輕松英語閱讀：一只偵探鼠

今天我們要學(xué)的詞是shortlist。 Shortlist, 是指供挑選的最后名單。 "Three democrats made the shortlist for the soon-to-be vacant secretary of state position for Colorado," 三個(gè)民主黨人進(jìn)入最后的候選人名單，角逐科羅拉多州即將空出來的州務(wù)卿的位置。 "Four movies made the shortlist for the Critics Choice Awards," 四部影片入圍影評(píng)家獎(jiǎng)的最后一輪角逐。 "The bestseller made the shortlist for three book awards," 這本暢銷書進(jìn)入了三項(xiàng)圖書獎(jiǎng)最后入圍的候選名單。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是shortlist...

Derrick is in training with the Dutch police at the moment. But Derrick is not a person or even a police dog; he’s a police rat.

What is Derrick’s expertise? He can sniff out substances such as drugs or gunshot residue and he does it with a 98.8 percent accuracy. He is a part of a group of rats being trained by the Dutch police for criminal investigations.

There are machines that can do what Derrick does, but he can do it much faster and cheaper. Under pressure to cut costs, the Dutch police started the program two years ago. For example, a test for gunshot residue requires several technicians, expensive lab equipment and chemicals and can take at least two hours. A rat like Derrick can do the same thing in seconds.

This is the first time ever to use rats in this way and there have been some difficulties in training them. But Derrick and his buddies should begin working in January of next year. It will be interesting to see how they perform.