英语听力：探索发现 2012-10-12 长毛象王国 Mammoth—15

 For these baby animals, it was a race to grow up over the brief summer to be tough enough to face the winter.

 

One young animal that died in its first winter was discovered in the permafrost of an Alaskan gold mine. Recreated here are the best-mummified remains¹ of this animal ever found in North America. It’s a baby woolly mammoth². And from its size we know it was less than a year old. But did it starve to death or was it taken by a predator³?

 

Perhaps young elephants provide some clues. They stick close to their mother’s side for more than a year. And they also have backup, a family group of very protective adults. Even lions will think twice about approaching adult elephants. And with the baby so well guarded, they rarely get a chance to strike. 

 

Starvation during its first bitter winter is more likely to have killed our baby mammoth. Perhaps its mother could not provide enough warm milk. 

 

Only part of the body remains. The hind⁴ quarters were eaten. There were plenty of scavengers around 14,000 years ago. There were foxes, wolves and grizzly⁵ bears.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 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。

3 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。

4 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

5 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。