从澳大利亚山火看剑桥15听力考点

　　2020年开头可能对人类来有点不怎么好过，除了最近大家谈之色变的新冠病毒，还有澳大利亚大火，超2万只考拉在山火中死亡。大自然和人类的关系密不可分，我们研究保护生态系统的同时，就是在保护我们自己。在雅思听力里，part4是专门的lecture类，大多都研究历史，建筑，科技等方面，其中动植物场景又是高频中的高频。为了做好这最后一个部分，大家还是要平时多看书读报，掌握最新资讯，把握当今考点，熟悉专业词汇，才能笑傲考场。

　　那么现在，我们先来看看这个新闻，学习一下里面的场景词汇吧：

　　山火已经在澳大利亚持续肆虐了数月。因山火丧生的动物数量持续增加，有媒体报道，超过两万只考拉死亡。

　　Bushfires in Australia

　　Kangaroo Island bushfires: grave fears for unique wildlife after estimated 25,000 koalas killed

　　
The Guardian
Ecologists have grave concerns for the future of unique and endangered wildlife on Kangaroo Island where bushfires have killed thousands of koalas.

　　bushfire

　　表示“丛林大火；森林火灾”，英文解释为“an uncontrolled fire in the bush; a scrub or forest fire”。

　　grave

　　表示“严重的，重大的，严峻的”，英文解释为“seriously bad”，如：a grave situation 严峻的形势。2017年政府工作报告中就有这么一句：过去一年，我国发展面临国内外诸多矛盾叠加、风险隐患交汇的严峻挑战。In the past year, China's development has faced grave challenges posed by a great many problems and interwoven risks and dangers both at home and abroad.

　　类似的，十九大报告也用了这一表达：当前，反腐败斗争形势依然严峻复杂，Currently, the fight against corruption remains grave and complex;

　　endangered

　　endangered wildlife 濒危野生动物，endangered birds/plants/species 濒危鸟类/植物/物种（animals or plants that may soon not exist because there are very few now alive）

　　· kangaroo /ˌkæŋɡəˈruː/ 袋鼠 A kangaroo is a large Australian animal which moves by jumping on its back legs. Female kangaroos carry their babies in a pouch on their stomach.

　　· koala /kəʊˈɑːlə/ 树袋熊，考拉 A koala or a koala bear is an Australian animal which looks like a small bear with grey fur and lives in trees.

　　Fires on the island, in South Australia, have so far burned through 155,000 hectares – about one third of the island's entire area – with blazes concentrated in the biodiversity-rich western areas.

　　blaze

　　通常用于新闻报道表示“火灾，烈火，大火”，如：灭火、控制火势fight/tackle/control a blaze，化工厂的一场大火 a huge chemical factory blaze。

　　biodiversity

　　表示“生物多样性”，英文解释为“the number and types of plants and animals that exist in a particular area or in the world generally, or the problem of protecting this”，如：a new National Biological Survey to protect species habitat and biodiversity 旨在保护物种栖息地和生物多样性的一项新的全国生态普查。

　　The island's population of endangered glossy black-cockatoos – a unique subspecies – has been the subject of two decades of community conservation work to bring numbers from as low as 150 in the 1990s to as high as 400 in latest counts.

　　glossy black-cockatoos

　　glossy black-cockatoos 辉凤头鹦鹉，又称黑亮头凤头鹦鹉。The glossy black cockatoo, is the smallest member of the subfamily Calyptorhynchinae found in eastern Australia.

　　The fires on Kangaroo Island started with lightning strikes in the Flinders Chase national park. Two people have been killed in the fires on the 160km long island, and its farming and tourism industry will be hard hit.

　　be hard hit

　　be hit hard/be hard hit (by sth) 表示“严重打击，严重影响”，英文解释为“to be badly affected by something”。

　　The Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife organisation has eight sites on private land protecting several endangered species, including dunnarts, goannas, echidnas, bandicoots and the glossy black-cockatoos.

　　动物

　　· dunnart /ˈdʌnɑːt/ 袋鼩，似鼠的有袋类动物 Dunnart is a common name for species of the genus Sminthopsis, narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse.

　　· goanna /ɡəʊˈænə/ 巨蜥 any of various Australian monitor lizards

　　· echidna /ɪˈkɪdnə/ 针鼹，针食蚁兽any of the spine-covered monotreme mammals of the genera Tachyglossus of Australia and Zaglossus of New Guinea: family Tachyglossidae. They have a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites.

　　· bandicoot /ˈbændɪˌkuːt/ 袋狸 any agile terrestrial marsupial of the family Peramelidae of Australia and New Guinea. They have a long pointed muzzle and a long tail and feed mainly on small invertebrates.

　　　Ecologist at Land for Wildlife, Heidi Groffen, said all eight sites were extensively burned. Cameras used for monitoring had melted.

Sam Mitchell, co-owner of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, told Guardian Australia residents had been delivering injured animals to them, including about 50 koalas.
“At least a third of what has been brought in we've had to euthanise unfortunately,” he said. “We are seeing many burns to hands and feet – fingernails melted off. For some the burns are just too extreme.”

　　euthanize/euthanise

　　表示“（对动物实施）安乐死，英文解释为“to kill an animal because it is very old or sick or because there is no one to take care of it”举个：

　　Overcrowded shelters would not be able to euthanize unwanted animals.

　　拥挤不堪的动物救助站无法对被遗弃动物实施安乐死。

Injured kangaroos, wallabies and pygmy possums had also been brought to the park, which was in the process of setting up larger treatment areas for the injured animals.　

　　动物

　　wallaby /ˈwɒləbɪ/ 沙袋鼠 A wallaby is an animal similar to a small kangaroo. Wallabies live in Australia and New Guinea.

　　pygmy possum 侏儒负鼠，矮袋貂（尤指山袋貂）The pygmy possums are a family of small possums that together form the marsupial family Burramyidae.

　　补充短语：play possum表示“ 装死；装睡”，英文解释为“to pretend to be dead or sleeping so that someone will not annoy or attack you”，举个：

　　I don't think he's really asleep. He's playing possum.

　　我认为他并没有睡，他只是在装。

　　 　Koalas were introduced to the island in the 1920s in response to a drop in numbers on the mainland from the fur trade. The introduced koalas were free from chlamydia – a disease prevalent among mainland populations that can cause blindness, infertility and death. Koalas thrived on the island, and there is a government program to reduce their numbers.

　　chlamydia

　　chlamydia /kləˈmɪdɪə/ 表示“衣原体疾病”，英文解释为“a disease of the sexual organs that is caused by bacteria and that can be given from one person to another during sex”。

　　Mitchell said some islanders had considered the koalas a pest as their numbers had grown as high as 50,000. He said “probably more than half” of the island's koalas would have perished in the fires, but it was “a guessing game”.

　　perish

　　表示“（因恶劣条件或事故）死亡”，英文解释为“If people or animals perish, they die as a result of very harsh conditions or as the result of an accident.”举个：

　　Most of the butterflies perish in the first frosts of autumn.

　　大多数蝴蝶在秋季初霜来临时死亡。

　　 　Prof Corey Bradshaw, an ecologist at Flinders University, has been speaking to scientific colleagues on the ground and said they had grave concerns for the dunnarts and the cockatoos.

“How this is going to impact the long-term efforts is unknown,” he said, but added: “We have been predicting this for so long. It is extreme events – whether it's drought, flood, cyclones or fires – that drives things to extinction.”

　　cyclone

　　cyclone /ˈsaɪkləʊn/ 表示“旋风；气旋；龙卷风”，英文解释为“a violent tropical storm or wind in which the air moves very fast in a circular direction”。

　　这里的词汇大家都学到了吗？别急啊，我们还有彩蛋，就是前两天剑15体验版新鲜出炉，里面part 4就是一篇植物场景，大家提前来学习一下里面出现的背景词汇吧：

1. eucalyptus tree/ gum tree 桉树

2. species 物种

3. creature 生物

4. biodiversity 生物多样性

5. shelter 遮蔽

6. leaves 树叶

7. roots 树根

8. shade 树荫

9. undergrowth 下层灌木丛

10. vegetation 植被

11. grass 草地

12. bats 蝙蝠

13. bell-miner bird 钟鸟

14. insects 昆虫

15. nectar 花蜜

16. nests 鸟巢

17. germs 细菌

18. lime 石灰

19. calcium hydroxide 氢氧化钙

20. bushfire 山火

21. ecologist 生态学家

22. ecosystem 生态系统

23. composition 成分

24. soil 泥土

25. nutrients 营养物质

26. tropical rainforest 热带雨林

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