时间:2019-01-26 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力文摘 English Digest


英语课

  Picture this: A foraging 1 squirrel comes into range of a hungry, coiled rattlesnake. The squirrel realizes the danger too late--the rattlesnake strikes out and bites, fangs 2 pumping venom 3 deep into the squirrel's small body.

The poison doesn't kill immediately, but the squirrel's death warrant is signed all the same. Even as he squirms away from the snake and bounds to his hiding place in the underbrush, the venom works its way through his system, dissolving his tissues and eventually killing 4 him.

Meanwhile the snake slithers after the departed squirrel, taking his time. Uncannily, he homes right in on the squirrel's hiding place. How did the snake know where his prey 5 was hiding? Do snakes have some kind of magical sixth sense?

Actually, snakes DO have a kind sixth sense, but it has nothing to do with magic.

Although snakes often have very sharp vision, a sense of smell, and a sensitivity to heat and vibrations 6, their most important sensory 7 system is one that we humans don't share with them at all. This sixth sense is called the "vomeronasal system," and the sense organs for this are two tiny, bulb-shaped structures located on the roof of the snake's mouth. This sensory system is somewhat similar to smell--in that it senses the presence of chemicals in the snake's environment. Snakes can use this extra sense to detect the faint chemical traces left by departing prey, or they can use it to track down a mate.

On our next program we'll learn how snakes use their flicking 8, forked tongue to aid this sixth sense in the quest for prey.



v.搜寻(食物),尤指动物觅(食)( forage的现在分词 );(尤指用手)搜寻(东西)
  • They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座
  • The dog fleshed his fangs in the deer's leg. 狗用尖牙咬住了鹿腿。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Dogs came lunging forward with their fangs bared. 狗龇牙咧嘴地扑过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.毒液,恶毒,痛恨
  • The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
  • In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上,毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨
  • Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
  • The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动
  • We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
  • I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了,她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.知觉的,感觉的,知觉器官的
  • Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
  • The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。
(尤指用手指或手快速地)轻击( flick的现在分词 ); (用…)轻挥; (快速地)按开关; 向…笑了一下(或瞥了一眼等)
  • He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马,之后挥动了缰绳。
  • There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。
学英语单词
A-service area
aerospace craft
augure
base loading
bases on balls
be in league to do
beehler
Bellarmino
cat-ear
catastrophic-illness
chape
cheveron notch
click-bait
closeness of relation
cold junciton
commonizes
complete limit
Conium maculatum poisoning
constantly acting load
continuous production process
critical bearing point
cyclic load-elution test
david gruns
deoxidized steel
developmental norm
differential capstan
dihaploid
dry construction
economics of consumption
edit test
edulious
elephant's ear
emptily
encrustment
entreprenetwork
epizoic
equation of state (EOS)
esophagical
family lactobacteriaceaes
fen-lich
fiber spinning
fit the action to the word
frauen
Galidzga
Ghon complex
goitrogenicity
Hanzi ink jet printer
hard-to-please
honey mouse
hoovers
humane studies
is in agreement with
k-spar (k-feldspar)
know something for a fact
Kogaku
landtied island
Letha Ra.
macromorphology
mammifer
method of spot parameter measurement
microbrachia
multipactor breakdown
nansen ridge
naren
newtons disk
non critical item
nondeterministic nested stack automaton
normal form of vector fields
nsn
osmotic effect
parastasia ferrieri formosana
pearlweeds
phylum cycliophoras
plane of uniform expansion or contraction
poltroon
power points
propyl p-hydroxybenzoate
Putnam.
Quiniluban Is.
ransack one's brain wits
repeat offender
rock soap
skeleton sledding
snapping turtle
spit venom
squooshing
Stephen's spots
stone releaser
sulpho-salt
takt time
theobromide
Thermomonosporaceae
throneroom
Tiroungoulou
tit for tat
utmost vacuum seal
verified copy
wire gauze with asbestos
with regard to
wriggle off the hook
yacoscope
yggdrasils