大千世界:新西蘭無(wú)翼大鳥

Most people searching for buried treasure would be looking for silver and gold, ancient coins or rare artwork.

But scientists studying the extinct giant moa (已滅絕的一種新西蘭無(wú)翼大鳥) bird and its environment are looking for a different kind of artifact. Poop(排泄物，糞便).

That's right. A treasure trove of information can be found in fossilized feces, commonly called coprolites. The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

Now, that's a big piece of treasure. There were once ten species of moa birds in New Zealand, but they were hunted to extinction when Polynesians moved to the island in the 1500s. They were flightless birds, similar to ostriches and emus. Scientists assumed they were herbivores, eating a diet of plants and seeds. But it wasn't until they began studying moa coprolites that they discovered what the birds actually ate and how they affected their environment.

Scientists expected a bird as large as the moa would eat shrub and tree parts. Moa droppings told a different story. Moas grazed mostly on tiny herbs no more than a foot high. Not only that, many of those herbs are rare or threatened today. Scientists think this is because while the moa ate the plants, it also swallowed seeds whole. Those seeds passed through the digestive tract and were scattered across the countryside to find new places to grow.

Moa poop has revealed important clues about the moa and its environment. Now, scientists hope to use what they've learned from the moa to make predictions about our own changing world.

The Giant Moa of New Zealand is a great species to study because they stood about nine feet high, weighed close to five-hundred pounds and some of their feces were over six inches in length.

今天我們來(lái)具體看看怎么形容一個(gè)物體的身高，長(zhǎng)度，尺寸。

這里用到了stand,用法是stand+高度+high.

The tower stands 30 meters high.

塔高30米。

要說(shuō)大概是多少高，在高度前加about 就可以了。

Length是指”距離，尺寸”的長(zhǎng)度。一般用法是”be+長(zhǎng)度，尺寸+in length”.

The fish is two feet in length.

這條魚有兩英尺長(zhǎng)。

Treasure trove: a collection of valuable, interesting, or useful things 寶藏，寶庫(kù)

graze

不及物動(dòng)詞 vi.

1. (牛,羊等)吃草;放牧

Cattle were grazing on the meadow.

牛在牧場(chǎng)上吃草。

及物動(dòng)詞 vt.

1. 吃(田野)里的草;在田野里吃(草等)

2. 用牧草喂;放牧

We graze cattle on our fields.

我們?cè)谧约禾锢锬僚！?/p>

Scatter

及物動(dòng)詞 vt.

1. 使消散;使分散;使?jié)⑸?/p>

The sun soon scattered the clouds.

太陽(yáng)不久驅(qū)散了云層。

2. 撒;撒于...上;散布[(+on/over/with)]

He scattered his clothes all over the floor.

他把衣服扔了一地。(或:扔得滿地都是。)

不及物動(dòng)詞 vi.

1. 消散;分散;潰散

The crowd scattered when the police charged.

當(dāng)警察沖過(guò)來(lái)時(shí),人群便散開了。

Clue: (解決疑案、問(wèn)題等的)線索,跡象,提示[(+to)]

"Do you know the time of the next train?" "I don't have a clue."

"您知道下一班火車的時(shí)間嗎?" "我一無(wú)所知。"

The police have no clue to his identity.

警察沒(méi)有可以確定他的身份的任何線索。