英语听力：自然百科 “大象营地”回归自然

 

 It's not an easy life for an elephant on Bangkok's busy streets. According to the Associated Press, an elephant in the city must earn about 1,000 US dollars a month to feed itself and make a living for its handler. Using an elephant on the streets to earn money by begging or entertaining tourists is illegal in Thailand. So mahouts or elephant keepers and their elephants are often chased away by police.

So Anantara Golden Triangle Resort in northern Thailand has created an elephant camp where a number of elephants and their mahouts and their families live. The camp is modelled after traditional mahout’s villages, commonly found in the hills of northern Thailand in the days when the majority of Thailand's elephants. And mahouts were employed in the logging industry. The goal is to let the animals be closer to nature and preserve the traditional mahout lifestyle.

Officials at the resort say this baby was born just a month ago. Her mother has a slight infection, so the resort is making sure she has the care she needs.

And we're trying to place intravenous drip for the antibiotics¹ into the back of the Bua Tong’s ear. But today, the tape is not sticking. That's the way to get the antibiotics into her without a big injection, which, the big injection really causes her lots of pain.

Every morning at the resort, mahouts give guests a crash course in guiding an elephant. A skilled mahout communicates with the elephant using around 70 soft commands, voice calls and touches. For most visitors, being so close to an elephant is exhilarating.

You feel very high and then it's just like, like this when they stomp². And when they are trying to walk fast, it's very scary. But it was good, it was fun. Elephant eye view.

Karen Kelly from Gibraltar, Spain says she came to Thailand to work with the elephants.

It's a great way to interact with the elephant. The guests on them… We all join together and for this evening walk where you get to mess around, go in the river, play with the elephants, and then bring them up the mountain and put them to bed before we head back to the camp.

One of the most memorable³ parts of her day is taking the elephants to bathe in the river. The elephants dry off and head for a lengthy⁴ amble⁵ through the forest before the guests end their elephant experience for the day.

1 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。

2 stomp   

v.跺（脚），重踩，重踏

参考例句：

• 3.And you go to france, and you go to stomp! 你去法国，你去看跺脚舞！
• 4.How hard did she stomp? 她跺得有多狠？

3 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

4 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

5 amble   

vi.缓行，漫步

参考例句：

• The horse is walking at an amble.这匹马正在溜蹄行走。
• Every evening,they amble along the bank. 每天晚上，他们都沿着江边悠闲地散步。