Weird Butterfly Ceremony

課文：

Twenty-four horses dash around a racetrack. The thunder of their hooves echoes in the jockeys’ ears, nearly drowning out the cheering of the crowd. After three or four minutes of suspense, one horse crosses the finish line first, winning the Melbourne Cup and earning a place in history.

dash：猛衝、急奔（= running very quickly）
racetrack：跑道、賽馬場
hoof：蹄
jockey：賽馬的騎師、騎士
drown out：蓋過、壓過
suspense：懸疑、懸而未決
sus-：懸在上方
cross：越過、橫渡

The horses that compete in the Melbourne Cup – one of the world’s most famous horseraces – were destined to race. Bred for speed, these horses are the few that were singled out as having potential to become champions.

compete：競賽、競爭
destined：命定、註定
destiny：命定、命運
bred for：在…出生受教育、以…方式成長受教育
potential：潛在的、可能的

A team effort

Preparing a racehorse to compete requires a team. A horse’s owner manages the team and decides which races to enter.
A trainer determines the racehorse’s diet and exercise. Regular exercise makes a horse less susceptible to injury, but overtraining tires the horse. A groomer cares for the racehorse and reports any problems he discovers to the trainer.

determine：決定
diet：飲食
susceptible：易受影響的、易受傷害的的、敏感的
susceptible to：對…敏感
injury：傷害
overtrain：訓練過度（= train too much）
over：過度的
groomer：馬夫、寵物美容師

And of course, no horserace could be run without a jockey. These riders train for long hours and travel constantly from one race to another. They need to make a strategy, adapt to changing conditions and communicate with their horse to guide it to victory.

rider：騎馬的人
constantly：不斷地、時常地
strategy：戰略
adapt to：（使）適應

文法：
… be singled out as having …（萬中選一、很優秀的意思）

特別補充：
suspenseful：緊張的
eat like a horse：食量驚人
whisperer：輕聲細語的人、能與動物溝通的人
horse whispering：與馬溝通
baby whisperer：與新生兒溝通的人
whisper：小聲的、輕聲細語的說話
overeating：飲食過度
overworking：過勞
overpricing：訂價過高