【趣谈英语】最后的候鸽-Martha Was The Last Passenger Pigeon

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

 

migrate: to move from one region to another

primarily: mainly

extinct: no longer alive as a species

infectious: spreadable

preserved: kept intact; cared for in order to last a long time

remains¹: the physical parts that are left after death

Smithsonian: a large group of museums

 

 

Martha Was The Last Passenger Pigeon

Before the 1900s, passenger pigeons made up about 40 percent of the total bird population in the US. These birds migrated in massive colonies, and there were so many of them that they could actually black out the sun. Passenger pigeons were over-hunted primarily because their nesting habits made them an easy target. Hunters in North America wouldn’t have believed that the species was in danger of becoming extinct. A single tree could house over 100 nests. This also made it easy for infectious diseases to spread through the colonies. By the late nineteenth century it was rare to come across a passenger pigeon. Some attempts were made to save the passenger pigeon from extinction², but it was too late. The last remaining passenger pigeon was named “Martha” after George Washington’s wife. Her preserved remains are in the Smithsonian collection.

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 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。