雅思聽(tīng)力對(duì)話：聽(tīng)力材料-渡渡鳥(niǎo)的滅絕
雅思聽(tīng)力在考試中占據(jù)著重要的地位，時(shí)常用聽(tīng)力材料來(lái)磨耳朵可以不斷鞏固大腦的英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言能力。以下是雅思聽(tīng)力材料，您可以結(jié)合MP3和下方的原文及翻譯進(jìn)行聽(tīng)力學(xué)習(xí)。
聽(tīng)力原文及翻譯
One of the most famous cases of extinction is that of a bird known as the dodo. In fact, there's even a saying in English, "as dead as the dodo," used to refer to something which no longer exists. But for many centuries, the dodo was alive and well, although it could only be found in one place: the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was a very large bird, about 1 metre tall, and over the centuries, it had lost the ability to fly, but it survived happily under the trees that covered the island.
最著名的滅絕案例之一是一種名為渡渡鳥(niǎo)的鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)。事實(shí)上，英語(yǔ)中甚至有一句諺語(yǔ)“死得和渡渡鳥(niǎo)一樣”，用來(lái)指不再存在的東西。但許多世紀(jì)以來(lái)，渡渡鳥(niǎo)一直活得很好，盡管它只能在一個(gè)地方找到：印度洋上的毛里求斯島。它是一種非常大的鳥(niǎo)，大約 1 米高，幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，它已經(jīng)失去了飛翔的能力，但它在覆蓋島嶼的樹(shù)木下快樂(lè)地生存著。
Then, in the year 1507, the first Portuguese ships stopped at the island. The sailors were carrying spices back to Europe and found the island a convenient stopping place where they could stock up with food and water for the rest of the voyage. But they didn't settle on Mauritius. However, in 1638, the Dutch arrived and set up a colony there. These first human inhabitants of the island found the dodo birds a convenient source of meat, although not everyone liked the taste.
然后，在 1507 年，第一批葡萄牙船只停泊在該島。水手們正帶著香料返回歐洲，發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)島嶼是一個(gè)方便的停靠點(diǎn)，他們可以在那里為接下來(lái)的航程儲(chǔ)備食物和水。但他們并沒(méi)有在毛里求斯定居。然而，在 1638 年，荷蘭人來(lái)到這里并在那里建立了殖民地。島上的第一批人類(lèi)居民發(fā)現(xiàn)渡渡鳥(niǎo)是一種方便的肉食來(lái)源，盡管并非所有人都喜歡它的味道。
It's hard to get an accurate description of what the dodo actually looked like. We do have some written records from sailors and a few pictures, but we don't know how reliable these are. The best-known picture is a Dutch painting in which the bird appears to be extremely fat, but this may not be accurate. An Indian painting done at the same time shows a much thinner bird. Although attempts were made to preserve the bodies of some of the birds, no complete specimen survives.
很難準(zhǔn)確描述渡渡鳥(niǎo)的長(zhǎng)相。我們確實(shí)有一些水手的書(shū)面記錄和幾張照片，但我們不知道這些記錄有多可靠。最著名的一幅畫(huà)是一幅荷蘭畫(huà)，畫(huà)中的渡渡鳥(niǎo)看起來(lái)非常胖，但這可能并不準(zhǔn)確。同時(shí)期的一幅印度畫(huà)則展示了一只瘦得多的渡渡鳥(niǎo)。盡管人們?cè)噲D保存一些渡渡鳥(niǎo)的尸體，但沒(méi)有完整的標(biāo)本留存下來(lái)。
In the early 17th century, four dried parts of a bird were known to exist; of these, three have disappeared, so only one example of soft tissue from the dodo survives: a dodo head. Bones have also been found, but there's only one complete skeleton in existence. This single dodo skeleton has recently been the subject of scientific research, which suggests that many of the earlier beliefs about dodos may have been incorrect.
在 17 世紀(jì)初，人們知道存在鳥(niǎo)的四個(gè)干燥部分；其中三個(gè)已經(jīng)消失，因此渡渡鳥(niǎo)只有一個(gè)軟組織樣本留存下來(lái)：渡渡鳥(niǎo)頭。骨頭也被發(fā)現(xiàn)，但只有一具完整的骨架存在。這具渡渡鳥(niǎo)骨架最近成為科學(xué)研究的主題，這表明許多早期關(guān)于渡渡鳥(niǎo)的信念可能是錯(cuò)誤的。
For example, early accounts of the birds mention how slow and clumsy it was, but scientists now believe the birds strong knee joints would have made it capable of movement, which was not slow, but actually quite fast.
例如，早期對(duì)鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)的記載提到了它們的動(dòng)作是多么緩慢和笨拙，但現(xiàn)在科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)強(qiáng)健的膝關(guān)節(jié)使它們能夠移動(dòng)，這種移動(dòng)并不緩慢，實(shí)際上相當(dāng)快。
以上就是本期的雅思聽(tīng)力練習(xí)，希望對(duì)您的聽(tīng)力水平有所幫助。您也可以訪問(wèn)網(wǎng)站主頁(yè)，獲取最新的英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)資料，全方位提升英語(yǔ)能力。
