《中英對照讀新聞》frisky hippo put on the pill at 53
活力充沛的五十三歲河馬服避孕藥

◎ 羅彥傑

There's life in Europe's oldest zoo hippo yet: because she is still mating at age 53, and vets say she is too old to bear any more young, she has been put on the pill.

歐洲動物園裡最老的河馬至今仍是性趣勃勃：因為五十三歲的她仍持續進行交配，而獸醫表示她太老了，禁不起生產，已經讓她吃藥避孕。

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Bulette has borne 20 calves over the years. As spring arrived in Berlin last week, astonished zoo staff observed the dowager Hippopotamus amphibus mating with bull Ede. So animal medical officers cooked up a course of contraceptives.

布列德多年來已生下二十隻小河馬。隨著柏林在上週入春，動物園人員觀察到這隻河馬寡婦與雄河馬艾德交配，大感詫異。所以動物醫療官員調製了一系列的避孕藥。

Berlin Zoo spokeswoman Ragnar Kuehne said each pill for 3-ton Bulette was the size of a bread roll. Bulette's offspring are in zoos around the world and have even been acclimatized in African rivers where natural reproduction cannot keep up.

柏林動物園的女發言人拉格納．庫內表示，三噸重的布列德服用的每顆藥丸都相當一個小圓麵包這麼大。布列德的後代散佈於世界各地的動物園內，而且甚至在難以自然繁殖的非洲河流也適應得很好。

Dictionary-新聞辭典

hippo：名詞，指河馬，hippopotamus 的簡稱。Hippopotamus amphibus 為學名。

mate：動詞，指交配、配對。當名詞時，則指配對物、配偶，或夥伴、同事。例句：Birds mate in the spring.（鳥類在春天交尾。）

pill：名詞，指藥丸、藥片，當前面有定冠詞the時，常作口服避孕藥解釋，與 contraceptive同。to be put on the pill 意指服用避孕藥。例句：The pill has been available to women since the 1960s.（自從一九六○年代以後，女性隨手即可取得避孕藥丸。）

cook up：片語，指想出、策劃、捏造或製造。例句：Bill always cooks up a lot of troubles for us.（比爾總是為我們製造一堆麻煩。）

offspring：名詞，指子女、子孫或後代。複數同樣為 offspring。例句：Every one of his offspring had red hair like his own.（他的每一個孩子都有著像他一樣的紅頭髮。）

acclimatize：亦可寫成 acclimate，動詞，指使～適應、習慣。例句：James has not become acclimatized to long hair.（詹姆斯對於蓄留長髮還不習慣。）