国家地理 北极熊觅食记

In Northern Canada, winter slowly loosens its grip, and a young polar bear is hungry. It sniffs¹ a meal already in progress, and decides to play a dangerous game, a food snatch.

在加拿大北部，严冬开始慢慢解禁，一只小北极熊早已饥肠辘辘。它嗅到了正在开吃的食物香味，并决定玩一场危险的抢食游戏。

His opponent is larger, older, and won't tolerate a rival. A second try, he scores a quick nibble². It is a game of patience and cunning, but a loss can result in death. Adult males will kill younger bears if it suits them.

它的对手更庞大、年长且容不下竞争对手。第二次尝试，它迅速咬到了一小口食物。这是一场耐心与机巧的游戏，而稍有不慎便会命归西天。只要合意，雄性成年北极熊就会杀死幼小的北极熊。

The older male has had enough. He charges, pushing the adolescent further and further back. The young one admits defeat, and retreats to safe ground. He begins a new game, a waiting game. The older bear devours³ his meal, licking the carcass, cleaning up blubber.

这只雄性老北极熊早已忍无可忍。它发动了攻击，把小北极熊赶得远远的。小北极熊自知不敌，它撤到了安全之地。它开始了一场新的等待游戏。这只老北极熊吞食着它的食物，将猎物尸体上的油脂舔净。

When the adult male has had his fill, he wanders off, leaving the scraps⁴ for his opponent. The young one feeds on the remains⁵. It wins a consolation⁶ prize of sorts, a full belly⁷. But it will be a long time before it is ready to compete again.

这只雄性成年北极熊吃饱喝足后，它便走开了，把残骸留给了它对手。这只小北极熊便吃着剩下的食物。它得到的某种补偿就是填饱肚子。但需要很长一段时间，它才能准备好再次抢食。

1 sniffs   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When a dog smells food, he usually sniffs. 狗闻到食物时常吸鼻子。 来自辞典例句
• I-It's a difficult time [ Sniffs ] with my husband. 最近[哭泣]和我丈夫出了点问题。 来自电影对白

2 nibble   

n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵

参考例句：

• Inflation began to nibble away at their savings.通货膨胀开始蚕食他们的存款。
• The birds cling to the wall and nibble at the brickwork.鸟儿们紧贴在墙上，啄着砖缝。

3 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。

4 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

7 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。