英语听力：探索发现 2012-11-30 美洲大平原 American Serengeti—15
时间：2018-12-27 作者：英语课 分类：探索与发现2012年
英语课
Larger than any lion alive today, this would have been an awesome 1 predator 2. These caves were probably its winter den 3.
With such abundant game down on the plains, this hunter's life must have been pretty good.
Sheer size and power and the benefit of life within a pride made it the unmatched ruler of the plains. By looking at the lions of Africa today, we can imagine how these ice age cats once lived in small prides based around a group of hunting females.
Like wolves, lions work together to win larger prey 4. After a leading hunter launches the attack, the others move in, helping 5 to dispatch the victim with a suffocating 6 bite. But even for these rulers of the plains, the good life had to end. They would be toppled by another predator with even sharper skills.
The ice age lions joined the list of victims, animals that had lived here for hundreds of millennia 7, but were soon lost forever.
Today few signs remain that any of them were ever here. Odd traces scattered 8 far and wide across the plains. But if we piece together bones and teeth, plant fragments and the clues from animals alive today, we can begin to bring a lost world back to life.
1 awesome
adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的
- The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
- That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.
2 predator
n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者
- The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
- Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。
3 den
n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室
- There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
- The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。
4 prey
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。
5 helping
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
6 suffocating
a.使人窒息的
- After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
- That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。