英语听力：自然百科 阿根廷牛仔

 In the countryside of Argentina, cowboy life has scarcely changed over the past three centuries. The gaucho¹ is a hero here, a legendary² figure larger than life. But these are the real gauchos³, men who still live this life the way as the gaucho. 

 

If there is such a thing as a classic gaucho, it is Don Jose Ansola. He believes solitude⁴ helps preserve the purest form of gaucho life.

 

If I couldn't live in the campo, the countryside—an unthinkable thought—I don't know what I do. I'd rather live in a shack⁵ out here than in a palace in the city. There's too much I'd miss: the sound of hoofbeats, the birds of dawn, sipping⁶ maté in the clean air, no city has that.

 

Argentina, virtually the last refuge of this life style, is home to nearly 150,000 gauchos. Their herds⁷ thrive in the sea of grass, which means that a gaucho's work is never done.

 

The struggle against nature is very beautiful though difficult. In winter, it's cold and wet from morning to night; in summer, brutally⁸ hot. But somehow it all gives me strength. It nourishes my soul.

 

The life of a gaucho is one of adaptation, to a climate, to a landscape, and to an ageless way of life that even now sustains them.

1 gaucho   

n. 牧人

参考例句：

• Outside the city there are many countryside ranches for city dwellers to live the gaucho life,or just enjoy country life in the pampas,the grasslands outside buenos aires.城外有许多农庄，可以供城市居民前往居住和体验牛仔生活，或者只是去享受一下草原上的农家生活。
• There are many working estancias where tourists can live out the gaucho lifestyl

2 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

3 gauchos   

n.南美牧人( gaucho的名词复数 )

参考例句：

4 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

5 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

6 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

7 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

8 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。