英语听力：自然百科 同胞相残

 On a Minnesota farm 40 miles away, another family is further along. Their two eaglets(小鹰) have already hatched(孵化). The mother feeds her four-day-old daughter. The two-day-old male, hardly able to hold his head up, doesn’t seem to be getting a fair share. Although both parents are dedicated¹, they have a blind spot for one particular peril(危险) -- one within the family: sibling(兄弟姐妹，手足) rivalry².

 

It’s not unusual for the older eaglet to turn on(攻击) the younger and smaller. In nature’s cold calculation: why share your meals when you can eat more alone？Neil(Neil Rettig) has been documenting the story from a stifling(令人窒息的) blind（隐蔽物）, just a stone’s throw from the nest.

 

“The dynamics³ of this whole syndrome⁴ is that the chick that’s beat up becomes weaker and weaker, cowers(畏缩), he is kind of afraid even to stand upright, and the female, who always feeds, the chick is more robust⁵. It’s called the Cain and Abel syndrome. The feedings go on for about, oh, 5 to 8 minutes, sometimes maybe 12 minutes. The bigger chick is getting up to 30 or 40 pieces of food per feeding. The little one would get about 6 to 8 pieces. The last few days we’ve been worried a lot about whether the younger smaller chick is going to survive or not. So we got our fingers crossed（默默祈祷） that little UD (we call him underdog) is gonna be Ok.

 

1 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

2 rivalry   

n.竞争，竞赛，对抗

参考例句：

• The quarrel originated in rivalry between the two families.这次争吵是两家不和引起的。
• He had a lot of rivalry with his brothers and sisters.他和兄弟姐妹间经常较劲。

3 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

4 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

5 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。