Vocabulary

表面上的；宣称的，但未必是真实动机的

"The ostensible purpose of the expedition was to collect flora and fauna for Chicago’s Field Museum, but the secret purpose was to shoot a panda."

虚张声势的；冒险刺激的，充满惊险的英雄式（常为虚构）行为的

"Trailing the Giant Panda, the swashbuckling account the brothers published on their return in 1929, is silent on the political backdrop to their adventures."

分类学家；研究生物分类原则和方法的科学家

"Taxonomists started arguing about whether or not it was a bear."

异常事物；与周边不协调的例外

"The giant panda, as it became known, seemed to be an anomaly, and the lack of information about it wasn’t just Western ignorance of an existing body of knowledge."

假装若无其事、漫不经心的态度

"The brothers tended to gloss the risks with feigned insouciance – some of the bandits were ‘of a very milk-and-water variety, a sort of “Pirates of Penzance”’ – but at points hint at the scale of the destruction."

尚未成形的；发展早期、轮廓模糊的

"Elena Songster notes in Panda Nation (2018) that texts from before the Song dynasty (960-1279) contain descriptions of inchoate creatures like the pixiu (a chimeric panther-bear which could, if you squint, be a giant panda)..."

挣扎；步履蹒跚地、笨拙地移动（通常指受阻时）

"The panda was hit by both the brothers’ shots, and floundered in the snow towards Mokhta, getting within five or six feet of him before they shot it again."

同源的；在不同物种中具有进化同源性，常指结构、器官或性状源自共同祖先

"A stronger scientific alternative, published in 1900 by the German zoologist Richard von Hertwig, argued that since the giant panda’s risk of finding a mate was low due to its ‘extreme specialisation’, it could be a case of homologous adaptation with another species, even if only distantly related."

排泄；从生物体内排出废物

"One conservationist described watching a panda eat an aluminium pan (and documented the aluminium nuggets that were excreted a few hours later)."

神经质的；容易恶心或不适的；此处指心理上反感或有道德上的犹豫

"Though technically vegetarian, they aren’t squeamish about attacking people."

用益权；对他人的财产在不损毁的前提下，拥有收益和使用的权利

"For the usufructuary right to a panda, a foreign zoo must pay as much as a million dollars a year, with fines of $500,000 if their charge dies owing to human error."

有活力的；活生生的（此处为形容词，但文本中用作表语，指“看起来是活的”）

"A Granada TV producer recalled that she had to be ‘poked out and woken up in order to appear to be animate’."

巨星；在特定领域（此处为公众）享有极高知名度和吸引力的明星

"Chi Chi became a superstar, despite the fact that she spent most of her time sleeping."

反感、憎恶；一种根深蒂固的厌恶感

"She was even responsible for a temporary suspension of British-Soviet antipathy when zoo authorities tried to get her to mate with Moscow’s panda, An An, in a failed attempt to produce a new panda outside China’s borders."

获取收益；在经济活动中利用自身优势地位索取超额收入

"By the mid-1980s, the Chinese government had realised it could extract rent."

以……为理由；基于……的依据

"The State Department blocked the sale on the grounds that she fell under the embargo on Chinese goods."

将……逐出本国；此处指将熊猫遣返中国

"If their lease agreements aren’t renewed they can be expatriated as a sign of diplomatic displeasure, as Japan’s pandas were earlier this year."

犬齿；口腔中用于撕咬尖牙

"Gu Gu responded by sinking his canines into the man’s leg and refusing to let go, even after the man tried in desperation to bite him back."

禁运；禁止与某国进行贸易的官方禁令

"The State Department blocked the sale on the grounds that she fell under the embargo on Chinese goods."

熊猫热；由“panda”和“pandemonium”（混乱、喧嚣）构成的双关语，指因熊猫到来而引发的狂热和喧闹

"I think “panda-monium” is going to break out right here at the zoo."

外交体系；特指国与国之间正式建立外交关系及交换礼物的正式渠道

"London’s best-known panda, Chi Chi, had been acquired outside the diplomatic system in 1958, when an Austrian dealer had exchanged some African big game for a young female panda which was shipped to Frankfurt."

强行撬开；费力分开

"Zookeepers had to use tools to prise apart his jaws."

尊严；在交涉中保全面子的体面

"Zhou let the US retain its dignity by framing the gift as a thank you for two large and smelly musk oxen the Americans had just given Beijing Zoo, but it was clear whose animals were the real prize."

讣告；报纸中对逝者生平及成就的报道

"China Daily didn’t feel the need to mention these incidents in its obituary last year, noting that Gu Gu was beloved by visitors for his ‘gentle temperament’."

对手方；在地位、职位上与自己相对应的人

"Henry Kissinger said that Zhou Enlai had an extraordinary capacity to ‘intuit the intangibles of the psychology of his opposite number’."

凭直觉感知那些难以捉摸、无法量化的事物

"Henry Kissinger said that Zhou Enlai had an extraordinary capacity to ‘intuit the intangibles of the psychology of his opposite number’."

病态依赖性；指某种需要程度已经超出正常自然进程范围，形成了一种失调的状态

"In the 1980s a joint project between the World Wildlife Fund and the Chinese government led to the first detailed book published in English on the natural history of the panda, which described in detail its almost pathological dependency on bamboo."

据点，堡垒；此处引申为熊猫难以进入的、“固若金汤”的自然栖息地

"Its mountain redoubt was in Sichuan province, on the frontier with Tibet, in a landscape covered with thick bamboo forests shrouded in mist."

添油加醋的修饰；为增加趣味或吸引力而添加的虚构细节

"Some are trivial embellishments: when Ted writes of a monkey ‘sinking his sharp teeth into the clothes of an unwary passer-by’, Holt writes that it bit him personally; when he writes that a monk gave him some fabric so he could patch his coat, Holt has the men patching it together."

错误百出；布满错误（像散落在地上一样密集）

"Whether by accident or design, that omission obscures the extent to which she remixes their narrative, jumbling events, places and people to the point that her book is strewn with errors."

性格反复无常、极易爆发情绪的君主

"This affair may have been staged to show the king’s power and his mercy, but it’s clear that Arundel was managing a volatile monarch."

（对某人特点的）夸张或扭曲的描述，歪曲的写照

"Chris Given-Wilson’s assessment of Arundel’s life suggests that there are a number of things wrong with the historical caricature."

令人震惊的谴责/定罪

"This startling condemnation reflects Arundel’s place in popular Protestant mythology as the man who persecuted the Lollards..."

间歇地，断断续续地

"He was a bishop for four decades and chancellor – intermittently – for nearly three."

（贬义）自视甚高，觉得理所当然该享有特权的

"It would be easy to cast him as the kind of entitled, worldly cleric who gave the pre-Reformation Church a bad name..."

邪恶的，卑劣的（尤指懦弱地做坏事）

"Thomas Arundel unexpectedly won the 15th-century nomination, emerging in the public eye as more dastardly than Richard III and as wicked as Jack the Ripper and Oswald Mosley."

沉溺于世俗事务的牧师（指追求财富权利而非灵性）

"It would be easy to cast him as the kind of entitled, worldly cleric who gave the pre-Reformation Church a bad name..."

应受强烈谴责的，糟糕透顶的

"Richard was vengeful, unpredictable and spendthrift, gave his favourites too much sway and was vicious in pursuit of his critics."

挥霍无度的，败家的

"Richard was vengeful, unpredictable and spendthrift..."

直言不讳的，说话直截了当的

"Arundel was blunt: ‘They do not consider you trustworthy.’"

（事件）被预先安排的，有表演性质的

"This affair may have been staged to show the king’s power and his mercy..."

布满创伤的，留下深刻伤痕的（可引申指社会/国家）

"The country, already scarred by the Black Death and shaken by the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, was now sliding deeper into crisis."

报复，复仇（在此语境指展开残酷清算）

"As Richard grew in confidence, his vengeance became increasingly ugly."

被迫的，不得不做的

"Arundel was compelled to hand over his own brother, Richard Fitzalan, fourth earl of Arundel, one of the Appellants who had protested against Richard’s abuses of power."

剥夺（在此句中指强制没收宗教财产）

"Arundel’s chapel was torn down... The expropriation of the..."

艰辛劳苦，磨难

"His travails as chancellor were only just beginning, however."