英語聽力：長毛象王國-16

But back then, they had serious competition from the giant short-faced bear. The short-faced bear’s bone chemistry reveals it was a carnivore and up to a ton, probably the largest meat-eating mammal that ever walked the earth.

On its long legs, it ranged great distances across the open steppes in search of food. We also know from fossils that it had broad nostrils and an acute sense of smell. But with its powful bone crunching jaws, it’s now believed the giant short-faced bear was primarily a specialist scavenger rather than a predator, feeding on the victoms of this unforgiving world.

The short-faced bear was just one of the many extraordinary beasts that roamed the ice age steppes. Clues in the landscape and the wildlife of today have given us an insight into what a long-lost land was like. Now imagine that we can really travel back 14,000 years, and stand with those first hunters on the mesa, look out on that ice age world and experice a day in the life of Beringia. This is what it might have been like.

Beneath us, the steppes stretch away to the mountains. It’s early winter, and a time to feed up, ready for long, cold months ahead. Bison, Saiga antolope and other grazers form the floods below the mesa.

點(diǎn)擊

收聽單詞發(fā)音

1 nostrils

鼻孔( nostril的名詞復(fù)數(shù) )

參考例句：

Her nostrils flared with anger. 她氣得兩個鼻孔都鼓了起來。

The horse dilated its nostrils. 馬張大鼻孔。

2 crunching

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的現(xiàn)在分詞 );嘎吱作響;(快速大量地)處理信息;數(shù)字搗弄

參考例句：

The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 這些馬在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 來自《簡明英漢詞典》

The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨頭。 來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3 jaws

n.口部;嘴

參考例句：

The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊無法從鱷魚張開的大口中逃脫。

The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 臺鉗上有刻痕的虎鉗牙幫助它緊咬住工件。

4 scavenger

n.以腐尸為食的動物，清掃工

參考例句：

He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配當(dāng)個清道夫。

He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐動物，也不像有些鯊魚那樣，只知道游來游去滿足食欲。

5 predator

n.捕食其它動物的動物;捕食者

參考例句：

The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分簡要總結(jié)了食肉動物。

Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龍是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一種令人恐懼的捕食性動物。