评论
打印
The Strange Tale Of The Milu Deer
麋鹿轶事
The milu deer, one of China's most beloved animals, is also one of its strangest.
麋鹿，中国人最喜爱的动物之一，也是最奇特的动物。
How else could you describe a creature that has the face of a horse, the hoofs of a cow, the antlers of a red deer, and the tail of a donkey?
不然你怎么能形容一个长着马脸、牛蹄、马鹿角和驴尾巴的生物呢？
The history of the species is nearly as strange as its body.
这个物种的历史几乎和它的身体一样奇特。
The milu deer used to be common in China long ago.
在很久以前，麋鹿在中国就很常见。
Like other deer, they lived together and ate grass as well as the soft parts of trees, such as small branches.
和其他鹿一样，它们会生活在一起，吃草，也吃树的柔软部分，如小树枝。
However, milu deer were often hunted for food or sport in the past.
然而，麋鹿在过去常常被作为食物或运动等活动的工具被猎杀。
And in 1900, the last of the milu deer disappeared from China following floods and the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
1900年，由于洪水和八国联军的入侵，最后一头麋鹿从中国消失了。
However, before this, some deer were taken to Europe.
不过，在此之前，一些麋鹿被带到了欧洲。
Over time, the Duke of Bedford from Britain collected all the milu deer from Europe and put them in his deer park.
英国贝德福德公爵从欧洲收集了所有麋鹿，并把它们放在他的鹿园里。
The deer liked the cool, wet weather in England, and their numbers increased year by year.
麋鹿很喜欢英格兰凉爽湿润的天气，它们的数量一年比一年增加。
In 1985, 20 milu deer were reintroduced from Britain to China and placed in the Beijing Nanhaizi Milu Park in southern Beijing.
1985年，20只麋鹿从英国重新引入中国，被安置在北京南部的南海子麋鹿园。
The next year another herd of 39 arrived from the UK to the Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province.
第二年，又有39只麋鹿群从英国来到江苏大丰麋鹿自然保护区。
The milu deer certainly seemed happy to be back in China because their numbers started to grow steadily.
麋鹿似乎很高兴回到中国，因为它们的数量开始稳步增长。
There were soon so many of them that 64 milu deer were sent to a newly opened reserve in Shishou, Hubei Province from Beijing in the 1990s.
很快就有了更多的麋鹿，以至于在20世纪90年代，64头麋鹿从北京被送往湖北石首一个新开发的保护区。
They can move freely in the reserve, feed entirely on wild plants, and continue to safely thrive.
它们可以在保护区内自由活动，完全以野生植物为食，继续安全地茁壮成长。
At the moment, the milu deer are still living in reserves where they are being protected and cared for.
目前麋鹿仍生活在保护区，受到保护和照顾。
As a result, their population is now recovering fast.
因此，它们的数量正在迅速恢复。
Soon a new chapter will be added to the strange tale of these special animals.
不久，这些特殊动物的奇特故事又将翻开新的篇章。
The deer are being trained to survive outside the park so that they can one day all return to the wild.
这些鹿正在接受在公园外生存的训练，这样有一天它们能全部回归野外。
The rescue of the milu deer is already a success story.
拯救麋鹿已经是一个成功的故事。
Now it is up to us to make sure that the deer live happily ever after.
现在我们要确保麋鹿从此过上幸福快乐的生活。
