THE GREAT GIRAFFE 長頸鹿的秘密2

Even more danger!

Another enemy of giraffes is crocodiles. They can catch giraffes during their weakest moments: while leaning down to drink water. Luckily for giraffes, they can go for days without water.

Babies

When baby giraffes drop into the world, they really drop. Cow giraffes give birth standing up. So their babies fall over 1.5 meters in the first second of life. But this tumble doesn’t stop the babies from being able to stand and walk within an hour. In fact, their mothers often leave them alone for a day to let them rest.

At the manor

Wild giraffes live on the grasslands in Africa and are quite a sight to see. So, if you’re wishing for a close encounter, hop on a plane to Kenya. Near Nairobi, you can stay at Giraffe Manor – a hotel with a herd of giraffes on their grounds. You will wake up to giraffes peeping in your windows!

crocodile

cow àfemale animal

tumbleà fall quickly and out of control

manoràa nice place that you go and stay

herdàa large group of one kind of animal are live together

【More information】

Fast Facts About Giraffes:

Each stride a giraffe takes is about 5 meters long. Giraffes are very vocal. They can moo, hiss, roar and whistle. Giraffe’s feet can be up to 30.5 centimeters wide- the size of a dinner plate. A giraffe’s tongue is about 50 centimeters long and is blue-black in color. Mate giraffes eat up to 65 kilograms of food a day!

stride跨步、跨越

【Chat room】

a herd of giraffes on their grounds

ground地面

grounds建築物周圍的庭院

the school grounds在學校圍牆內的土地

private grounds私人的庭院

因此文章中是指，在他們的園區內有一群長頸鹿

grounds動機、理由

He resigned on the grounds of ill health.他因病辭職

grounds也可以指”沉澱物”

coffee grounds咖啡渣

【Key word】

lean (不及物動詞) 屈身、傾斜

The girl leaned out of the window to see the view.

這女孩伸出窗外欣賞風景

The lawyer leaned over and whispered something to his client.

這位律師傾身和他的客戶講悄悄話

The boy leaned against the wall to put on his shoes.

這個男孩靠在牆壁上穿鞋

tumble摔跤、跌倒

The tumble from the stairs really hurt the old lady.

從樓梯上一摔真的讓老太太受傷的很嚴重

Tumble價格的暴跌

The stock market took a tumble after the earthquake.

地震過後，股市大跌

The tumble of the EURO made strong effects on the export and import market.

歐元的貶值對進出口市場造成很大的影響

encounter遇見、接觸

I don’t remember this lady’s name. We only had a brief encounter several years ago.

我不記得這位女士的名字，我們只是幾年前很短暫的見過一面

Eric had a frightening, close encounter with a brown bear yesterday.

Eric昨天驚險的和一隻棕熊近距離接觸。