大千世界:新西兰无翼大鸟

Most people searching for buried treasure would be looking for silver and gold, ancient coins or rare artwork.  

But scientists studying the extinct giant moa (已灭绝的一种新西兰无翼大鸟) bird and its environment are looking for a different kind of artifact. Poop(排泄物，粪便).

That's right. A treasure trove 1 of information can be found in fossilized feces, commonly called coprolites. The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

Now, that's a big piece of treasure. There were once ten species of moa birds in New Zealand, but they were hunted to extinction 2 when Polynesians moved to the island in the 1500s. They were flightless birds, similar to ostriches 3 and emus. Scientists assumed they were herbivores, eating a diet of plants and seeds. But it wasn't until they began studying moa coprolites that they discovered what the birds actually ate and how they affected 4 their environment.

Scientists expected a bird as large as the moa would eat shrub 5 and tree parts. Moa droppings told a different story. Moas grazed mostly on tiny herbs no more than a foot high. Not only that, many of those herbs are rare or threatened today. Scientists think this is because while the moa ate the plants, it also swallowed seeds whole. Those seeds passed through the digestive tract 6 and were scattered 8 across the countryside to find new places to grow.

Moa poop has revealed important clues about the moa and its environment. Now, scientists hope to use what they've learned from the moa to make predictions about our own changing world.

The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

今天我们来具体看看怎么形容一个物体的身高，长度，尺寸。

这里用到了stand,用法是stand+高度+high.

The tower stands 30 meters high.

塔高30米。

要说大概是多少高，在高度前加about 就可以了。

Length是指”距离，尺寸”的长度。一般用法是”be+长度，尺寸+in length”.

The fish is two feet in length.

这条鱼有两英尺长。

Treasure trove: a collection of valuable, interesting, or useful things 宝藏，宝库

graze

不及物动词 vi.

1. (牛,羊等)吃草;放牧

Cattle were grazing on the meadow.

牛在牧场上吃草。

及物动词 vt.

1. 吃(田野)里的草;在田野里吃(草等)

2. 用牧草喂;放牧

We graze cattle on our fields.

我们在自己田里牧牛。

Scatter 7

及物动词 vt.

1. 使消散;使分散;使溃散

The sun soon scattered the clouds.

太阳不久驱散了云层。

2. 撒;撒于...上;散布[(+on/over/with)]

He scattered his clothes all over the floor.

他把衣服扔了一地。(或:扔得满地都是。)

不及物动词 vi.

1. 消散;分散;溃散

The crowd scattered when the police charged.

当警察冲过来时,人群便散开了。

Clue: (解决疑案、问题等的)线索,迹象,提示[(+to)]

"Do you know the time of the next train?" "I don't have a clue."

"您知道下一班火车的时间吗?" "我一无所知。"

The police have no clue to his identity.

警察没有可以确定他的身份的任何线索。