Living in South Africa, I had always taken the wildlife pretty much for granted. Not to say that we were surrounded by it, but the accessibility of game parks and wildlife sanctuaries（避難所，庇護(hù)所） always made it seem like a natural part of the environment. For this reason, I suppose that the way my European friends used to talk to me, wasn’t so strange after all. They would ask me what I thought at the time were really silly questions which got on my nerves. They’d say things like ‘Do you have a pet baboon?’ or ‘Do you travel to school by elephant?’.
When Amanda, a friend of mine who was visiting from England, invited me to join her and a group of friends on a wildlife expedition, I was not filled with enthusiasm. However, from the moment we entered the gates of the Zaluzi game reserve, I knew that this was not going to be anything like I had expected. We had been traveling along the National Road when, suddenly, we turned onto a dirt track which seemed to be hidden in the middle of nowhere. Amazingly, the scenery changed dramatically. The civilized environment took on a wild, chaotic（混沌的；一片混亂的） aspect and continued to do so as we walked deeper into the bush.
After having a good night’s sleep at one of the reserve’s bungalows, we were woken at the crack of dawn. After a quick breakfast we piled into a jeep and set off. Our guide assured us that the early start was necessary in order to have the best chance of seeing what was really worthwhile. Armed with just a thermos of coffee, we set out towards the shore of a small lake where it was expected that we could see that animals that used it as their morning watering hole.
On the way to our destination, we topped a hill and there, against the emerging morning light, were a group of animals.
It was a stunning sight. As we moved closer, the animals did not appear to be alarmed by our presence. Pet baboons aside, I had never before come within such close range of a pride of lions. It did cross my mind, however, that we might be in a certain amount of danger. When I asked Timothy, our game ranger, if we were actually in any danger, he replied straightforwardly that one is never entirely safe in the bush, but his knowledge and experience allowed him to anticipate any danger with reasonable accuracy.
However, the following day there was some cause for alarm. Not having started out so early, we missed the sightings of the day before. We decided to drive around for a while, hoping to come across something of interest. Suddenly our tracker perched up on the back of our vehicle, signaled to the driver to halt and at the same moment I realized that this time we had stumbled right into a pride of lions. The driver promptly turned off the engine and in a low voice warned us to remain seated and not to make any abrupt movements. The lions were picking at what looked like the remains of a zebra. Timothy, later told us how much to our advantage this was. Had their bellies not been full, their reaction to us would surely have been otherwise. As the nearest lion was less than three meters away from the jeep,
I considered that we had been very lucky indeed.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Our near miss with the lions was without a doubt the highlight, but what it taught me yet again was how easy it is to be indifferent to our surroundings and not to have a full appreciation of the beauty around us.
小題1:How did the writer feel about the questions her European friends asked?
| A．ridiculous | B．a(chǎn)nnoyed | C．strange | D．embarrassed |
小題2:When did the writer’s attitude change about the expedition?
| A．When she was traveling along the dirt track. |
| B．When she received her invitation. |
| C．When she arrived at the game reserve. |
| D．When her friend arrived from England. |
小題3:What does the underlined word ‘It’ (in the fourth paragraph) refer to?
| A．the pride of lions | B．the destination |
| C．the top of the hill | D．the morning light |
小題4:Timothy’s experience as a game ranger was valuable because he ______________
| A．could supply a straightforward answer to any question. |
| B．knew how to frighten the animals. |
| C．knew the game reserve well. |
| D．could identify trouble in advance. |
小題5:What does the writer mean by the underlined sentence ‘we had been very lucky indeed’ in the fifth paragraph?
| A．They had seen the lions up close. | B．They hadn’t been attacked. |
| C．They had a good guide with them. | D．They had gone on a trip. |
小題6:What conclusion does the writer of the text come to?
| A．We often do not realize how attractive our environment really is. |
| B．It is not clever to unnecessarily put ourselves in dangerous situations. |
| C．We don’t respect wild animals enough. |
| D．We should protect our surroundings. |
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