英语听力：自然百科 大堡礁：自然奇迹—5

 Imagine all this activity, this constant even flow of life continuing for over 2,000 kilometers. It's hard to believe that such a hugh solid structure hasn't always been here. But compared with the rest of Australia, this reef¹ is very young.

-20,000 years ago, this exact spot where I'm standing², it indeed the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef would have been high and dry. Back then in the middle of the last Ice Age, sea level was 120 meters lower than it is today, and the coastline was about 30 kilometers in that direction. But surprise I can go back those 20,000 years in an instant.

What would it look like?

-Well, for start, it wasn't even under water. This area would have been covered in hundreds and hundreds of miles. Have you collected some paperbark in forest, and it wouldn't have been a fish in science.

It was a land bounding³ with the animals of Australian plains.

1 reef   

n.礁，礁石，暗礁

参考例句：

• The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 bounding   

v.跳( bound的现在分词 )；弹回；向上弹；向上跳

参考例句：

• The little horse is bounding. 小马在跳跃。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Big rocks were bounding down. 巨石从上面滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》