国家地理:Halloween: Giant Bats 巨型蝙蝠

As the sun goes down every evening in northern Australia, millions of dark, huge, winged creatures dominate the skies.

They're an imposing¹ sight, but these black flying foxes are just big harmless bats, the biggest in the world.

Their wingspan can reach a whopping six feet. Given that the world's smallest bat species weighs less than a penny, that's pretty big.

Nearly one quarter of the world's mammal species are bats. 160 of these are fruit bats and 60 of these are called flying foxes, for their unique looking, fox-like faces.

The black flying fox babies can't fly for the first month, which means the moms have to carry them, even when they become airborne.

At night, they search for fruit and nectar, mainly through sight and smell. Like other fruit bats and vampire² bats, black flying foxes don't rely on echolocation. During the day, they live in huge colonies or camps housing up to 100,000 flying foxes. Usually they stay relatively³ cool by roosting in mangrove⁴ and paperbark trees that sit in water. But sometimes even this location isn't cool enough. Ever wore a black fur coat in the intense Australian heat? You can imagine why they fan themselves.

Hey, when that doesn't work, they'll lick themselves. They cool down a little as their saliva⁶ evaporates. But with 100,000 bats in the same grove⁵ of trees, things are bound to heat up.

Fights often break out over which branch belongs to whom. They defend their turf. But they rarely break skin. Mostly it's just a lot of noisy posturing⁷. Posturing aside, this big black flying creature is nothing more than a fuzzy foxy looking vegetarian⁸.

New Words:

roost: (v.) To rest or sleep on or as if on a perch⁹ or roost. 栖息
mangrove: (n.) [植]红树林
paperbark: (n.) (澳大利亚的)白千层属植物
saliva: (n.) 唾液

1 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

2 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 mangrove   

n.(植物)红树，红树林

参考例句：

• It is the world's largest tidal mangrove forest.它是世界上最大的红树林沼泽地。
• Many consider this the most beautiful mangrove forest in all Thailand.许多人认为这里是全泰国最美丽的红树林了。

5 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

6 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

7 posturing   

做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was posturing a model. 她正在摆模特儿的姿势。
• She says the President may just be posturing. 她说总统也许只是在做样子而已。

8 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

9 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• 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。