每日一词学英语(77): squeamish

鸟类保护工作中一项重要内容是对鸟类进行监测，先给鸟类佩戴标识环，然后跟踪其死亡的时间和地点。自上世纪五十年代开展标识环活动以来，标识环的返还率由最初的4%下降至最新（2006年）纪录的1%(From The Times, July 13, 2009: Bird conservation hit by decline in public help to record the rings)。

The drastic fall has been put down to people not spending as much time in the countryside or on remote beaches, an increasing reluctance to post letters, and simply being more squeamish than they were 50 years ago. “People are terrified of touching something that’s dead. And now bird flu has made it even worse,” said Mark Grantham, a research ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). 这一明显下降是因为人们不像50年前那样涉足乡村或荒滩，并且不愿意把标识环寄回来，而且更加大惊小怪，不愿意碰死动物，尤其是现在又有禽流感。“ornithology”我们在第30课（May 28, 2009）学过。

Wiktionary解释：easily bothered or upset; tending to be nauseous or nervous
*He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish about the sight of blood.