Flying Cats

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.47]Lesson 9
[00:03.38]Flying cats
[00:11.65]How do cats try to protect themselves when falling from great heights?
[00:18.98]Cats never fail to fascinate human beings.
[00:22.86]They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans,
[00:26.41]but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well.
[00:30.71]They never become submissive like dogs and horses.
[00:35.05]As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.
[00:40.45]Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives.
[00:45.59]One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief
[00:50.66]that they have nine lives.
[00:53.39]Apparently,there is a good deal of truth in this idea.
[00:57.17]A cat's ability to survive falls is based on fact.
[01:02.17]Recently the New York Animal Medical Centre
[01:05.70]made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months.
[01:11.85]All these cats had one experience in common: they had fallen off high buildings,
[01:17.88]yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries.
[01:22.01]Of course,New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study,
[01:26.91]because there is no shortage of tall buildings.
[01:30.76]There are plenty of high-rise windowsills to fall from!
[01:34.82]One cat,Sabrina, fell 32 storeys,yet only suffered from a broken tooth.
[01:43.41]'Cats behave like well-trained paratroopers,'a doctor said.
[01:48.07]It seems that the further cats fall,the less they are likely to injure themselves.
[01:54.39]In a long drop,they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more.
[01:59.97]At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax.
[02:04.43]They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels.
[02:08.06]This increases their air-resistance
[02:10.79]and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.