致命闪电在挪威杀死超过300只驯鹿

AS IT IS 2016-09-02 Deadly Lightning Kills Over 300 Reindeer¹ in Norway 致命闪电在挪威杀死超过300只驯鹿

Lightning is being blamed for the deaths of 323 wild reindeer in central Norway.

The lightning storm took place in a small area of the Hardangervidda mountain plateau² last Friday. Every year, thousands of reindeer travel across the Hardangervidda mountain area.

The Norwegian Environment Agency³ is a government agency that reports on climate and environmental issues in Norway. The agency said 70 calves⁴ were among the dead reindeer.

Kjartan Knutsen is the spokesman⁵ for the Norwegian Environment Agency. Knutsen told the Associated Press that it was unusual to have such a large number of reindeer deaths in one lightning storm.

“We have not heard about such numbers before” he said.

Knutsen said reindeer like to group together in bad weather. This may be a possible reason for their deaths.

He said, “I don’t know if it there were several lightning strikes, but it happened in one moment.”

The agency is discussing what to do with the reindeer. Usually the agency leaves the body of a dead animal wherever it is found, Knutsen said. That way they can decompose⁶ in the natural way.

Words in This Story

reindeer – n. a large wild animal that has four long thin legs, brown fur, and antlers if male, that lives in northern parts of the world

plateau – n. a large flat area of land that is higher than other areas of land that surround it

calve(s) – n. the young of various other large animals, such as reindeer or whale

decompose – v. to cause something, such as dead plants and the bodies of dead animals, to be slowly destroyed and broken down by natural processes and chemicals

1 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

2 plateau   

n.高原，平稳，稳定状态；vi.到达平稳阶段

参考例句：

• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
• As the river drops from the plateau,it forms great waterfalls.河水从高原上下落时，形成了巨大的瀑布。

3 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

4 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

6 decompose   

vi.分解；vt.（使）腐败，（使）腐烂

参考例句：

• The eggs began to decompose after a day in the sun.鸡蛋在太阳下放了一天后开始变坏。
• Most animals decompose very quickly after death.大多数动物死后很快腐烂。