托福听力短文 II-11-1

(MA) Now we're entering Kangaroo Country. In all, there are more than fifty different species of kangaroo, and the advantage of zoos like ours is that you see them in their natural habitat. The ones we have all live in the grasslands¹.

On my right, you can see one of the biggest types: the red kangaroo. It travels about 20 miles per hour. It looks like hard work, but hopping² actually lets the kangaroo conserve³ more energy than another animal could when running on four legs. In fact, up to a certain point, the faster a kangaroo goes the more energy it conserves⁴. Rather than taking more hops⁵ to increase speed, the kangaroo makes the length of each jump longer.

Let's stop here for a minute. Take a look over on your right at this group of kangaroos resting. Can you see that their ears are moving? Hearing may well be the kangaroo's most important sense. Their two large ears can move independently, so sometimes one ear is pointing forward and the other toward the rear. Kangaroos' eyesight is also excellent. They have a wide field of vision and, like most grazing animals, they are especially good at detecting movement.

Before we move on, I'd like to point out one more thing: If you look closely, you can see a joey --- that's a baby kangaroo --- peering out of its mother's pouch⁶. Before long that joey will be out of the pouch for good. The mother will push it out by the time it's eight months old.

1 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

3 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

4 conserves   

n.（含有大块或整块水果的）果酱，蜜饯( conserve的名词复数 )v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• To show that the equation conserves the total volume is not difficult. 要证明该方程保持了总体积不变这点是不困难的。 来自辞典例句
• The antimuon decay also conserves the total light and heavy lepton numbers. 在反μ子衰变中，总轻轻子数和总重轻子数也是守恒的。 来自辞典例句

5 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

6 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。