英语听力：探索发现 2012-10-14 长毛象王国 Mammoth—16

 But back then, they had serious competition from the giant short-faced bear. The short-faced bear’s bone chemistry reveals it was a carnivore and up to a ton, probably the largest meat-eating mammal that ever walked the earth. 

 

On its long legs, it ranged great distances across the open steppes in search of food. We also know from fossils that it had broad nostrils¹ and an acute sense of smell. But with its powful bone crunching² jaws³, it’s now believed the giant short-faced bear was primarily a specialist scavenger⁴ rather than a predator⁵, feeding on the victoms of this unforgiving world. 

 

The short-faced bear was just one of the many extraordinary beasts that roamed the ice age steppes. Clues in the landscape and the wildlife of today have given us an insight into what a long-lost land was like. Now imagine that we can really travel back 14,000 years, and stand with those first hunters on the mesa, look out on that ice age world and experice a day in the life of Beringia. This is what it might have been like.

 

Beneath us, the steppes stretch away to the mountains. It’s early winter, and a time to feed up, ready for long, cold months ahead.  Bison, Saiga antolope and other grazers form the floods below the mesa.

1 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

2 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

4 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

5 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。