英国学生科学读本 第31期:游来游去的蛇(2)

 　　Snakes do not chew their food. They swallow their prey¹ whole; and then they go into their holes and sleep fordays, or even weeks.

　　蛇吃东西不会嚼, 而是整个儿把猎物吞下去的。吞下去之后就回到洞里, 一睡就睡上几天, 甚至几个星期。

　　Snakes have long slender tongues with forkedpoints. They use their tongues rather to touch things than to taste them.

　　蛇的舌头又窄又长, 舌尖分岔。蛇用舌头“触摸”东西, 而不是“品尝”东西。

　　As snakes have no legs, how do they move ? They glide² along by the help of their backbone³, their ribs⁴, and their scales. The backbone of the snake runs down the whole length of its body. It consists of many small jointsor bones, to which the ribs are joined.

　　蛇没有脚, 怎么活动呢? 蛇在地上游, 靠的是脊椎骨、肋骨、鳞片的帮助。脊椎骨贯穿蛇的整个身体, 是由很多块“关节”也叫“椎骨”连接起来的, 肋骨就连在这些椎骨上面。

　　The snake's skin is covered with horny scales. Those on the under side of the body are larger and stronger than the rest, and are joined to the ends of the ribs.

　　蛇的皮盖着一层角质鳞。蛇身子底下的鳞片, 比别处的鳞片更大, 更坚硬, 连在肋骨的末端。

　　When the snake wishes to move, it stretches out the front part of its body; the scales take hold of the groundbeneath, and then it moves its backbone and its ribs so as to pull forward the rest of its body; and so it creeps or glides⁵ along.

　　蛇想要活动的时候, 把身体前半截往前伸, 鳞片抓住身体下面的地面, 然后运动脊椎骨和肋骨, 把后半截身子往前拉。这样蛇就可以向前“爬”, 或者“游” 。

　　All kinds of snakes produce eggs, and most of them lay their eggs in some warm place. Then, after a few weeks,a little snake comes out of each egg.

　　所有的蛇都会产卵, 大部分的蛇把卵产在某些温暖的地方。几个星期之后, 每个蛇蛋里就会钻出一条小蛇来。

1 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

2 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

3 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

4 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

5 glides   

n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The new dance consists of a series of glides. 这种新舞蹈中有一连串的滑步。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stately swan glides gracefully on the pond. 天鹅在池面上优美地游动。 来自《简明英汉词典》