【在生活中學習語言】《中央對照讀新聞》Man’s pet "dog" was rare fox／男子的寵物「狗」竟是罕見狐狸

◎陳成良

A Chinese man was shocked to discover the dog he had raised from a pup was actually a rare Arctic fox.

一名中國男子發現他從幼犬開始養起的一隻狗實際上是隻罕見北極狐後，嚇了一跳。

Zhang, of Tunkou, bought what he thought was an all-white Pomeranian dog for £60 a year ago on a business trip.

家住沌口的張先生一年前在一次出差時，以60英鎊買下一隻他所認為的全白博美犬。

But he found the dog hard to tame, it would often bite him and had several unusual traits, he told the Wuhan Evening Post.

但他發現這隻狗難以馴服，經常咬他，還擁有數個不尋常的特徵，他告訴武漢晚郵報說。

"It can’t bark but instead makes little ’em em’ noises, and its tail has been growing longer and longer," he said.

「牠不會汪汪叫，只會『嗯嗯』幾聲，尾巴也越長越長。」他說。

"The most annoying thing is that starting this summer, the dog became very smelly. Even when we gave it a daily shampoo bath, the smell was still strong."

「最討厭的是從今年夏天開始，這隻狗變得味道很難聞。即使我們每天用洗毛精幫牠洗澡，味道還是很濃烈。」

Zhang took his "dog" to a local zoo for answers, and it turned out the dog is actually an Arctic fox, a protected rare species. He has now donated the animal to the zoo.

張先生把他的「狗」帶往當地動物園請人鑑定，結果發現這隻狗實際上是一隻北極狐，這是受到保護的稀有物種。他如今已將這隻動物送給該動物園。

新聞辭典 Dictionary

pup：幼犬；其他犬科動物的幼子 （如小狼、小狐等），或某些特定動物的幼子（如小海豹）。pup另一個常見的意思是「無經驗（自負）的年輕人」。

trait︰名詞，顯著的特徵，特性。例句：Teddy’s two most pleasing traits are generosity and energy.（泰迪最討人喜歡的特點是豪爽和充滿活力。）

turn out：片語，結果（是）、原來（是）。例句：To our surprise, the stranger turned out to be an old friend of my mother’s.（讓我們驚訝的是，這位陌生人原來是我母親的老友。）

自由時報-980117

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