英语听力：Wild China 美丽中国 -2

 It has transformed the landscape. Late winter in southern Yunnan is a busy time for local farmers as they prepare the age-old paddy fields ready for the coming spring. These hill slopes of Yunyang county plunge¹ nearly 2,000 meters to the floor of the Red River Valley. Each contains literally² thousands of stack terraces carved out by hand using basic digging tools. Yunnan’s rice terraces are among the oldest human structures in China, still ploughed, as they always have been, by domesticated³ water buffaloes⁴, whose ancestors originated in these very valleys.

 

This man-made landscape is one of the most amazing engineering feats⁵ of pre-industrial China. It seems as if every square inch of land has been pressed into cultivation⁶.

 

As evening approaches, an age-old ritual unfolds. It’s the mating season, and male paddy frogs are competing for the attention of the females. But it doesn’t always pay to draw too much attention to yourself. The Chinese Pond Heron is a pitiless predator⁷. Even in the middle of a ploughed paddy field, nature is red in beak⁸ and claw. This may look like a slaughter⁹, but as each heron can swallow only one frog at a time, the vast majority will escape to croak¹⁰ another day.

 

Terrace paddies like those of Yunyang County are found across much of southern China. This whole vast landscape is dominated by rice cultivation. In hilly Guizhou province, the Miao minority have developed a remarkable¹¹ rice culture. With every inch of fertile land given over to rice cultivation, the Miao build their wooden houses on the steepest and least productive hillsides. In Chinese rural life, everything has a use. Dried in the sun, manure¹² from the cowsheds would be used as cooking fuel.

 

It’s midday, and the Song family are tucking into a lunch of rice and vegetables. Oblivious¹³ to the domestic chitchat, granddad Gu Yongshou has serious matters on his mind. Spring is a start of the rice growing season. The success of the crop will determine how well the family will eat next year, so planting at the right time is critical.

1 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 buffaloes   

n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓

参考例句：

• Some medieval towns raced donkeys or buffaloes. 有些中世纪的城市用驴子或水牛竞赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Water buffaloes supply Egypt with more meat than any other domestic animal. 水牛提供给埃及的肉比任何其它动物都要多。 来自辞典例句

5 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

6 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

7 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

8 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

9 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

10 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

11 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

12 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

13 oblivious   

adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的

参考例句：

• Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
• He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。