英语听力：探索发现 2013-02-06 猛玛象进城记 Mammoths to Manhattan—4

 The same signs appear in young male mammoth¹ tusks², but those living in North America at the end of Ice Age laid down their stress rings three years earlier than usual. In other words, it seems that young males were leaving the herd³ at an earlier age. 

 

Some scientists believe the only thing that could cause such a major change in mammoth’s social structure would be hunting by humans. If hunting pressure was extreme enough to push the mammoths to extinction⁴, then we would expect them to survive in areas that people couldn’t reach. And for a while, they did, here on Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia. 

 

There are no mammoths on Wrangel Island today, but it is home to another large animal, the polar bear. And there is evidence that polar bears and mammoths once lived side by side during the last Ice Age. They would have shared the island’s meager⁵ offerings. 

 

This inhospitable and isolated⁶ place seems to have been a sanctuary⁷ for mammoths. The Wrangel Island herds⁸ were the last on the planet to survive. Remarkably⁹, they survived here long after their North American relatives had all died out. But they were still on borrowed time. When people finally reached Wrangel Island 4,000 years ago, these last remaining mammoths also became extinct. 

 

The events on Wrangel Island mirrored what had happened on the North American continent. Mammoths only became extinct after they came into contact with people.

1 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

2 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

3 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

4 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

5 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

6 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

8 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

9 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。