【英语趣味课堂】岛屿上存在的危险-Island Dangers

 Nick: Is there any natural disasters which happen?

 

Cheryl: Yeah, there’s plenty of natural disasters. Guam is actually right on the coast of a reef¹ formation called the Mariana’s trench² and underneath³, in this trench is the lowest part of the world, the deepest part of the world.

 

Nick: Wow!

 

Cheryl: Yeah, so we joke about it. We joke that Guam’s highest mountain, Mt. Lan Lan is actually the highest mountain in the world if you count off from its base which is in the Marianas trench, the lowest part of the world.

 

Nick: Wow, that’s amazing! So there must be good diving if you talk about barrier reefs⁴.

 

Cheryl: Yeah, there’s plenty of good diving. It’s got really great diving like you would find in Hawaii or in the Great Barrier Reef. And many, many tourists from all over Asia come to Guam to scuba⁵ dive because of their great spots. It’s the closest US soil they can get to.

 

Nick: Ah, I see. But in Australia in the Great Barrier Reefs, there’s lots of dangerous animals. Is that the case in Guam as well?

 

Cheryl: Well, actually that’s funny you should ask, there has been a recent article about a guy in Guam, a very young guy who was scuba diving, and he got stung⁶ by a lion fish, but that is the extent of the dangerous animals of Guam. You’d have to go out into the deep sea to find more dangerous animals. But I think the most dangerous ones we have are quite small -- things like the lion fish which I just mentioned, he just got stung, but it wasn’t anything terrible. We do have reef sharks, but they are not great white sharks so they are quite small and smaller poisonous things like trigger⁷ fish, those you just have to be careful about whenever you are scuba diving, but other than that there’s not much dangers in the sea.

 

Nick: Great.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

natural disasters

 

 imageAre there any natural disasters which happen?

 

Natural disasters are floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados⁸, tsunamis⁹, etc. A disaster is a very bad event. See the following examples:

 

In the state of Kansas, the most common natural disaster is tornados.

The birthday party was a total disaster because the food made everyone sick!

reef

 

 imageGuam is actually right on the coast of a reef formation.

 

A reef is a place where the bottom of the sea rises up and is close to the surface of the water. The most famous reefs are made of coral and attract many fish. Some are also made of sand or rock. Notice the 2 examples below:

 

The coral reef was a perfect spot for scuba diving.

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the most famous in the world.

base

 

 imageMt. Lan Lan is actually the highest mountain in the world if you count off from its base.

 

A base is the bottom part of a structure. In the example above, the base is the bottom of the mountain. Study the examples below:

 

I found her sleeping in the park at the base of a tree.

They finished building the base of the house after just 3 days.

that’s funny you should ask

 

 

 imageWell, actually that’s funny you should ask, there was a recent article about that.

 

The phrase, “that’s funny you should ask” does not really refer to anything being funny. A better way to think of it is, “that is lucky you asked me that...” See the following dialogue:

 

A: I’m sorry, but I forgot your name. Could you tell me again?

B: That’s funny you should ask because I forgot your name too!

 

stung

 

 

 imageHe got stung by a lion fish.

 

Stung is the past tense form of sting¹⁰. A sting is like a bite but from an animal that has a stinger, like a bee for example. See additional examples below:

 

I have never been stung by a bee, have you?

I’m terrified of getting stung by a jellyfish so I don’t swim when I go to the beach.

1 reef   

n.礁，礁石，暗礁

参考例句：

• The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

2 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 reefs   

礁体

参考例句：

• The motorboat cut across swift currents and skirted dangerous reefs. 汽艇穿过激流，绕过险滩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Fish are abundant about the reefs. 暗礁附近鱼很多。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

6 stung   

螫伤，刺伤( sting的过去式和过去分词 )； 感到剧痛； 激怒； 使不安

参考例句：

• I was stung on the arm by a wasp. 我的胳膊给黄蜂蜇了一下。
• Her arm was beginning to swell up where the bee had stung her. 她胳膊给蜜蜂蜇了，肿了起来。

7 trigger   

n.触发器，板机，制滑机；v.触发（事件）

参考例句：

• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again.他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。
• He pulled the trigger but the gun didn't go off.他打了一枪，没有发火。

8 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

9 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

10 sting   

vt.激怒，刺痛，刺伤，蛰伤；n.刺痛，刺伤

参考例句：

• Most flies do not sting.大多数苍蝇不叮人。
• The scorpion has a sting that can be deadly.蝎子有可以致命的螫针。