Prologue

Mum and I arrived as the new owners of DartmoorWildlife Park in Devon for the first time at around six o’clockon the evening of 20 October 2006, and stepped out of thecar to the sound of wolves howling in the misty¹ darkness.
My brother Duncan had turned on every light in the house towelcome us, and each window beamed the message intothe fog as he emerged from the front door to give me abone-crushing bear hug. He was more gentle with Mum.
We had been delayed for an extra day in Leicester with thelawyers, as some last-minute paperwork failed to arrive intime and had to be sent up the M1 on a motorbike. Duncanhad masterminded the movement of all Mum’s furniturefrom Surrey in three vans, with eight men who had anotherjob to go to the next day. The delay had meant a fraughtstandoff in the entryway to the park, with the previousowner’s lawyer eventually conceding that Duncan couldunload the vans, but only into two rooms (one of them thefetid front kitchen) until the paperwork was completed.
So the three of us picked our way in wondermentbetween teetering towers of boxes and into the flagstonedkitchen, which was relatively² uncluttered and, we thought,could make a good center of operations. A huge old trestletable I had been hoarding³ in my parents’ garage for twentyyears finally came into its own, and was erected⁴ in a roomsuited to its size. It’s still there as our dining-room table, buton this first night its symbolic⁵ value was immense. Someboxes and carpets Duncan had managed to store in theback pantry had just been flooded, so while he unblockedthe drain outside I drove to a Chinese takeout I’d spottedon the way from Route A38, and we sat down to our firstmeal together in our new home. Our spirits were slightlyshaky but elated, and we laughed a lot in this cold, dark,chaotic house on that first night, and took inordinatecomfort from the fact that at least we lived near a goodChinese place.
That night, with Mum safely in bed, Duncan and I steppedout into the misty park to try to get a grip on what we’ddone. Everywhere the flashlight shone, eyes of differentsizes blinked back at us, and without a clear idea of thelayout of the park at this stage, the mystery of exactly whatanimals lurked⁶ behind them added greatly to theatmosphere. We knew where the tigers were, however, andmade our way over to one of the enclosures that had beenearmarked for replacement⁷ posts to get a close look atwhat sort of deterioration⁸ we were up against. With notigers in sight, we climbed over the stand-off barrier andbegan peering by flashlight at the base of the structuralwooden posts holding up the chain-link fence. We squatteddown and became engrossed⁹, prodding¹⁰ and scraping atthe surface layers of rotted wood to find the harder core, inthis instance reassuringly¹¹ near the surface. We decided¹² itwasn’t so bad, but as we stood up were startled to see thatall three tigers in the enclosure were now only a couple offeet away from where we were standing¹³, ready to spring,staring intently at us. Like we were dinner.
It was fantastic. All three beasts—and they were suchglorious beasts—had maneuvered¹⁴ to within pawingdistance of us without either of us noticing. Each animalwas bigger than both of us put together, yet they’d movedsilently. If this had been the jungle or, more accurately¹⁵ in thiscase, the Siberian tundra¹⁶, the first thing we’d have knownabout it would have been a large mouth around our necks.
Tigers have special sensors¹⁷ along the front of their two-inchcanines that can detect the pulse in your aorta¹⁸. The first biteis to grab, then they take your pulse with their teeth,reposition them, and sink them in.
As they held us in their icy glares, we were impressed.
Eventually, one of these vast, muscular cats—acknowledging that due to circumstances beyond theircontrol (i.e., the fence between us), this had been a meredress rehearsal—yawned, flashed those curved daggercanines, and looked away. We remained impressed.
We started back toward the house. The wolves begantheir eery night chorus, accompanied by the sounds of owls—there were about fifteen on site—the odd screech¹⁹ of aneagle, and the nocturnal danger call of the vervet monkeysas we walked past their cage. This was what it was allabout, we felt. All we had to do now was work out what todo next.
It had been an incredible journey to get there. A newbeginning, it also marked the end of a long and tortuousroad, involving our whole family. My own part of the storystarts in France.

1 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

2 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。

3 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

4 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

5 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

6 lurked   

vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The murderers lurked behind the trees. 谋杀者埋伏在树后。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Treachery lurked behind his smooth manners. 他圆滑姿态的后面潜伏着奸计。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

8 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

9 engrossed   

adj.全神贯注的

参考例句：

• The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。
• No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

10 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 reassuringly   

ad.安心，可靠

参考例句：

• He patted her knee reassuringly. 他轻拍她的膝盖让她放心。
• The doctor smiled reassuringly. 医生笑了笑，让人心里很踏实。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 maneuvered   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• I maneuvered my way among the tables to the back corner of the place. 我在那些桌子间穿行，来到那地方后面的角落。 来自辞典例句
• The admiral maneuvered his ships in the battle plan. 舰队司令按作战计划进行舰队演习。 来自辞典例句

15 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

16 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

17 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

18 aorta   

n.主动脉

参考例句：

• The abdominal aorta is normally smaller than the thoracic aorta.腹主动脉一般比胸主动脉小。
• Put down that jelly doughnut and look carefully at this aorta.放下手头上的东西，认真观察这张大动脉图片。

19 screech   

n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
• The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。