Foxes and farmers have never got on well. These small dog-like animals have long been accused of killing farm animals. They are officially classified as harmful and farmers try to keep their numbers down by shooting or poisoning them.
狐狸和农民从来都不会相处融洽。这些小狗般的动物长期以来一直被指控杀害农场动物。它们被官方列为有害生物，农民试图通过射杀或投毒来减少数量。
Farmers can also call on the services of their local hunt to control the fox population. Hunting consists of pursuing a fox across the countryside, with a group of specially trained dogs, followed by men and women riding horses. When the dogs eventually catch the fox they kill it or a hunter shoots it.
农民也可以求助于当地的狩猎服务来控制狐狸的数量。狩猎包括带着一群经过专门训练的狗在乡村追捕一只狐狸，后面跟着骑马的男人和女人。当狗最终抓到狐狸时，它们会杀死它，或者猎人射杀它。
People who take part in hunting think of as a sport; they wear a special uniform of red coats and white trousers, and follow strict codes of behavior. But owning a horse and hunting regularly is expensive, so most hunters are wealthy.
参加狩猎的人认为这是一项运动；他们穿着红色外套和白色长裤的特殊制服，并遵守严格的行为准则。但拥有一匹马并定期狩猎是昂贵的，所以大多数猎人都很富有。
It is estimated that up to 100,000 people watch or take part in fox hunting. But over the last couple of decades the number of people opposed to fox hunting, because they think it is brutal, has risen sharply. Nowadays it is rare for a hunt to pass off without some kind of confrontation between hunters and hunt saboteurs. Sometimes these incidents lead to violence, but mostly saboteurs interfere with the hunt by misleading riders and disturbing the trail of the fox’s smell, which the dogs follow.
据估计，多达10万人观看或参与猎狐活动。但在过去的几十年里，反对猎狐的人数急剧上升，因为他们认为猎狐很残忍。如今，猎人和反对狩猎者之间经常发生狩猎活动得冲突。有时这些事件会导致暴力，但大多数反对者会通过误导骑手和扰乱狗追踪的狐狸气味来干扰狩猎。
Noisy confrontations between hunters and saboteurs have become so common that they are almost as much a part of hunting as the pursuit of foxes itself. But this year supporters of fox hunting face a much bigger threat to their sport. A Labour Party Member of the Parliament, Mike Foster, is trying to get Parliament to approve a new law which will make the hunting of wild animals with dogs illegal. If the law is passed, wild animals like foxes will be protected under the ban in Britain.
猎人和反对者之间声势浩大的对抗已经变得如此普遍，以至于他们几乎和追捕狐狸一样是狩猎的一部分。但今年，猎狐运动的支持者面临着更大的威胁。工党议员迈克·福斯特正试图让议会批准一项新法律，将用狗狩猎野生动物定为非法。如果这项法律获得通过，狐狸等野生动物将在英国受到禁令的保护。
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