大象-Elephant
Elephant
Elephants are like us in some ways. They live for a long time——fifty or sixty years. They can remember things very well. They never forget sadness or great happiness for many months.
Elephants are like us, but they are also different.
They live in families: families of females. There will be a few young males a few baby boys. But the females will soon send them away. An elephant family keeps only its daughters, mothers, grand mothers and its great grandmothers. They stay together for fifty, sixty... a hundred years. The older animals look after the young ones. The mothers teach their daughters and set a good example.
And what happens to male elephants? Well, the young males stay with their mothers for a time. Then they must leave the family. The females just send them away. A bull elephant doesn＇t often have a friend. He [ives apart, away from the family, and often away from other bulls.
Sometimes the females call a bull. He can visit them then, and stay for a time. But soon his "wives" and sisters send him away again. The females have a very happy familly life. What do the bulls think about it? We don＇t know.
[點(diǎn)評(píng)]
文章中詞匯句型都比較簡(jiǎn)單，但作者運(yùn)用了比較和對(duì)比的手法對(duì)大象家庭作了生動(dòng)的描述。或許在此之前很多讀者還不了解大象家族情況呢!
[參考譯文]
大象
大象有些地方跟我們很像。他們的壽命很長(zhǎng)，一般活五十到六十年。他們的記憶非常好，常常好幾個(gè)月忘不掉一件傷心事或高興的事。
大象和我們很相像，但也有不同之處。
他們也是以家庭的形式生活，但家庭是由女性組成的。有時(shí)也會(huì)有一兩只幼公象在家，但母象很快將他們趕走。大象家庭只有女兒，母親、祖母、曾祖母。她們?cè)谝黄鹕?0年，60年甚至100年，年紀(jì)大的照顧年紀(jì)小的，母親教育女兒并以身作則。
那公象們?cè)趺崔k呢?幼公象與母親呆上一段時(shí)間，然后必須離開(kāi)家。母象們將他們趕出家門(mén)。公象一般沒(méi)有朋友。他獨(dú)自一人生活，遠(yuǎn)離家人，而且遠(yuǎn)離其他公象。
有時(shí)候，母象們召一頭公象來(lái)。他來(lái)做上一陣客，住上一段日子，但很快他的“妻子們”和姐妹們又把他趕走。母象們過(guò)著幸福快樂(lè)的家庭生活。公象們會(huì)怎么樣想呢?我們無(wú)法知道。