大千世界:新西兰无翼大鸟

Most people searching for buried treasure would be looking for silver and gold, ancient coins or rare artwork.  
But scientists studying the extinct giant moa (已灭绝的一种新西兰无翼大鸟) bird and its environment are looking for a different kind of artifact. Poop(排泄物，粪便).

That's right. A treasure trove¹ of information can be found in fossilized feces, commonly called coprolites. The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

Now, that's a big piece of treasure. There were once ten species of moa birds in New Zealand, but they were hunted to extinction² when Polynesians moved to the island in the 1500s. They were flightless birds, similar to ostriches³ and emus. Scientists assumed they were herbivores, eating a diet of plants and seeds. But it wasn't until they began studying moa coprolites that they discovered what the birds actually ate and how they affected⁴ their environment.

Scientists expected a bird as large as the moa would eat shrub⁵ and tree parts. Moa droppings told a different story. Moas grazed mostly on tiny herbs no more than a foot high. Not only that, many of those herbs are rare or threatened today. Scientists think this is because while the moa ate the plants, it also swallowed seeds whole. Those seeds passed through the digestive tract⁶ and were scattered⁸ across the countryside to find new places to grow.

Moa poop has revealed important clues about the moa and its environment. Now, scientists hope to use what they've learned from the moa to make predictions about our own changing world.

The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

今天我们来具体看看怎么形容一个物体的身高，长度，尺寸。
这里用到了stand,用法是stand+高度+high.
The tower stands 30 meters high.
塔高30米。
要说大概是多少高，在高度前加about 就可以了。

Length是指”距离，尺寸”的长度。一般用法是”be+长度，尺寸+in length”.
The fish is two feet in length.
这条鱼有两英尺长。

Treasure trove: a collection of valuable, interesting, or useful things 宝藏，宝库

graze
不及物动词 vi.
1. (牛,羊等)吃草;放牧
Cattle were grazing on the meadow.
牛在牧场上吃草。
及物动词 vt.
1. 吃(田野)里的草;在田野里吃(草等)
2. 用牧草喂;放牧
We graze cattle on our fields.
我们在自己田里牧牛。

Scatter⁷
及物动词 vt.
1. 使消散;使分散;使溃散
The sun soon scattered the clouds.
太阳不久驱散了云层。
2. 撒;撒于...上;散布[(+on/over/with)]
He scattered his clothes all over the floor.
他把衣服扔了一地。(或:扔得满地都是。)
不及物动词 vi.
1. 消散;分散;溃散
The crowd scattered when the police charged.
当警察冲过来时,人群便散开了。

Clue: (解决疑案、问题等的)线索,迹象,提示[(+to)]
"Do you know the time of the next train?" "I don't have a clue."
"您知道下一班火车的时间吗?" "我一无所知。"
The police have no clue to his identity.
警察没有可以确定他的身份的任何线索。

1 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

2 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

3 ostriches   

n.鸵鸟( ostrich的名词复数 )；逃避现实的人，不愿正视现实者

参考例句：

• They are the silliest lot of old ostriches I ever heard of. 他们真是我闻所未闻的一群最傻的老鸵鸟。 来自辞典例句
• How ostriches could bear to run so hard in this heat I never succeed in understanding. 驼鸟在这样干燥炎热的地带为什么能疾速长跑，我永远也理解不了。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 shrub   

n.灌木，灌木丛

参考例句：

• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
• Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。

6 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

7 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

8 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。