新托福听写训练 第6期

Nature often sends signals indicating what is going to do. Some of these signals are pretty obvious others not so much. Smoke beginning to pour some out of volcano probably means that it will erupt sometime soon. Less obvious and easily overlooked¹ is the fur of the woolly worm. It's been claimed that you can make a long range weather forecast based on the thickness of woolly worm's fur. The thicker the fur, the harsher² the winter is predicted to be. The thinking of course is that the worm know what they have to prepare for in order to survive. However, I don't know of any research on this. I want to share with you something biologists have noticed in the last few years. Amphibians³, especially frogs have been disappearing in alarming numbers. In places where a couple of years ago there were populations, now there are none. Surly nature is urgently signaling something. But what? What makes this particularly worrisome is the fact that the phenomenon isn't restricted to any specific climate, altitude, country. There is no common link. No one element that scientists can point to and blame. It'll be easy to say the global warming or loss habitat due to the over population. But these don't begin explain the scope⁴ of the problem. Amphibians evolved involved around 350 million years ago, which means they came long before the dinosaurs⁵. They have endured phenomenon change in the earth, all of which add to the mystery in concerns. Why was the population that such ancient older animals change so suddenly after that much time?

1 overlooked   

v.忽视( overlook的过去式和过去分词 )；监督；俯视；（对不良现象等）不予理会

参考例句：

• He seems to have overlooked one important fact. 他好像忽略了一个重要的事实。
• This is a minor point, but it must not be overlooked. 此事虽小，然亦不可忽视。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 harsher   

adj.刺耳的( harsh的比较级 )；粗糙的；严厉的；残酷的

参考例句：

• The plant flourishes particularly well in slightly harsher climes. 这种植物在气候条件稍差一点的地区长势尤其好。 来自辞典例句
• Other mathematicians attacked analytic methods in harsher language. 别的数学家用比较粗鲁的语言攻击分析方法。 来自辞典例句

3 amphibians   

两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器

参考例句：

• The skin of amphibians is permeable to water. 两栖动物的皮肤是透水的。
• Two amphibians ferry them out over the sands. 两辆水陆两用车把他们渡过沙滩。

4 scope   

n.（处理、研究事物的）范围，余地，机会

参考例句：

• There is limited scope for creativity in my job.我的工作中发挥创造力的空间有限。
• There is little scope for initiative in this job.这工作几乎没有发挥主动性的余地。

5 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》