【英语趣味课堂】不明飞行物-UFO

Todd: So Jonathan, I thought we would talk about UFOs.

 

Jonathan: Sure.

 

Todd: So do you believe in UFOs?

 

Jonathan: I think that the chance that there is intelligent life in the universe is overwhelmingly likely. But I don't think they're constantly visiting the earth to visit people in rural areas and do experiments on them.

 

Todd: Right. Stopping by. OK, so let's talk about somethings that people associate with UFOs? First is crop circles.

 

Jonathan: Crop circles. I think that's a hoax¹, and it's been proven to be so. There were some students in England who I think reproduced some crop circles, and I think that would be a shame if aliens travelled from distant galaxies² just to mess around with your fields.

 

Todd: Right, like we go to somebody else's planet and we just rummage³ through their trash.

 

Jonathan: Just like we're gonna travel light years away just to mess with people's heads by putting a pattern in their wheat.

 

Todd: Right. Well, what about the ones in South America? I guess it's not a crop, but the lines in the desert.

 

Jonathan: Yes, there's the Nazca lines in Peru. I've actually been there. I took like a very small plane, like a Cesna to view some of those, and some people have postulated⁵ that they may be some sort of ancient runways or something like that, but I'm sure there must be another explanation that's more logical. Unfortunately, there aren't any thousand year old Incas around to tell us what they were.

 

Todd: Right, I think the thing that's amazing about those is they cover such a large area and they're so geometrically perfect so it seems pretty impossible to do.

 

Jonathan: Well, one thing I noticed when I was flying in the little plane, there are quite a few hills in the area which are reasonably high. People have said it would be impossible to direct the perfection of these things on the ground, but I think from one of this high vantage points, it would in fact be possible to direct some of these symbols to be carved into the stone.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

overwhelm

 

Intelligent life in the universe is overwhelmingly likely.

 

When something is overwhelmed that means it is affected⁶ by something in great numbers. Notice the following:

 

The hospital was overwhelmed with injured people after the earthquake.

The students were overwhelmed with information on the first day of class.

associate with

 

People often associate aliens with UFOs.

 

When you associate something, you connect it with something else. For example, people often associate fast food with American cuisine⁷. Notice the following:

 

People often associate the military with rough, tough soldiers.

People tend to associate good grades with intelligence rather than hardwork.

rummage through

 

We rummage through their trash.

 

When you rummage through something, you look through it in search of something valuable. Notice the following:

 

We rummage through the trash for the missing keys.

The police rummage through the dumpster for evidence.

postulate⁴

 

People have postulated it might be some sort of runway.

 

To postulate something means to suggest a reason for something even though there are no facts to support it. Notice the following:

 

Some academics postulate that Native Americans came by land and sea.

Many scientists postulate that Mars once had supported life much like Earth does today.

vantage point

 

A vantage point is a high place that offers someone a good view of something.

 

That hill is a good vantage point to take a nice a picture of the town.

From his vantage point, Tom had a good view of the parade.

1 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

2 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

3 rummage   

v./n.翻寻，仔细检查

参考例句：

• He had a good rummage inside the sofa.他把沙发内部彻底搜寻了一翻。
• The old lady began to rummage in her pocket for her spectacles.老太太开始在口袋里摸索，找她的眼镜。

4 postulate   

n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定

参考例句：

• Let's postulate that she is a cook.我们假定她是一位厨师。
• Freud postulated that we all have a death instinct as well as a life instinct.弗洛伊德曾假定我们所有人都有生存本能和死亡本能。

5 postulated   

v.假定，假设( postulate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They postulated a 500-year lifespan for a plastic container. 他们假定塑料容器的寿命为500年。
• Freud postulated that we all have a death instinct as well as a life instinct. 弗洛伊德曾假定我们所有人都有生存本能和死亡本能。 来自辞典例句

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。