英语听力：自然百科 野性俄罗斯之西伯利亚 Siberia—9

 A male with his harem seems at peace. But even without hunters, the life of an alpha male is tense.

 

A challenger comes.

 

It takes over three years for a young male to grow the impressive adult horns which can spiral to 190 centimeters long and weigh up to 20 kilos.

 

The group of females attracts attention from would-be suitors. The alpha male is clearly unimpressed. The youngster will see what it means to be a top male.

 

But the challenger pulls his punches just testing the dominant¹ male's resolve.

 

The top male lords over a harem of up to 25 females while young upstarts wait on the sidelines.

 

This ram² senses the chance to mate.

 

Lip curling called the flehmen response allows him to taste the air for pheromones indicating a willing female.

 

She's out here, but which one?

 

He tries his sexiest moves but the girls aren't in the mood.

 

Finally he gets his fleeting³ reward.

 

No matter, he will mate with many females during the season.

 

But he's not the only one who knows a good thing when he smells it. More suitors arrive.

 

They try to sneak⁴ in while the alpha male is distracted. Pull one’s punches

1 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

2 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

3 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

4 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。