2025年李敖写给女儿的80封信第64封从鸭嘴兽到水獭李敖的信.docx

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李敖写给女儿80封信 第64封 从鸭嘴兽到水獭（一）_李敖信_
我为您精选李敖写给女儿80封信 第64封 从鸭嘴兽到水獭（一） 　　亲爱小文：
　　一种半世纪前，科学家刚听说有一种下蛋哺乳动物（egglaying mammal），他们都不相信，说胡扯（a hoax），没想到世界上真有这样一种动物，就是“鸭嘴兽”（platypus）。鸭嘴兽只在澳洲（Australia）东海岸才有，澳洲也叫澳大利亚，是一种国家。
　　澳洲本来跟亚洲连在一起，但在五千万年此前分开了，因此它自已成为一种尤其地方，老是有些全世界只有它有他人没有怪东西，鸭嘴兽就是其中之一。（Australia has many kinds of strange animals not found on other continents. This is because the bridge of land that once connected Australia with Asia disappeared about 50 million years ago. From then on, most of Australia's animal life developed independently）
　　此外一种只有澳洲有小动物，就是koala，父亲有一封信专门跟你谈过它，你记得吗？
　　Koala means “no drink”, and the aboriginal word well describes the gentle marsupial that draws moisture only from its food, the leaves of certain eucalyptus,（油加里树，也叫桉树，是常绿乔木，长得很快）or gum trees. With oddly arranged fingersthe first two oppose the other threea koala clings to a branch in a sanctuary at Waikerie. Phascolarctos cinereous faced extinction by fur hunters until the 1920's, when conservation laws began to protect the continent's dozens of marsupial species.
　　Koala也叫袋鼠熊（kangaroo bear）。
　　袋鼠（kangaroo）也只有澳洲有。袋鼠前面两只手，很会打拳（boxing），背面两脚，很能跳，大尾巴在跳时候可帮忙保持平衡（balance）。
　　美国有俗语“袋鼠法庭”kangaroo court, U.S. Informal. an unauthorized or unofficial court, usually self constituted, as a mock court by prisoners in a jail or a frontier court：…shot down over North Korea in 1952 and condemned to prison by a Red kangaroo court.（Newsweek），类似中文所说“私设公堂”。此前在Kangaroo州，法官巡回各地办案，由这跑到那，很像袋鼠跳来跳去，因此叫袋鼠法庭。（Kangaroo court：A kangaroo court is an illegal mock or sham court, usually one set up by inmates of a prison to levy fines and punishment on other inmates who violate the “code”. Such organizations, usually very informal in nature, exist in most large prisons and are even encouraged by some wardens as a useful device for maintaining order. The name probably originated at the time when Australia, land of the kangaroo, was the penal colony for the British Empire. The term has occasionallyand inaccuratelybeen applied to the kind of roadside justice of the peace court which exists only to collect fines from motorists caught in speed traps.）
　　当然这个kangaroo court是来自有kangaroo地方才对。澳洲有袋鼠，澳洲此前又是英国天然监狱，因此kangaroo court观念（idea）是从澳洲来。
　　英国本来把political prisoners朝美国送，美国独立后来，英国要找个地方送prisoners，于是选中澳洲，自一七八七年起，英国在八十年间，送了十六万八千prisoners到澳洲，当时路上很苦，要走四个月。一七八八年初，prisoners在目前悉尼地方，建了settlement，悉尼就是Sydney，Sydney是当时英国内政大臣名字，大概是为了拍马屁，才这样叫。
　　悉尼人口不过二○○万，世界最大船也可以开到港里去，是世界上最佳港口之一，也是澳洲最老资格都市。
　　丹麦建筑师Utzon设计了Sydney Opera House，背面就是Harbour Bridge，这座桥重五万吨。
　　澳洲是脱离英国而独立国家，因此受英国影响很重，连国旗里面均有英国旗。马路上走，也靠左走，英国就是靠左（最早宣布澳洲是英国人是科克船长Captain James Cook，他是发现Hawaii探险家。五十一岁时候，在Hawaii被土人杀了。）（Captain James Cook landed at Botany Bay, south of Sydney, in 1770. He claimed Australia's entire east coast for Great Britain.）
　　首都堪培拉（Canberra），有一千五百万以上树，它议会大厦（Parliament House），尤其漂亮。
　　墨尔本（Melbourne）名字是一种英国首相名字，也是拍马屁来。它植物园、美术馆，都很有名，有三座大学。本来是首都，一九二七年迁都到堪培拉去了。
　　澳洲南部有两个有名岛：
　　一种是塔斯曼尼亚（Tasmania）岛，也曾是英国关prisoners地方，用了五十年。岛上有一种塔斯曼尼亚狼，母也有袋鼠同样袋，不过是装在背上，不在肚皮上。The Tasmanian wolf's genus name, Thylacinus, means “pouched dog”. The female has a pouch which opens backwards and contains four teats. The pouch is large enough to hold four pups, although the usual number of young in a litter is two. The period of gestation is not known, but it is probably a little less than one month. The young are born hairless and blind in an incomplete, almost embryonic state of development. They are carried in the pouch for three monthsthe duration of their semi embryonic life. The cubs are then deposited in a nest of dry leaves and grass until they are old enough to hunt for themselves.
　　塔斯曼尼亚有台湾两倍大，你看台湾多小！岛上原有一种大牙齿土人，目前已绝种了。
　　另一种岛是袋鼠岛（Kangaroo Island），岛北边，就面对阿得雷德（Adelaide）城。它是澳洲考第三大城。（Adelaide, South Australia's capital, is a well planned city, rich in parks and gardens. It is near the great Gulf St. Vincent, 90 miles long, 45 miles across.）
　　在澳洲东北海岸外面，有一二五○英里长珊瑚礁（大堡礁，The Great Barrier Reef），有声有光，景象离奇，非常好看。好看是好看，可是船很难走，科克船长船曾在这一带三次遇险。The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's most popular tourist attractions. It is the largest coral reef in the world, stretching for about 1250 miles along the coast of Queensland. The reef has thousands of islands and underwater coral formations. The sandy beaches of the islands and the interesting sea life of the reef mark it an ideal spot for skin diving. 珊瑚礁中有一岛叫“绿岛”（Green Island），真巧，台湾也有一种绿岛！
　　羊有绵羊（sheep）和山羊（goat）两种，山羊（billy goat）有胡子，尚有羊骚味（goaty odor）。
　　羊奶可以造干酪（cheese）和“牛”油，可以从羊身上得到羊毛。
　　羊毛出在羊身上（literally）Without a sheep, there can be no wool.—The benefit comes, after all, from a price one has paid. Whatever is the expense, somebody is going to pay for it.做衣服，其他还可吃羊肉、用羊皮、做肥皂、做网球拍……羊用处多极了！（Sheep yield wool, meat, and leather. They also furnish the raw materials for many byproducts, such as glue, tallow, suet, soap, fertilizer, cosmetics, and the catgut used in stringing tennis rackets.）
　　澳洲羊，占世界第一位。占全世界六分之一。（Long famous as a land of sheep, Australia is the world's leading producer and exporter of wool and mutton and is a major producer and exporter of beef and wheat. Australia is also a highly industrialized country. Large deposits of coal and iron have become the basis for an iron and steel industry, white an expanding economy provides a large domestic market for a wide range of goods and services.）
　　澳洲平均每个人有十四头羊（澳洲旁边纽西兰（New Zealand）每人有二十头），而中国人平均十个人分不到一头，这太不公平了！（In Australia, there are about 14 sheep for every person. In New Zealand, there are about 20 sheep for every person. Some states in the western United States also have more sheep than people.）
　　过度不公平，没有人就会叫，这叫“不平则鸣”。（Those who are discriminated again will complain.）
　　澳洲比台湾大二二二倍，但人口比台湾还少！
　　亚洲人口平均每方英里（persons to the square mile）一二二人；澳洲人口平均每方英里四人。
　　澳洲“得天独厚”to be particularly favored by nature （said of a land rich in natural resources or a gifted person）却是从不公平来。澳洲有“白澳政策”，限制有色人种到他们那儿去。但白种人又少，因此未来问题一定诸多，不是铁蒺藜（barbedwire fence）拦得住。澳洲人自已也说：“We've got a big, empty country here, and we have to fill it up. You Know,‘populate or perish’”
　　澳洲政策是错误、自私（wrong and selfish），这叫“狗占马槽”（dog in a manger describes a person who keeps others from using something that he himself cannot use. It comes from Aesop's fable of a dog that crawled into a manger of hay and prevented a horse from eating, even though dogs do not eat hay.），也叫“占着毛坑不拉屎”，这种人只但愿“不惹睡狗”（Let sleeping dogs lie, means to leave a situation undisturbed.）“维持现实状况”“相安无事”。但这怎么行呢？“每条狗均有得意一天。”（Every dogs has his day, is an expression used when something pleasant happens to a person, especially one who has been having bad luck.）别狗会睡醒，澳洲虽然是downunder（在世界另一边），别穷狗还是会咬到它。
　　爸 爸 一九七五年六月八日

李敖写给女儿80封信 第64封 从鸭嘴兽到水獭（一） 内容由我整理，感谢支持

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