Chapter 32

There are many examples of animals coming to surprisingliving arrangements. All are instances of that animal equivalentof anthropomorphism: zoomorphism, where an animal takes ahuman being, or another animal, to be one of its kind.
The most famous case is also the most common: the petdog, which has so assimilated humans into the realm ofdoghood as to want to mate with them, a fact that any dogowner who has had to pull an amorous¹ dog from the leg of amortified visitor will confirm.
Our golden agouti and spotted² paca got along very well,contentedly huddling³ together and sleeping against each otheruntil the first was stolen.
I have already mentioned our rhinoceros⁴-and-goat herd⁵, andthe case of circus lions.
There are confirmed stories of drowning sailors being pushedup to the surface of the water and held there by dolphins, acharacteristic way in which these marine⁶ mammals help eachother.
A case is mentioned in the literature of a stoat and a ratliving in a companion relationship, while other rats presented tothe stoat were devoured⁷ by it in the typical way of stoats.
We had our own case of the freak suspension of thepredator-prey relationship. We had a mouse that lived forseveral weeks with the vipers⁹. While other mice dropped in theterrarium disappeared within two days, this little brownMethuselah built itself a nest, stored the grains we gave it invarious hideaways and scampered¹⁰ about in plain sight of thesnakes. We were amazed. We put up a sign to bring themouse to the public's attention. It finally met its end in acurious way: a young viper⁸ bit it. Was the viper unaware¹¹ ofthe mouse's special status? Unsocialized to it, perhaps?
Whatever the case, the mouse was bitten by a young viper butdevoured – and immediately – by an adult. If there was aspell, it was broken by the young one. Things returned tonormal after that. All mice disappeared down the vipers' gulletsat the usual rate.
In the trade, dogs are sometimes used as foster mothers forlion cubs¹². Though the cubs grow to become larger than theircaregiver, and far more dangerous, they never give theirmother trouble and she never loses her placid¹³ behaviour orher sense of authority over her litter. Signs have to be put upto explain to the public that the dog is not live food left forthe lions (just as we had to put up a sign pointing out thatrhinoceros are herbivores and do not eat goats).
What could be the explanation for zoomorphism? Can't arhinoceros distinguish big from small, tough hide from soft fur?
Isn't it plain to a dolphin what a dolphin is like? I believe theanswer lies in something I mentioned earlier, that measure ofmadness that moves life in strange but saving ways. Thegolden agouti, like the rhinoceros, was in need ofcompanionship. The circus lions don't care to know that theirleader is a weakling human; the fiction guarantees their socialwell-being and staves off violent anarchy¹⁴. As for the lion cubs,they would positively¹⁵ keel over with fright if they knew theirmother was a dog, for that would mean they were motherless,the absolute worst condition imaginable for any young,warm-blooded life. I'm sure even the adult viper, as itswallowed the mouse, must have felt somewhere in itsundeveloped mind a twinge of regret, a feeling that somethinggreater was just missed, an imaginative leap away from thelonely, crude reality of a reptile¹⁶.

1 amorous   

adj.多情的；有关爱情的

参考例句：

• They exchanged amorous glances and clearly made known their passions.二人眉来眼去，以目传情。
• She gave him an amorous look.她脉脉含情的看他一眼。

2 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

3 huddling   

n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事

参考例句：

• Twenty or thirty monkeys are huddling along the thick branch. 三十只猴子挤在粗大的树枝上。
• The defenders are huddling down for cover. 捍卫者为了掩护缩成一团。

4 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

5 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

8 viper   

n.毒蛇；危险的人

参考例句：

• Envy lucks at the bottom of the human heart a viper in its hole.嫉妒潜伏在人心底，如同毒蛇潜伏在穴中。
• Be careful of that viper;he is dangerous.小心那个阴险的人，他很危险。

9 vipers   

n.蝰蛇( viper的名词复数 )；毒蛇；阴险恶毒的人；奸诈者

参考例句：

• The fangs of pit vipers are long, hollow tubes. 颊窝毒蛇的毒牙是长的空心管子。 来自辞典例句
• Vipers are distinguishable from other snakes by their markings. 根据蛇身上的斑纹就能把┹蛇同其他蛇类区别开来。 来自辞典例句

10 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

12 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

14 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

15 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

16 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。