SSS 2011-07-28_在线英语听力室_免费在线英语听力学习网站

(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.

Nothing says summer like ants. They’re at your picnics, on your porch, why there’s one crawling up your leg right now. Well, now it’s your chance to turn the tables, picnic and otherwise, on these summertime pests, because researchers at North Carolina State University want your ants—for science.

The project, on the web at schoolofants.org, is calling on teachers, students and citizen-scientists of all ages to help catalog the kinds of ants that live in urban areas: at your school, where you work or outside your front door.

They supply a collection kit¹ that comes with nine vials pre-loaded with cookie crumbs². Just plop a few vials on the lawn and some on the sidewalk, wait an hour, and then ship your samples back to the scientists. They’ll identify the ants and load the data onto an interactive³ online map where you can see your specimens⁴ and check out the biodiversity in your backyard.

You could turn up something special, like the elusive⁵ Bigfoot Ant, North America’s rarest ant species, or be the first to find a common species unknown in your area. Either way, the ants you mail off will never crawl up your leg again.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.

点击

收听单词发音

1 kit
n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物
参考例句：
The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。 The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

2 crumbs
int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑名词crumb的复数形式
参考例句：
She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。 Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

3 interactive
adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的
参考例句：
The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。 This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

4 specimens
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人
参考例句：
Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。 The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。来自《简明英汉词典》

5 elusive
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的
参考例句：
Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。 Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。