听播客学英语 132 圣诞火鸡

 　　It is the middle of November. It is time to start thinking about Christmas. It is time to think about Christmas cards, and what present to buy for Uncle George.(A nice tie perhaps, except that we bought him a tie last year and the year before). And soon it will be time to think about Christmas dinner – who should we invite to have Christmas dinner with us, and what should we eat.

　　Many people in England eat turkey at Christmas. This is a new tradition – if you understand what I mean. Fifty years ago, it was unusual to eat turkey, and it was difficult to find turkey in the shops. People ate chicken or goose at Christmas. But nowdays, most people eat turkey on Christmas Day. And because turkeys are big birds, they also eat cold turkey on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and for about a week afterwards as well, until they become fed up with turkey and never want to eat or see another turkey ever again – until next Christmas, of course.

　　I feel sorry for turkeys. Most of them are kept on huge turkey farms, with thousands of other turkeys. Some turkeys are “free fange” – that means, they are allowed outside to run around and scratch the ground. But many others are kept in cages indoors¹. The farmers feed them a special diet to make them fat. They inject them with antibiotics² to keep them healthy. And then, a few weeks before Christmas, they slaughter³ all the turkeys and send them off to the supermarkets. And unfortunately this year many of the turkeys will not even make it to the Christmas dinner table. There is a serious outbreak of bird flu in some of the big poultry⁴ farms in the east of England. The bird flu virus appears to have come from Eastern Europe, but no-one yet knows how it got to England. The only way to stop the virus from spreading is to slaughter all the birds on the infected farms – even the healthy ones – and to incinerate (that is, to burn) their bodies. Nearly 30,000 turkeys have been culled⁵ so far, and probably more will need to be killed in the next few days.

　　I have however a confession⁶ to make. I do not like turkeys. They are stupid, mean, horrible birds. Once, I had a fight with a turkey, and I am afraid that the turkey won. It happened like this. We – that is, myself and my wife and children – visited a children’s farm. We saw pigs and calves⁷; the children went for a ride on a donkey⁸; they fed the chickens and the lambs, and ate ice cream in the cafe. There was a turkey in the farmyard. To everyone else it was a kind, gentle turkey. But when it saw me, it attacked. It pecked⁹ my feet and ankles. It chased¹⁰ me round the farm. There were lots of children there, with their parents, and they all laughed. I have never felt so humiliated¹¹ in my life. The farmer explained that the turkey thought that my shoelaces were worms or something else that turkeys like to eat. Stupid turkey.

　　We have a joke or saying in English. We say that turkeys do not vote for Christmas. It means that people will not support (vote for) something which is obviously¹² not in their interests. But if turkeys are stupid enough to attack my shoelaces, maybe they are stupid enough to vote for Christmas too.

1 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

2 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

3 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

4 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

5 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句

6 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

7 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 donkey   

n.驴子；蠢人；顽固的人

参考例句：

• This donkey can carry two sacks of grain.这头驴能驮两袋粮食。
• "I'll buy your donkey,"said the two.“我想要买你的驴子”两人异口同声说。

9 pecked   

啄，啄食，小口地吃( peck的过去式和过去分词 )； 匆匆地吻

参考例句：

• The hen pecked a hole in the sack. 母鸡在麻袋上啄了一个窟窿。
• He pecked his aunt on the check. 他在姨妈的脸颊上匆匆吻了一下。

10 chased   

vt.追捕（chase的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The boy chased his sister in and out among the bushes. 那个男孩在灌木丛里跟着他姐姐追过来追过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy chased the decoys down to the place of ambush. 敌人将诱骗者一直追到伏兵所在地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

12 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。