-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Within a month, the spring blooms are finished. The plants now set their seeds, taking advantage of the warm summer winds which sweep the desert.
For a while, the karoo just glows.
But trouble is stiring. Triggered by the rains, an all-devouring army-- locusts2.
Millions emerge from eggs buried in the sand, gathering3 into columns which may stretch for ten kilometers. At this stage, they can't fly, only hop4, but it doesn't hinder their progress. These sweeping5 hordes6 devastate7 any fresh growth in their path.
After five weeks of steady munching8, the infantry9 becomes airborne. These breeding swarms10 can cover up to 80 kilometers a day, but only while the food and moisture last.
So how do you define a desert in Africa? They are places where less than 50 centimeters of rain falls a year. Neighbouring the karoo is a desert which gets the maximum, in brief, but intense summer monsoons11.
words and expression:
1.karoo: an arid12 plateau of southern Africa非洲干旱的南方
2.locust:any of numerous grasshoppers13 of the family Acrididae, often migrating in immense swarms that devour1 vegetation and crops蝗虫
3.horde:swarm群
4.munch:to chew food audibly or with a steady working of the jaws14发出声音或高兴地吃
5.infantry becomes airborne:步兵变成空降兵
6.monsoon:a wind system that influences large climatic regions and reverses direction seasonally季风
1 devour | |
v.吞没;贪婪地注视或谛听,贪读;使着迷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 locusts | |
n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 );贪吃的人;破坏者;槐树 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 hop | |
n.单脚跳,跳跃;vi.单脚跳,跳跃;着手做某事;vt.跳跃,跃过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 devastate | |
v.使荒芜,破坏,压倒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 munching | |
v.用力咀嚼(某物),大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 swarms | |
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 monsoons | |
n.(南亚、尤指印度洋的)季风( monsoon的名词复数 );(与季风相伴的)雨季;(南亚地区的)雨季 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 arid | |
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 grasshoppers | |
n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 );蝗虫;蚂蚱;(孩子)矮小的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|