品牌课程 >> 动物世界
标签：动物世界,BBC,中级,英语,火烈鸟
红鹳 （Flamingo）又名火烈鸟，是一种羽色鲜艳，多姿多彩的大型涉禽。其整体形态显得高雅而端庄，无论是亭亭玉立之时，还是徐徐踱步之际，总给人以文静轻盈的感觉。
蝗虫（Locust）生命力顽强，群居，数量极多，能栖息在各种场所。在山区、森林、低洼地区、半干旱区、草原分布最多。大多数是危害作物的重要害虫，在严重干旱时可能会大量爆发，对自然界和人类形成灾害。
1. round trip 往返旅行
原句：Up to two million wildebeest follow the rain clouds every year, traveling on a nineteen hundred mile round trip over daunting obstacles.
多达二百万头黑尾牛羚每年跟着雨云移动，来回旅途长达一千九百英里。
例句：The round trip ticket is available for two months.
返程票两个月有效。
2. feed on 用……喂养，靠吃……过活, 以……为能源
原句：When the insects aren't flying, they're feeding on any vegetation they find.
这些虫不飞行时，就啃食任何所能发现的植物。
例句：Bats fly at night and feed on insects.
蝙蝠在夜间飞行, 以昆虫为食。
3. check out 检查，核对,
原句：Check out these facts.
且看以下的事实。
例句：Check out these wheels!
你看我这辆四轮宝贝！
It's a place where practically everything that lives,
seems to swarm.
It's the heart of the old world.
It's Africa.
The swarms here are massive
and they've been happening for a very long time.
Lake Bogoria in Kenya
boasts one of the most flamboyant spectacles
of the natural world.
The volcanic springs in the Great Rift Valley
produce water with a salt content
which prohibits nearly all life except algae
and a species of bird that thrive on the algae.
These forbidding springs are home to three million flamingos,
it's the biggest gathering in the world
of any inland water bird.
The flamingos flourish in these steamy places.
It's like an animal going back in time
to drink at the very beginnings of life.
The birds come here just to eat the algae,
straining it out with their bills.
But the birds can't drink the poisonous water.
So when they're thirsty
they have to stop feeding and fly to fresher sources.
The flamingos' dream world is often shattered
by attack from the skies,
by fish eagles that live almost entirely
off the rich mass of pink bodies.
Not far from Kenya
are the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania.
This is home to another great natural swarm.
The biggest land mammal migration on the planet.
Up to two million wildebeest follow the rain clouds every year,
traveling on a nineteen hundred mile round trip
over daunting obstacles.
The plains are blackened by them.
If ever a large animal can be said to move in swarms,
this is it.
They sometimes suffer devastating losses
and are easy targets for predators such as crocodiles.
One in six will die
in this annual quest for food and water.
New grass will support the herds for six months
and then drought sends them back to where they started.
Northern and Eastern Africa are constantly menaced by locusts,
ordinary grass-hoppers
which with the onset of rain bond together to form
legendary swarms of ever increasing numbers
a menacing army of plant destroyers.
No wonder the authors of the bible
saw a plague of locusts as a punishment from God.
A swarm of fifty billion locusts
can travel up to one hundred miles a day.
When the insects aren't flying,
they're feeding on any vegetation they find.
Locusts can cause tremendous damage to people's crops.
One swarm in Somalia contained 250 billion of the creatures
which destroyed 170,000 tons of grain.
The eating habits of locusts defy belief.
Check out these facts.
An adult locust can eat its entire body weight
in one day.
A small swarm, of a few million,
eats as much food in one day as ten elephants
or twenty five camels or 2,500 people.
But a large swarm of 50 billion
can in one day consume the same amount of food
as the combined population of the Eastern States of America.
This is one hungry swarm.
这里几乎每一种生物
都会群聚在一起
这里是旧大陆的心脏
这里是非洲
这里有庞大的生物群
而且长久以来一直如此
肯尼亚的伯哥利亚湖
以全自然界最炫目的景观闻名
东非大裂谷的火山泉
泉水带有盐分
几乎没有任何生物能在此存活，
藻类、以及一种以藻类为食的鸟类除外
如此险恶的火山泉环境
却有三百万只红鹳以此地为家
形成全球最大的内陆水鸟群
红鹳聚集在热气蒸腾的温泉区
看来有如史前的动物
在生命的源头喝水
红鹳来这里吃藻类
用细长鸟嘴将藻类叼出来
但它们不能喝这种有毒的水
它们口渴时
就必须停止进食
飞去有淡水的地方
但红鹳的梦想世界通常会破灭
因为从天而降的掠食者
鱼鹰所赖以维生的食物
就是这一群粉红色的鸟类
距离肯尼亚不远
坦桑尼亚的塞伦盖蒂平原
这里也有庞大的生物群
全球最大的陆地哺乳动物迁徙
多达二百万头黑尾牛羚每年跟着雨云移动
来回旅途长达一千九百英里
无惧任何阻碍
它们使平原看来一片黑压压
若说有哪些大型动物能集体移动
莫过于这些黑尾牛羚
它们有时会惨遭不测
难逃鳄鱼之类的掠食者觊觎
每六头牛羚中就有一头
会在每年寻觅水草的过程中丧失性命
新绿的草地可供牛羚群半年食用
干旱又会驱使它们回到原出发地
北非和东非持续苦于蝗灾
这是一种普通的蚱蜢
雨季开始就集体出现
形成传说中的蝗群而且数量不断增加
是摧毁植物的险恶大军
难怪圣经的作者
会将蝗灾比喻为上帝的惩罚
五百亿只的蝗虫大军
一天可飞行一百英里
这些虫不飞行时
就啃食任何所能发现的植物
蝗虫会对农作物造成莫大的伤害
索马里的蝗群多达二千五百亿只
可以吃掉十七万吨的谷物
蝗虫的饮食习惯令人难以置信
且看以下的事实
一只蝗虫的成虫
一天可吃相当自己体重的食物
一小群蝗虫，约几百万只
一天的食量相当于十头大象
或二十五头骆驼
或二千五百人
若是五百亿只蝗虫
一天内可吃掉的食物量
等于美国东部地区总人口的食物消耗量
真是饥饿的一群啊
【Key Words】
1. flamboyant adj.艳丽的，光彩夺目的
Lake Bogoria in Kenya boasts one of the most flamboyant spectacles of the natural world.
肯尼亚的伯哥利亚湖以全自然界最炫目的景观闻名。
2. prohibit v.禁止，不准
It prohibits nearly all life except algae and a species of bird that thrive on the algae.
几乎没有任何生物能在此存活，藻类、以及一种以藻类为食的鸟类除外。
3. flourish v.茂盛，繁荣，兴旺
The flamingos flourish in these steamy places.
如此险恶的火山泉环境却有三百万只红鹳以此地为家。
4. poisonous adj.有毒的；恶毒的，刻毒的
But the birds can't drink the poisonous water.
但它们不能喝这种有毒的水。
5. menace v.威胁，威吓
Northern and Eastern Africa are constantly menaced by locusts.
北非和东非持续苦于蝗灾。
【More Words】
Kenya肯尼亚
Florida佛罗里达
algae n.藻类, 海藻
fish eagle n.鱼鹰
Tanzania坦桑尼亚
locust n.蝗虫
crocodile n.鳄鱼
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