Cats never fail to fascinate human beings. They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well. They never become submissive like dogs and horses. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline (=cats’) independence. Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives. One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives. Apparently, there is a good deal of truth in this idea. A cat's ability to survive falls is based on fact.

Recently the New York Animal Medical Center made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months. All these cats had one experience in common: they had fallen off high buildings, yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries. Of course, New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study, because there is no shortage of tall buildings. There are plenty of high-rise windowsills to fall from! One cat, Sabrina, fell 32 storeys, yet only suffered from a broken tooth. 'Cats behave like well-trained paratroopers.' a doctor said. It seems that the further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves. In a long drop, they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax. They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels. This increases their air-resistance and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.

More information about the important words and phrases：

1. be based on/upon sth: to use sth as the thing from which sth else is developed

例：

Their relationship was based on mutual respect. 他们的关系是建立在互相尊重的基础上的。

an economy based on farming 农业为主的经济

2. suffer from: to experience physical or mental pain

例：

I’m suffering from a bad back. 我背好痛。

Mary’s suffering from ill health at that moment. 那时候Mary身体不好。

注意：“suffer from”是书面语，口语中说“有……病”时，一般说“have”。

如：

Both her children have asthma. 她两个孩子都有哮喘。

3. The further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves. “越……就越……”句型

4. stretch out：主要有三种不同的意思

（1）to put out your hand, foot etc, sometimes in order to reach sth（显然文中是这个意思）

例：

The baby was stretching out his arms, asking to be picked up. 婴儿伸长了胳膊，要抱。

Jim stretched out his hand to take the candy.  Jim伸过手接了糖。

（2）to lie down, usually in order to sleep or rest

例：

I just want to stretch out for a few minutes. 我只想躺下休息会。

I’m just going to stretch out on the couch for 10 minutes. 我要在沙发上躺10分钟。

（3）if you stretch out a piece of clothing, or it stretches out, it becomes bigger or looser by being worn or pulled

例：

No, you can’t wear my sweater-you’d stretch it out. 不行！你别穿我毛衣。会被撑大的！

5. 一对反义词：increase→reduce/decrease。

学习短文最好近义词、反义词一起记忆，记得牢、记得多！

例：

Visits to the site have increased threefold since May. 五月起，来这里参观的人多了2倍。

Average house prices decreased by 13% last year. 去年房价平均下降13%。

Small businesses will need to reduce costs in order to survive. 小企业得减成本求生存。

   From the passage, we know that cats can survive falls from high buildings. Do you know how long they can live? Let’s read another dialogue in“Friends”.

[In a restaurant, Rachel is dating Michael. The guy, who Rachel really has feelings for, is gonna get a cat with his girlfriend, so Rachel is a little bit jealousy and distracted (=unable to pay attention to what she’s doing) in the date.]

Rachel: [distracted] How long do cats live?
Michael: [confused] I'm sorry?
Rachel: Cats, how long do they live? Figuring you don't... you know, throw them under a bus or something?
Michael: Um, maybe 15, 16 years.

If they don’t have serious accidents, cats will live as long as 15 years or even more. There was a cat living for 36 years in Britain!

Now let’s learn some more phrase about cats.

1. like a cat on hot bricks（英式英语），like a cat on a hot tin roof（美式英语）: so nervous or anxious that you can not keep still or keep your attention on one thing 如坐针毡/急得像热锅上的蚂蚁

例：

He was like a cat on a hot tin roof when his teacher asked his parents to come to school. 老师说要见家长时，他紧张死了。

2. let the cat out of the bag: to tell a secret, especially without intending to 无意中泄露秘密，露出马脚

类似的说法还有“let (it) slip (that)”和“give away the ending”。

例：

（1）I wanted the party to be a surprise one, but John let the cat out of the bag. 我本来想搞个惊喜派对，但是John说漏嘴了。

（2）During a chat with reporters, Baker let slip that he would receive the Manager of the Year award. 跟记者闲聊时，贝克无意中透露他将得到“年度经理人奖”这个消息。

（3）你的朋友正在卖关子讲自己的经历，你听太多遍了不耐烦，说“不就是……”，然后还假惺惺地说“I just gave away the ending, didn’t I?”——顺便带上一个“无辜+惊讶”的表情，这其实很欠扁……

<类比>：let the cat out: let it or make it go outside

例：

Can you let the cat out？ 你能让它出来吗？

3. (a game of) cat and mouse: a situation in which someone who is trying to catch someone else pretends to let them escape, hoping that they will make a mistake that will make them easier to catch 欲擒故纵

例：

Since the first attack in 1993, police had been playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the brutal serial killer（连环杀手）.

4. when the cat’s away (the mice will play)：used to say that people will not behave well when the person has authority over them is not there 山中无老虎猴子称大王