Passage 12 野猫的故事 Story of Wild Cat
Step 1 阅读行不行
Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine.
We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways.
Companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies, for example, love to show fast horses when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast powerful animals.
Automobile manufacturers and gasoline1 companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats.
When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely2 , so wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
What better way is there to sell a car than to say it is as fast as a wildcat. Or, what better way is there to sell gasoline than to say that using it is like putting a tiger in your tank.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress3 who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary4 war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it.
Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat bank note. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks.
A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat was used in another way in the 1800s. It was used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property5 . Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.
Yet another kind of wildcat is the wildcat strike. That is a strike called without official approval6 by a union. During World War Ⅱ, an American publication accused wildcat strikers of slowing government production.
keywords and phrases
1 gasoline /ˈgæsəli:n/ n. 汽油
2 fiercely /ˈfɪəslɪ/ adv. 凶猛地；残酷地；猛烈地
3 congress /ˈkɒŋgres/ n. 国会；代表大会
4 unnecessary /ʌnˈnesəsərɪ/ adj. 不必要的，多余的；无用的
5 property /'prɒpətɪ/ n. 特性，属性；财产，地产
6 approval /əˈpru:vl/ n. 同意；批准；赞成
phrase to know
leave sb with sth 意为“把……留交，交托给某人”，如：They left me with all the clearing up. 表示“他们把什么都留给我来收拾”。leave也可以与to连用，如：leave the cooking to me意为“把做饭的事交给我”。
accuse sb of sth 表示“控告，控诉，谴责”，如：accuse sb of murder（控告某人谋杀）; accuse him of lying（指责他说谎）。我们常说的“被告”可以用the accused表达，如：The accused was found innocent. 表示“被告被判定无罪”。
Step 2 手写行不行
★ 每周我都要给汽车加满油。(fill up with)
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★ 在委员会会议上，专家们狠狠地驳得她哑口无言。(fiercely)
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★ 国会明天将对预算投票表决。(congress)
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★ 他责备黛安娜将自己卷入无谓的争论中。(involve in)
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★ 现在不是投资房地产市场的好时机。(invest in)
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★ 董事长也已经同意对这宗交易进行调查。(give approval for)
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Step 3 口语行不行
Q1 Do you know some other idioms that contain names of animals？你知道其他带有动物名称的习语吗？
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Q2 Why are there so many animal idioms in English？英语中为什么会有这么多和动物有关的短语？
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Q3 Are there any cultural difference between English and Chinese animal idioms？英语和汉语在动物类习语上有什么文化差异吗？
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试题解答篇
Step 2 手写行不行答案
1．I fill up the tank with gasoline once a week.
2．At the committee meeting the experts argued her down fiercely.
3．Congress will vote on the budget tomorrow.
4．He accused Diana of involving herself in unnecessary dispute.
5．This is not a good time to invest in the property market.
6．The chairman has also given his approval for an investigation into the deal.
Step 3 口语行不行答案
1．There are large amount of idioms that contain names of animals, for instance, the dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
2．Language of all nations contain a lot of words denoting animals, and so does English. With the development of human society, many animals were tamed to be domestic ones serving people. So, animals have become part of people's life. In the process, the behavior of animals and their interactions with people have inspired a variety of zoological idioms and expressions that are applied to people and everyday circumstances. Animal words gradually got their established connotation in the language. People associate their feelings and emotions, even natural phenomena with various animals which are thought to represent different characters of people. Animals have become a kind of symbolism in people's thinking and this symbolism is reflected in the language.
3．In English and Chinese, there are some animal idioms that have different connotations. In the west, dog is considered as man's best friend, so the qualities of dog, such as loyalty, dependability, courage and intelligence, are greatly appreciated in English. For instance, a person has to work like a dog to be successful. Every dog has its day means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. While dogs, in China, are generally associated with unpleasantness, so most dog idioms have negative connotations, such as,Gouzhangrenshi means to bully others because of one's master's power and position;Goutoujunshi means a good-for-nothing adviser.