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.
report came into zoo，报告来到了动物园，其实就是动物园收到报告的意思，that后面是report 的内容。
spot 在这里做动词用，即“ to notice someone or something，especially when they are difficult to see or recognize ”
be taken seriously ，这里前面的they指代的仍然是reports，而不是zoo，因此使用被动语态。
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.
as 可以引导出状语从句，形容一个背景，很适合用在作文中限制事件发生的情况。
oblige 同源词是obligation 义务，责任；近义词是常见的 responsibility。不过需要注意oblige中的 i /ai/ 与obligation 中的 i /i/ 发音不同，需要熟读增强记忆。 felt obliged to=have a obligation to
最后一句长句可以多念念，组合、时态都用的很好。for在这里引导的是原因状语从句。extraordinary看起来很长，其实就是extra+ordinary， 解释为“very unusual or surprising”，即“非常出众/异于寻常”这类意思。
*突然想起一个很有中文拼音感的单词：chaos /'keɪɒs/（这个发音一点也不中文哈哈），意为混乱的。eg： The country was plunged into economic chaos.这个国家陷入了经济大混乱。
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.
picking和saw在这里所做的成分不同，picking作为现在分词修饰women。分词短语修饰名词可以被看作是定语从句的缩略模式，这个方法也可以在作文中用到，比如：
*和父母住在一起的年轻人能节省很多钱。
1). 定语从句版本：Young people who live with their parents can save a lot of money.
2). 分词短语版本：Young people living with their parents can save a lot of money.
be cornered：被逼到墙角，即无路可走，逼到绝境的状态。
最后一句的连接词们也用的很充分：when,and that unless，把逻辑讲的很好。
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.
leave behind：留下（left my wallet behind）；落后（get left behind）；告别/斩断牵绊（leave the past behind）
it left behind it ' a trail of，这句话的两个 it 困扰我很久，我是这样理解的：behind it意为“身后”，即“它身后留下”
Paw prints:爪印，如cat's ~
cling to:坚守（希望信仰）；紧紧抓住。可以把这个词和“附着”的感官联系在一起，比如我还看到例句中有“充斥（气味）、靠岸、贴身”等的运用。注意过去分词是clung.
*抬头一看我们家冰箱，果然保鲜膜即为cling wrap/plastic wrap.
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.
report doing something：Witnesses reported seeing three people flee the scene.目击者称看到有三个人逃离现场。
as XX had been, this XX have been：从had与have的差别，可以很好的感受到as带来的这种前置了一个条件的感觉
in the possession of : 属于。possess 常用的意义相当于我们常见的"have"的意义，但它强调了"持有支配"的感觉，possessions也有“财产、所有权”的含义。
somehow：不知怎得
disturbing：不安的
at large：在逃的，未被捕获的。eg: The escaped prisoners are still at large.越狱犯依然在逃。这个词还有一个字面意思，即“大范围的，总体的”，如“ the population at large”
今天的精读就到这里了，其实写起来还是需要重新查找很多例句来佐证的。最后附一张动物图，看个眼熟~我去喝奶茶了~
