Lesson1A pu ma at largePu masare large,cat-likeanimalswhichare fou ndinAmerica.Whenreports cameintoLondonZoothata wildpu mahadbeenspottedforty-fivemilessou thofLondon,theywerenottakenseriou sly.However,as theevidencebeganto accu mu late,expertsfromtheZoofeltobligedto investigate,forthedescriptionsgivenbypeople whoclaimedto haveseen thepu ma wereextraordinarilysimilar.Thehu ntforthepu ma beganina small villagewherea womanpickingblackberriessaw'alarge cat'onlyfiveyardsawayfromher.Itimmediatelyran awaywhenshesawit,andexpertsconfirmedthata pu ma willnot attacka hu manbeingu nless itiscornered.Thesearchproveddifficu lt,forthepu mawasoftenobservedat one placeinthemorningandatanotherplacetwentymilesawayintheevening.Whereveritwent,itleftbehindita trailofdeaddeerandsmallanimalslikerabbits.Pawprintswereseen ina nu mberofplacesandpu mafu rwasfou ndclingingto bu shes.Severalpeople complainedof'cat-likenoises'at nightanda bu sinessmanon a fishingtripsawthepu ma u p a tree.Theexpertswerenowfu llyconvincedthattheanimalwasa pu ma,bu twherehaditcomefrom?As no pu mas hadbeenreportedmissingfromanyzoointhecou ntry,thisone mu st havebeeninthepossessionofa privatecollectorandsomehowmanagedto escape.Thehu ntwenton forseveralweeks,bu tthepu mawasnot cau ght.Itisdistu rbingtothinkthata dangerou swildanimalisstillat largeinthequ ietcou ntryside.美洲狮是一种体形似猫的大动物，产于美洲。当伦敦动物园接到报告说，在伦敦以南 45英里处发现一只美洲狮时，这些报告并没有受到重视。可是，随着证据越来越多，动物园的专家们感到有必要进行一番调查，因为凡是声称见到过美洲狮的人们所描述的情况竟是出奇地相似。搜寻美洲狮的工作是从一座小村庄开始的。那里的一位妇女在采摘黑莓时的看见“一只大猫”，离她仅 5码远，她刚看见它，它就立刻逃走了。专家证实，美洲狮非被逼得走投无路，是决不会伤人的。事实上搜寻工作很困难，因为常常是早晨在甲地发现那只美洲狮，晚上却在 20英里外的乙地发现它的踪迹。无论它走哪儿，一路上总会留下一串死鹿及死兔子之类...
