生存競爭強加給它們的，它們也可以不用毒液捕捉動物而生存，就像今天成千上萬的無毒蛇那樣。毒液對毒蛇來說只不過是一種舒適生存的優(yōu)越手段，它使蛇不用費多大力氣就能捕獲到食物，輕咬一口即可。為什么只有蛇才有毒液呢？譬如說，如果貓有毒液，那對貓會大有幫助，它就不必再和又大又兇的老鼠邊跑邊博斗了，也不必再和大兔子扭斗了，只要咬一口，就不必再費大力氣。因此，任何食肉動物有了毒液，都能從中獲益。不過，當它們相互撕打時，毒液就成了利弊參半的武，可以殺死對方，也可以被對方的毒液殺死。然而，在脊椎動物中，大自然神秘模測地只選擇了蛇（還有一種蜥蜴），人們弄不清楚大自然為什么在某些蛇的身上調(diào)制出如此高效的毒液來。 人們可能認為，唾液轉(zhuǎn)變成毒液，其中有固定的程序。其實沒有。有些蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液也在各方面與另外一些毒蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液不同，就像砒霜不同于馬錢子堿一樣。不同毒蛇產(chǎn)生的毒液產(chǎn)生的效果不同，一種毒液作用于神經(jīng)，另一種毒液作用于血液。 產(chǎn)生神經(jīng)毒液的蛇有一種非洲樹眼鏡蛇和眼鏡蛇，它們的毒液稱為神經(jīng)毒素。蝰蛇（蝮蛇）和響尾蛇產(chǎn)生血液毒素，稱為溶血性毒液。這兩種毒液都很可怕，但溶血性毒液尤其厲害。據(jù)說，神經(jīng)毒液在兩種毒液中是較為原始的一種，而溶血性毒液，打個比方說，是根據(jù)改良配方生產(chǎn)的一種較新的產(chǎn)品。不過，神經(jīng)毒辣液比溶血性毒液在人身上起作用快得多。但是，這沒有什么關(guān)系，因為蛇有毒液不是用來對付人的，而是對付它的獵物，諸如鼠類，毒液對這些獵物會立刻起作用。