英文短篇故事（纽约）416 Cats Slaughter Billions

 　　A study found that cats kill almost 15 billion birds and other small animals yearly in the United States. It concluded that cats might eventually wipe out these other species. Cat owners bristled¹ at the news. Said one, "My Fluffy² is the sweetest cat in the world. She wouldn't hurt a fly, much less kill a sparrow. How did they even come up with that number? How could they possibly find, and count, billions of dead animals? Where are all these dead, half-eaten corpses⁴? In back yards? In the woods? I've never seen a bird or mouse corpse³ in my life. And my neighborhood is crawling with cats. The study doesn't contain billions of pictures of corpses, does it? So, where's their proof? I think those researchers have a thing about cats. I bet they all pulled the family cat's tail when they were kids. And got what they deserved."

1 bristled   

adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

2 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

3 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

4 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说