英语听力：Wild China 美丽中国 -9

 Geng's net is a strange tubular contraption with a closed-off end. More than a hundred fishermen make their living from the lake. Its mineral-rich waters are highly productive and there are nets everywhere.

 

The next morning, Geng returns with his son to collect his catch. At first sight, it looks disappointing: tiny fishes, lots of shrimps¹ and some wriggling² bugs³. Geng doesn't seem too downhearted. The larger fish are kept alive, the only way they'll stay fresh in the heat. Surprisingly, some of the bugs are also singled out for special treatment. They are the young stage of dragonflies, predators⁴ that feed on worms and tadpoles⁵. Nowhere else in the world are dragonfly nymphs harvested like this.

 

Back home, Geng spreads his catch on the roof to dry. This being  China, nothing edible⁶ would be wasted. There's a saying in the far south: we will eat anything with legs except a table, and anything with wings except a plane.

 

Within a few hours, the dried insects are ready to be bagged up and taken to market. It's the dragonfly nymphs that fetch the best price.

 

Fortunately, Caohai's dragonflies are abundant and fast breeding, so Geng and his fellow fishermen have so far had little impact on their numbers. But not all wildlife is so resilient.

 

This Buddhist⁷ temple near Shanghai has an extraordinary story attached to it. In May 2007, a Wild China camera team filmed this peculiar⁸ Swinhoe's turtle in the temple's fishpond. According to the monks⁹, the turtle had been given to the temple during the Ming Dynasty, over 400 years ago. It was thought to be the oldest animal on earth.

 

Soft shell turtles are considered a gourmet¹⁰ delicacy¹¹ by many Chinese, and when it was filmed, this was one of just three Swinhoe's turtles left alive in China, the rest of its kind having been rounded up and eaten. Sadly, just a few weeks after filming, this ancient creature died. The remaining individuals of its species are currently kept in seperate zoos. And Swinhoe's turtle is now reckoned extinct in the wild. In fact, most of the 25 types of freshwater turtles in China are now vanishingly rare.

 

The answer to extinction¹² is protection and there is now a growing network of nature reserves throughout southern China. Of these, the Tianzi Mountain Reserve at Zhangjiajie is perhaps the most visited by Chinese nature lovers, who come to marvel¹³ at the gravity-defying landscape of soaring sandstone pinnacles¹⁴.

1 shrimps   

n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人

参考例句：

• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood. 小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I'm going to have shrimps for my tea. 傍晚的便餐我要吃点虾。 来自辞典例句

2 wriggling   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕

参考例句：

• The baby was wriggling around on my lap. 婴儿在我大腿上扭来扭去。
• Something that looks like a gray snake is wriggling out. 有一种看来象是灰蛇的东西蠕动着出来了。 来自辞典例句

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 tadpoles   

n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pond teemed with tadpoles. 池子里有很多蝌蚪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Both fish and tadpoles have gills. 鱼和蝌蚪都有鳃。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

7 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

8 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

9 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

11 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

12 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。

13 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

14 pinnacles   

顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔

参考例句：

• What would be the pinnacles of your acting and music? 对你而言什麽代表你的演技和音乐的巅峰？
• On Skye's Trotternish Peninsula, basalt pinnacles loom over the Sound of Raasay. 在斯开岛的特洛登尼许半岛，玄武岩尖塔俯瞰着拉塞海峡。