英语阅读 The porcupine’s strategy
来源:互联网 发布:淘宝掌柜名可以改吗 编辑:程序博客网 时间:2024/05/22 01:49
Little Miranda was alone in the garden. I was watching her distractedly, occasionally lancing
over the top of my newspaper.
Almost kneeling, she was slowly approaching the fence, trying to make as little noise as possible. I thought she was looking for mushrooms or that she was pretending she was a giant mouse.
But after a few minutes I heard her cry out. It was a lusty cry, followed by a bout of tears. I jumped out of my chair and ran out to the garden, in my bare feet.
Miranda was holding her index finger. It was bleeding, but it didn't look too bad. I ran some water over it, asking what she could have touched that made her finger bleed, in a garden that I had planted with grass and other harmless plants.
"I wanted to touch the animal," she replied, "but it didn't let me come close, so I stretched out my arm and it did this. Then it ran away. It's too bad. I didn't want to hurt it."
"What animal?" I asked.
"The white and black ball, down there," she said, pointing to the end of the garden.
I picked up a broomstick I found in the kitchen and went back outside. In the garden, half buried in an old gopher hole, I found the animal. It was a porcupine. I remembered what I had learned in my natural science class.
The porcupine is a solitary animal. When confronted, it either retreats or projects its needles. Once the needles have penetrated the flesh, the wounds become infected and, in some cases, can cause death.
Miranda had presented no danger to the porcupine, but it didn't know what else to do except wound her, or get wounded itself. Nature, in creating its instinct, gave the porcupine no choice: instead of communicating, it had to launch its needles. That is the only strategy it knows, and no one can change it, not even a little girl who wants to make a friend.
__________
Is the porcupine the only animal to use this type of defense?
No, people apply it every day of their lives. But our needles are more vicious, and better hidden. Words, blows, looks, anger, pride... these are the arms we use to attack those who
seem to be adversaries.
But even a porcupine has to get close to other porcupines at some time. If not the species would disappear.
(c)2006 www.positive-club.com
- 英语阅读 The porcupine’s strategy
- [英语阅读]All Mum's letters 家书
- [英语阅读]Microsoft,the EU and facebook
- [英语阅读]The Best Kind of Love
- 英语阅读
- 英语阅读
- [英语阅读]The Baby Eagle 小鹰的故事
- [英语阅读]The Circus 父亲之间的默契
- codeforces723C Polycarp at the Radio 英语阅读题
- The Hacker's Handbook: The Strategy Behind Breaking into and Defending Networks
- The Strategy pattern
- Hibernate's Lazy strategy(1)
- Hibernate's Lazy strategy(2)
- 提高英语阅读水平
- [英语阅读]Relish solitude
- [英语阅读]On beauty
- 英语阅读常考词
- 英语阅读常考词1
- JavaScript版俄罗斯方块Easy Tetris实现原理
- 算法分析与设计基础
- 我来区分事件与消息(个人理解)
- ec:table隐藏导出图标,另定义按钮"导出报表"
- 运行时设置内存分配断点
- 英语阅读 The porcupine’s strategy
- SSIS中的记录集目标
- 《编译原理》学习体会
- ASP.NET postback(回发)后如何保持网页的位置
- TOC全景图
- 【我所認知的BIOS】—>實模式&保護模式
- session_set_save_handler()函数的实例
- ERP编码两大基本原理
- log4j 完整配置