时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

Don: All right, Yael, you're a moth 1. And mating for you is a big deal because it takes eight or nine hours. So the last thing you want is for some predator 2 to interrupt you and your mate in the act.



Yael: I'm guessing that's true not just for moths 3. It's just that moths can't put up a do- not-disturb-sign.



D: Well, in some sense, they can. You see, certain species of male moths use toxins 5 to protect themselves during sex. In fact, during the courtship dance, the male moth releases a derivative 6 of these toxins, which enables the female to choose the moth  who can offer her the most protection.



Y: Are the males just born with these toxins?



D: Actually, the toxins come from plants. The male rattlebox moth gets these toxins in its larval stage, when it eats from the rattlebox plant. The wasp 7 moth, on the other hand, gets them from the poisonous dogfennel plant before the big night. In both cases, the chemicals make the moths so unappealing that spiders have actually been observed cutting them loose from their webs.



Y: That's one handy toxin 4.



D: When the moths mate, the male passes the toxins along with his sperm 8 to the female, and the wasp moth actually releases the toxin in a cloud of miniature confetti that sticks to him and the female. The toxin protects them both during mating, and  continues to protect the female and the eggs later on. In fact, the rattlebox moth passes enough toxins to the female that she's protected from predators 9 for the rest of her life span, which is about thirty days.



Y: All this makes me wonder what my husband has done for me lately. 

 



1 moth
n.蛾,蛀虫
  • A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
  • The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。
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 moths
n.蛾( moth的名词复数 )
  • The moths have eaten holes in my wool coat. 蛀虫将我的羊毛衫蛀蚀了几个小洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The moths tapped and blurred at the window screen. 飞蛾在窗帘上跳来跳去,弄上了许多污点。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
4 toxin
n.毒素,毒质
  • Experts have linked this condition to a build-up of toxins in the body.专家已把这一病症与体内毒素的积累联系起来。
  • Tests showed increased levels of toxin in shellfish.检验表明水生有壳动物的毒素水平提高了。
5 toxins
n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )
  • The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
  • Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 derivative
n.派(衍)生物;adj.非独创性的,模仿他人的
  • His paintings are really quite derivative.他的画实在没有创意。
  • Derivative works are far more complicated.派生作品更加复杂。
7 wasp
n.黄蜂,蚂蜂
  • A wasp stung me on the arm.黄蜂蜇了我的手臂。
  • Through the glass we can see the wasp.透过玻璃我们可以看到黄蜂。
8 sperm
n.精子,精液
  • Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
  • In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中,一个精子使一个卵子受精。
9 predators
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面)
  • birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
  • The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
-ary
a toss up
a.f.of l.
addition and betterment reserve
air trench bend
automatic booksewing machine
basicytoparaplastin
blurring-highlight test
Burdick lamp
burn alive
bursa synovialis subfascialis
Canis Maior
cascade spacing
cholesteryl nonanoate
classifying
clean by laminar flow
clibby
coaxial cable connector
comburent
creative management
d.-md
deiss
diaphragm type level meter
dielectric amplifier
dip off
distinguished achievement award
disturbance response
Domats
effigiates
Enschede
eurhythmies
extended operator commend
farm system
flipping Nora
floral relation
front slashes
frostily
fu an ss? i chih wu
gastrointestinal infection
generalized stationary random process
genus ankylosauruss
great tradition
grit separator
Habeas-corpus
Havdallah
have resort to
heat-transfer intensity
Helen Springs
Ideal Home
inconsolableness
interactive debugging processor
Knapp's streaks
lightheadednesses
lire
lobopods
map convolution
microbiomes
mud pipe-line with floater
multipletooling
NAVCALS
new planets
Newcastle disease
nitrifyings
Nizhniy Chulym
nullifying
oligopoly pricing
Omolon
optimal stopping time
Parucito R.
persiana
pestilences
phosphoric cyanide
plantarflexed
predesign cost estimate
proposed law
rain-affecteds
rangitoto
Rayhorodok
rayms
reactor
recoverer of waste heat
recursive attribute
reverberation field
Ruszów
S register
scotchmen
sea hedgehogs
shop weld
short message services gsm
Sidi Mohammed Ben Ali
Slavonize
souch
space diagram
spaceside
tempery
thymidine diphosphate
to jump for joy
ulcerative keratitis
ultra-fertility(UF)
uncushioned
up-front money
verification of data conversion