The Biggest and the Gentlest

The elephant is the biggest four-legged animal in the world. It is also, perhaps, the gentlest; but not always!

Elephants are like us in some ways. They live for a long time – fifty or sixty years. They can remember things very well. They never forget great sadness or great happiness. A female elephants dies: her daughters and her grand-daughters are sad for many months. They stay with the dead body. Then they carry a bit of it away with them. They never forget a dear friend.

Elephants are like us, but they are also different. They live in families; females of females. There will be a few young males – a few “baby boys”. But the females will soon send them away. An elephant family keeps only its daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. And its great-grandmothers.

The females stay together for fifty, sixty … a hundred years. The older animals look after the young ones. The mothers teach their daughters and set a good example.

And what happens to male elephants?

Well, the young males stay with their mothers for a time. Then they must leave the family. The females just send them away. A bull elephant does not often have a friend. He lives apart; away from the family, and often away from other bulls.

Sometimes the females call a bull. He can visit them then, and stay for a time. But soon his “wives” and sisters send him away again. The females have a very happy family life. What do the bulls think about it? We don’t know.

Vocabulary:

l   gentle[tgYUnfx] [gentler; gentlest](a.)溫和的;和善的,仁慈的

l   legged(a.) 有腿的

l   very well 非常好;用以表示同意或服從(尤指經勸說、命令或要求後)

l   sadness[tk@gnak](n.)悲哀,悲傷

l   happiness[to@danak](n.) 幸福,快樂,愉快

l   female[ti`mTp] (a.n.)女(性)的;雌的; 女人; 雌性動物

l   look after照顧, 照看

l   male[mTp] (a.n.)男性的,男子的;男子;雄性動物

l   bull[eNp]公牛;雄獸;

l   apart[QtdFqf] (ad.) 分開地,有距離地;單獨地,個別地;

l   wives[rAajl] (n.)wife的複數