一、【Text】课文
Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been
spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts
from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were
extraordinarily similar.
The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from
her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is
cornered. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty
miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were
seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of 'cat-like noises' at night
and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma,
but where had it come from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the
possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not
caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.