American tribe, the Apache, in the beginning there was only darkness. Similarly, the Jewish and Christian creation story describes the earth as being “without form……and darkness was on the face of the deep.” Here, the phrase “the deep” refers to water, the oceans.

Very frequently there is the idea of a creator ,either a single creator or creators ,in the form of gods. The Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions have a single creator. After stating that darkness was on the top of the deep, the Bible says that “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said ?Let there be light.? and there was light.”

In other creation myths there is more than one god. In Japanese mythology ,a god and goddess stir the ocean with a spear, and a small island appears made of salt. The native tribes of New Zealand say that Father Sky and Mother Earth united to create all things.

Sometimes the creator is an animal. There are African create myths where the creator is a huge snake. The Inuit people believed that a bird—the raven—created the world. There is also the idea of a cosmic egg, that breaks open and the world emerges from it. The Ancient Finns believed that the world formed when a bird was flying across the sea and found a dry place to lay her eggs. The eggs broke and created the sky ,the sun and the earth,

Finally ,I said at the beginning, that all the cultures have a creation myth. This isn?t quite true. There is one South American tribe called the Piraha, who lived in the Amazon rainforest. They seem to have no myth at all, and have no idea of time and mathematics. Passage 2

Presenter: OK folks we are taking calls on big cat sightings. In the last year more than 2,000 suspected big cat sightings were reported to the police. Are big cat sightings just a myth, or are they really roaming the English countryside? We have our first caller. Hello Andy from Yorkshire! Presenter: Why not? 为什么不是？

Caller1: Because they had been killed very violently. It could only have been a big cat of some kind.

因为它们被残暴地杀害了。这只可能是某种大型猫科动物做出来的。

Presenter: Interesting. We have another caller on the line, Jeff, also a farmer, from Devon this time.

真有意思。现在另一位听众在线上等着了，杰夫，同样是一个农夫，这次是来自德文郡。

Caller2: Actually, I am from Iowa, but I have live here for a long time. And I have got to say, I disagree with the last caller. It could easily just be a big dog-they can be very dangerous. 事实上，我来自艾奥瓦，但是我在这里生活了很长一段时间。我不得不说，我不同意上一位听众的观点。杀死绵羊的很有可能是一条大狗，大狗同样十分危险。

Presenter: Are you telling me big cats and dogs look alike? 你是说，大狗和大猫长得很像吗？

Caller2: If you see them from a distance, yes. 如果你从远处看，它们确实很像。

Presenter: Hmm, OK, thanks for the opinion, Jeff. Over to Danielle…in Scotland.

好吧，谢谢你的观点，杰夫。现在让我们接进丹尼尔的电话，来自苏格兰。

Caller3: Hi, I fell sure there are big cats in our area. Eight months ago I found 16 paw prints in my garden and each one measured 20 centimetres.

大家好，我确信我们周边有大型猫科动物出没。八个月前，我在我的花园里发现16双爪印，这些爪印长达20厘米！ Presenter: Could they have been made by a big dog? 那些爪印有可能是大狗留下的吗？

Caller3: They were much too large to be a big dog. 这些爪印太大了，不可能是一只大狗的。

Presenter: Did you get an expert in to have a look at the prints? 你是否对请过专家来考察一下那些脚印呢？ Caller3: NO. 没有。

Presenter: Well, how do you know? Hi, Robert…you have got a story to tell.

那你是如何得知的呢？你好罗伯特，你也有一个故事要讲的吧。

Caller4: That? right. 没错。

Presenter: So-what happened? 那么，发生了什么事？

Caller4: About two years ago, I was walking my dog in the woods near my home and suddenly he howled and just ran, looking absolutely terrified. And there in the undergrowth was some kind of big black cat.

大约两年前，我在屋子旁边的树林里遛狗。突然我的狗大叫一声逃跑了，它看起来受到了很大的惊吓。我看见在灌木丛里有某种大黑“猫”。

Presenter: Couldn?t it have been another dog? 难道不可能是另外一条狗吗？

Caller4: Definitely not. Anyway I just ran for my life. 当然不是。不过不敢怎样我还是逃命了。 Presenter: How many seconds did you see it for? 你看了它几秒钟？

Caller4: Umm, maybe three. 嗯，也许三秒吧。

Presenter: Was it long enough to be sure it was a big cat? 三秒钟的时间足够确定那是一种大型猫科动物？ Caller4: It was long enough for me. 对我而言足够长了。

Presenter: OK, thanks. We have time for one last call. Sandy?s from London.

好的，谢谢。我们还有时间接进最后一名听众的电话，来自伦敦的桑迪。

Caller5: Hi. I have evidence that big cats are real but not in the way we think.

大家好，我有证据证明大型猫科动物是真实的，但是他们并不是我们想象中的那样。

Presenter: How do you mean, Not in the way we think? 您的话是什么意思呢？不像我们想象中的那样？

Caller5: They are from somewhere else, from another world. 他们来自别处。

Presenter: I see! Oh, maybe you can explain a bit more… 我明白了！哦，也许你该解释得更清楚一点……