国家地理 巨型蝙蝠

As the sun goes down every evening in northern Australia, millions of dark, huge, winged creatures dominate the skies.

在澳大利亚北部，每天晚上太阳下山的时候，数以百万计的黑色、巨大、有翅膀的生物占领了天空。

They're an imposing¹ sight, but these black flying foxes are just big harmless bats, thebiggest in the world.

它们是壮观的景象，但这些黑狐蝠只是无害的大蝙蝠，是世界上最大的蝙蝠。

Their wingspan can reach a whopping six feet. Given that the world's smallest bat species weighs less than a penny, that's pretty big.

它们的翼展能达到6英尺。考虑到世界上最小的蝙蝠物种的重量不到一便士，这是相当大的。

Nearly one quarter of the world's mammal species are bats. 160 of these are fruit batsand 60 of these are called flying foxes, for their unique looking, fox-like faces.

世界上近四分之一的哺乳动物物种是蝙蝠。其中160只是果蝠，60只是狐蝠，因为它们独特的外表和狐狸一样。

The black flying fox babies can't fly for the first month, which means the moms have to carry them, even when they become airborne.

黑狐蝠宝宝在第一个月不能飞，这意味着妈妈们必须带着它们，即使它们在空中时。

At night, they search for fruit and nectar, mainly through sight and smell. Like other fruit bats and vampire² bats, black flying foxes don't rely on echolocation. During the day, they live in huge colonies or camps housing up to 100,000 flying foxes. Usually they stay relatively³ cool by roosting in mangrove⁴ and paperbark trees that sit in water. But sometimes even this location isn't cool enough. Ever wore a black fur coat in the intense Australian heat? You can imagine why they fan themselves.

晚上，他们主要通过视觉和嗅觉寻找水果和花蜜。像其他果蝠和吸血蝙蝠一样，黑狐蝠不依赖回声定位。白天，它们生活在巨大的栖息地或营地里，住着多达10万只狐蝠。通常它们会在红树林和水里的白千层树上栖息以保持相对凉爽。但有时这个地方也不够酷。你是否曾在澳大利亚炎热的天气里穿过黑色毛皮大衣？你可以想象他们为什么给自己扇扇子。

Hey, when that doesn't work, they'll lick themselves. They cool down a little as their saliva⁶ evaporates. But with 100,000 bats in the same grove⁵ of trees, things are bound to heat up.

嘿，如果这没用，他们会舔自己的。当他们的唾液蒸发时，他们会稍微冷却。但是，在同一片树林里有10万只蝙蝠，必然会升温。

Fights often break out over which branch belongs to whom. They defend their turf. But they rarely break skin. Mostly it's just a lot of noisy posturing⁷. Posturing aside, this big black flying creature is nothing more than a fuzzy foxy looking vegetarian⁸.

他们经常因为树枝归属问题而打斗。他们捍卫自己的家园。但它们很少把皮咬破。大多数情况下，这不过是吵闹的作秀而已。撇开装腔作势不谈，这只黑色的大飞虫不过是一只毛茸茸的狐狸一样的素食主义者。

1 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

2 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 mangrove   

n.(植物)红树，红树林

参考例句：

• It is the world's largest tidal mangrove forest.它是世界上最大的红树林沼泽地。
• Many consider this the most beautiful mangrove forest in all Thailand.许多人认为这里是全泰国最美丽的红树林了。

5 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

6 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

7 posturing   

做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was posturing a model. 她正在摆模特儿的姿势。
• She says the President may just be posturing. 她说总统也许只是在做样子而已。

8 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。