Lesson 1  A Puma at large  逃遁的美洲狮

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.