一隻松鼠在卡車引擎蓋下囤了42加侖核桃準備過冬 A squirrel fills a man’s truck with 42 gallons of walnuts

Bill Fischer, a resident in North Dakota, finds that a red squirrel likes to hide black walnuts under the hood of his pickup truck.

Every two years, the maturation cycle of his neighbor’s walnut tree, the diligent squirrel forages its trophies and hoards them in Fischer’s truck since 2013.  Fischer has tried to park his pickup on the street far away from the tree or get other vehicles to sit around to confuse it, the squirrel always goes to find his truck as its hideaway.

In mid-September, Fischer came back home after a 4-day work trip and discovered that the squirrel made a record this time. Fischer was taken aback when he cleared out 42 gallons of walnuts. Next time when you want to turn on your car, maybe you should also check if there is someone’s winter storage hidden inside.

友善讓你懂 │ 解說：

美國北達科他州有位居民Bill Fischer發現，有隻紅松鼠喜歡將搜集來的黑核桃，藏在他的皮卡車引擎蓋下。

Fischer鄰居家有顆核桃樹每兩年會結果一次，從2013年開始，這隻勤奮的松鼠會將撿拾覓來的「戰利品」，貯存在Fischer的卡車裡。他曾經試過將卡車停在遠離核桃樹的街上、也曾經把其他車子停在卡車旁試圖混淆牠，但這隻松鼠總是會找到Fischer的卡車來藏牠的食物。

九月中，Fischer外出工作四天後返家，發現這隻小松鼠這次創下了紀錄。他被從車子上清出的42加侖（約158公升）核桃給嚇壞了，他甚至得拆掉擋泥板才能把所有核桃取出來，因此忍不住上網分享這個難忘又有趣的經驗。下次準備發動車子前，也許你也該先檢查一下有沒有人在裡面藏了準備用來過冬的食物。

輕鬆帶著走 │ 學習：

be taken aback 意指「大吃一驚、被…嚇了一大跳」，通常會使用被動的形式，凸顯被意外嚇到的狀況。

例句：
We were all taken aback by his sudden anger. 
我們都被他的暴怒嚇了一大跳。

本篇其他相關單字，介紹如下：

• hood (n.) 引擎蓋
• pickup (n.) 皮卡車
• maturation cycle 成熟週期
• diligent (adj.) 勤奮的
• forage (v.) 覓食
• trophy (n.) 戰利品
• hoard (v.) 儲藏
• hideaway (n.) 藏身處