Are you a big fan of the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks？ In the movie， three cute chipmunks can speak. They are excellent singers. They enjoy living with their human friend Dave. How about the real-life chipmunks？

Chipmunks look very much like squirrels， but they spend much of their time on the ground. People name this animal chipmunk because they make the special chip-chip sound. There are as many as 25 kinds of chipmunks， and most live in North America. A wild chipmunk can live for 2 to 5 years.

Chipmunks are very small， and they enjoy living by themselves. When they are two months old， they leave their mothers to live alone. They build their own homes and start collecting food all by themselves. They do not like living or making friends with other chipmunks much.

你是電影《鼠來寶》的忠實粉絲嗎？在電影中，三只可愛的花栗鼠會說話。它們是優(yōu)秀的歌手。它們喜歡和它們的人類朋友戴夫一起生活。那現(xiàn)實生活中的花栗鼠是怎樣的呢？

花栗鼠看起來很像松鼠，但它們大部分時間都生活在地面。人們把這種動物叫作花栗鼠是因為它們發(fā)出特殊的嚓嚓聲?；ɡ跏蠖噙_(dá)25種，大多數(shù)生活在北美洲。一只野生花栗鼠可以活2—5年。

花栗鼠體型非常小，它們喜歡獨自生活。當(dāng)它們兩個月大的時候，它們就會離開母親獨自生活。它們建立自己的家園，并開始自己收集食物。它們不太喜歡和其他花栗鼠一起生活或交朋友。

Not like other hibernating animals， chipmunks do not live on body fats during winters. They collect and keep food during summers and eat it during winters. They don’t sleep all the way through the winter. They are light sleepers and wake up every few days to eat food.

Chipmunks may not be as popular as pet dogs or pet cats， but they can be good ones. They can feed on many things from vegetables and fruits to nuts and bird eggs. They sleep at night， so you don’t have to look after them during night time. But you have to remember one thing—chipmunks have trust problems， so it takes time for them to become close to you.

不像冬眠的動物，花栗鼠在冬天不靠身體脂肪過冬。它們在夏天收集和儲存食物，在冬天吃。它們不會整個冬天都在睡覺。它們的睡眠很淺，每隔幾天就會醒來吃東西。

花栗鼠可能不像寵物狗或?qū)櫸镓埬菢邮軞g迎，但它們可能是很好的寵物。它們可以吃很多東西，從蔬菜和水果到堅果和鳥蛋。它們晚上睡覺，你不必在晚上照顧它們。但你必須記住一件事——花栗鼠有信任問題，所以它們需要一段時間才會與你親近。

Word Bank

alone /?'l??n/ adv. 獨自

live on 以……為主食

light /la?t/ adj. 睡得不沉的；易醒的

popular /'p?pj?l?（r）/ adj. 受歡迎的

nut /n?t/ n. 堅果

trust /tr?st/ n. 信任；相信