兔子窝起起伏伏的命运_大学英语阅读

兔子窝起起伏伏的命运

Every spring the adult rabbits emerge from their burrow with new babies in tow.[11] The bunnies trot over to my yard to sample the succulent clover or nibble on the sprouts that shoot up from sunflower seeds dropped by the birds on my bird feeders and forgotten.[12] I see the bunnies eat marigold[13] buds, not knowing that they are supposed to dislike them.

I realize that rabbits can be classified as pests[14]; I rarely get to see any of the hundreds of tulips I have planted over the years because, while they are beautiful to people, they are delicious to the rabbits. But I can put up with that. I get so much joy from sharing my space with these fuzzy[15] beings.

They always surprise me. Like the time I put down a bowl of dry cereal I was eating on outdoors to water my garden and when I returned, a bunny was helping itself right from my dish. Or the late afternoon when I was on my knees weeding and a rabbit came nearby to graze[16]. We were no more than three feet apart, grazing in companionable, and on my part awed, silence.[17]

I am worried about their welfare, though. I live in a suburb of New Jersey, which has grown into one of the largest towns in the state. We now have 70,000 residents, lots of stores, and even more traffic. The township bought the last working farm to preserve evidence of the rural heritage of the area. I was hoping that one tiny space, underneath my neighbor’s shed, would serve as a haven for a little of the remaining local wildlife.