时间:2018-12-04 作者:英语课 分类:高中英语人教版第二册课本听力


英语课

  THE BISON 1 ON THE PLAINS OF AMERICA


       The first settlers on the plains of America were Native Americans. They arrived more than. 30,000 years ago by crossing a land bridge from Asia to America. The Native Americans lived by gathering 2 roots, nuts and wild fruit and hunting wild animals.

They hunted bison, a type of wild animals which used to exist in huge numbers on the plains of America. The bison grows to a shoulder-height of 1.5 metres and can weigh 1100 kilogrammes. It was an important part of Native American’s life. Bison were killed for their meat, while their fur provided 3 warm clothing during cold winters. The Native Americans made tents and water containers from the skins and tools from the bones. The teeth were used to make necklaces.

From about 1830 onwards 4 in the USA, European settlers began to move westwards 5. Large groups of Native Americans were forced to move fierce 6 wars between Native Americans and European settlers. The American government made agreements with Native American chiefs but always broke them afterwards. In this way, Native Americans were forced onto poor land that the settlers did not want.

The settlers built railways across the plains and began to hunt even more bison. While early settlers had killed bison for food, now the killing 7 became more widespread 8. They killed the bison skins were sent by rail to cities to be sold. Between 1850and 1910 the bison population is thought to have fallen from 60 million to just a few hundred.

The killing of the bison changed the whole wildlife of the plains. With fewer bison, grass shoots were not eaten, so grass did not grow as strongly. Bison waste no longer fell on the ground to improve the soil, which as a result became less good for growing plants. The ground supported fewer plants, and the insects which lived on these plants died out. There was less food for birds and also for the prairie 9 dog, a kind of animal which lives holes in the ground. This in turn had an effect on the food supply for wolves. Thus one simple fact, a change in number of bison, had an effect on the whole wildlife chain of the plains.



1 bison
n.野牛
  • American bison are very large.美洲野牛非常巨大。
  • Herds of bison live in the park.公园内住有成群的野牛。
2 gathering
n.集会,聚会,聚集
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
3 provided
conj.假如,若是;adj.预备好的,由...供给的
  • Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好,我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
  • I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨,我就来。
4 onwards
adv.前进;在前;在先;迈进
  • From now onwards my teacher will be stricter.从此我的老师会更加严格。
  • The crowd began to move onwards.人群开始向前移动。
5 westwards
adv.西方;西部地
  • We travelled westwards for several days.我们向西行了数日。
  • They were sailing westwards.他们向西航行。
6 fierce
adj.凶猛的,残忍的;狂热的,强烈的
  • The soldiers got ready for a fierce battle.战士们准备进行一场恶战。
  • What he said met with fierce opposition.他的话语遭到激烈反对。
7 killing
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。
8 widespread
adj.广布的,普及的,流传宽广的
  • Plastic is in widespread use.塑料已被广泛地使用。
  • English is a widespread language.英语是一种很普及的语言。
9 prairie
n.大草原,牧场
  • A single spark can start a prairie fire.星星之火,可以燎原。
  • The vast prairie stretches west to the horizon.茫茫大草原向西伸展,直至天边。
学英语单词
abiogenous
abirritated
active water
adiantum hispidulum sw.
aegisthuss
air-lift-type agitator
algorithm description language
alloying ingredient
apparent valence
arsenial antimony
bank of settlemnt
binary rate
Broad River
built-up plate
Bushspeak
calefied
capsule mould
Carapelle, Torrente
Castiglione dei Pepoli
caught a glimpse
chimney coller
christmas stocking
clark-lubs' buffer solution
coefficient of increase and decrease
corindon harmophance
Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich
Dragon chip
effect of microwave
electrolytic surgearrester
elita
end limit switch
epicalyx
errand-ghost
fast start
flow-fronts
free molecular flow force
gastroepiploic veins
go-list
granularized
Haslingfield
heel
hierarchical classification systems
His Reverence
hobsinking
hulsite
hymenal laceration
initial landform
inquisitorial procedure
interfering voltage
ketched
labiolingual appliance
lightkeepers
lightly
lost wages
lymphatolysis
manned lunar circumnavigation
marash
marimar
medicinal herb
memapsins
miniflow
mureinlipoprotein
nondivergences
oil cooler jacket
open pulmonary tuberculosis
optometries
osmonics
oto-palato-digital
Ourique
overdubs
pattern incorporating the runner system
perioidic system
Pheheirospermum japonicum
pneumonia dissecans
position-sensor
potorious
preceding year basis
pressiometric
pytamine
r-texas
Ramenskiy Rayon
reduced produet space
reduction of length
respiration chamber
revolver
RTU - remote terminal unit
saddle-backing
salving expenses
self-roasting
Shumerlinskiy Rayon
Sinosenecio wuyiensis
snock
steel gray
subsidiary vortex
successive character
syrk
system.dat
told about
tuber planter
twine holder mechanism