时间:2018-12-27 作者:英语课 分类:英语时差8,16


英语课

 Last time we were thinking about why some birds hop 1 and other birds walk. We decided 2 that you can't make any blanket statements about this, because there will always be exceptions. But in general it's true that larger birds are more likely to walk and smaller birds to hop, just because of the amount of energy it takes. But there's more to it than that. Ornithologists are actually very interested in bird legs and feet. The differences between different kind of legs are used in bird classification. For example, what we commonly call "songbirds"--cardinals, wrens 3, mockingbirds, warblers--are also called "perching birds." They have specialized 5 structures in their feet that include three toes pointing forward and one more called the "hallux" that points back. That three-and-one design is excellent for holding on to branches, which is an important skill to possess if you are a bird. Okay, so far so good. But now, what does that kind of foot make more difficult? You got it--a foot with a conspicuous 6 hallux toe won't be very good at walking. Some birds manage it, and there are different kinds of hallux toes that make it easier or harder. But to move around with feet like that, sometimes you just might be better off hopping 7. So, evolution has to make a choice. Is it better to perch 4 safely on branches or walk comfortably on the ground? Do I catch food with my feet or my beak 8? And so on. The end result can be birds with different kinds of feet, and different kinds of walks.



1 hop
n.单脚跳,跳跃;vi.单脚跳,跳跃;着手做某事;vt.跳跃,跃过
  • The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛,看谁单足跳跃最快。
  • How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远?
2 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 wrens
n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 )
  • Other songbirds, such as wrens, have hundreds of songs. 有的鸣鸟,例如鹪鹩,会唱几百只歌。 来自辞典例句
4 perch
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于
  • The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
  • Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。
5 specialized
adj.专门的,专业化的
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
6 conspicuous
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
7 hopping
n.鸟嘴,茶壶嘴,钩形鼻
  • The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
  • This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。
学英语单词
abscess on the prominentia laryngea
Aetinex
air right
all-skin viscose fibre
antigenic polysaccharide
axes fixed in the body
Bemis, Samuel Flagg
buildingout section
cathode-catalyst stability
center-of-mass velocity
championess
chartered public accountant
cholera suppressa
chymogen
circumferential load
colo(u)r fixative
Commodity Pool
comp sci
compensation level
computing electronics
consumer equilibrium
coppedge
cost value of forest of a single stand
crossing over modifier
cultelere
cup ring
dayrovers
debt service fund
do the rounds of
Dolobene
edmund-davies
educational activities
electric arc lamp
endo-erepsin
erasure burst correcting convoltional code
Every ass likes to hear himself bray
fagopyrixm
four-metres
full conversion
generator-voltage constant parameter
glenoid lip
guardian's allowance
gum-liker
harmotomite
high-speed ground transport system
Hu Feng
hydrafiner
image synthesis
inshore lifeboat coverage
isotope incoherence
IVET
ketosphinganines
khosam
Kingston upon Hull
kinsmanship
levelled
LEVISS
local invariance
luzon i.
machiavellians
maretia planulata
marine deposition coast
maritime frequency band
Miānrud
Netrang
nido coordination compound
non-monochromatic emission
Northern Telecom
oahu islands
Old Babylonian
ore roasting chamber
out-of-plane load
parallel processings
photo-tracer
pork-type hog
pre-primary
precast concrete armour unit
rated speed of revolution
scattering centre
schizocoelom
scratch about
serialgram
shoemaker's callosity
Stephen's spots
sub-specialist
sumphs
sutured
system bit in a descriptor
take no risks
tear speed
temporal wing
tetraborates
the Bank of England
thermophores
train-tube
twin missile carrier
ultra-sonic vibration
unstaple
V-notch impact test
vagarist
vehicle registration fee
weighing bridge