时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(七)月


英语课

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This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.


There are plenty of tales of animals finding some alcohol and getting tipsy. But those stories usually involve manmade beer or wine. There’s been no evidence of animals seeking out naturally fermented 1 fruit in the wild—until now. Researchers stumbled upon the first example of animals looking for a drink in the Malaysian rainforest. The scientists noticed a yeasty smell wafting 2 from a local palm. They saw a frothy substance, like the head on a mug of beer. It turns out the palm’s nectar has as much alcohol as some beer does. Then scientists followed two tiny mammals – the pentailed treeshrew slow loris. The critters dip into the nectar several times nightly. They regularly guzzle 3 the equivalent of about nine drinks a night—though they don’t display what we’d consider drunken behavior. And they act as the plant’s pollinator. The research appeared in the Proceedings 4 of the National Academy of Sciences. The pentailed treeshrew is a living version of an ancient mammal, a kind of relic 5 of the mammals from which both shrews and primates 6 –  and eventually humans – branched off. So this discovery could lend some weight to the hypothesis that our love of the hard stuff has a deep evolutionary 7 history. I’ll toast to that.


Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.

 



1 fermented
v.(使)发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 );(使)激动;骚动;骚扰
  • When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句
2 wafting
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的现在分词 )
  • But that gentle fragrance was clearly wafting from the window. 但那股淡淡的香气,却分明是从母亲的窗户溢出的。 来自互联网
  • The picture-like XueGuo, wafting dense flavor of Japan, gives us a kind of artistic enjoyment. 画一般的雪国,飘溢着浓郁的日本风情,给人以美的享受。 来自互联网
3 guzzle
v.狂饮,暴食
  • Melissa had guzzled gin and tonics like they were lemonade.梅利莎像喝柠檬汽水一样大口地喝着加奎宁水的杜松子酒。
  • Pigs guzzle their food.猪总是狼吞虎咽地吃东西。
4 proceedings
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报
  • He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
  • to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
5 relic
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物
  • This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
  • He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。
6 primates
primate的复数
  • Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
  • Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。
7 evolutionary
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
标签: SSS mammal
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aerodynamic characteristics of vehicle
air-spaced capacitor
alternate broaching
Arneiroz
Baengma
ball-firings
barrel bridge support
barrier layer rectifier
batch out
big lost r.
body drop
boiler feed system instability
butterhead lettuces
calculated fuel consumption
camouflage code
cerebral hemisphere
chequered skippers
combustion block
corner tree
coteful
Dunbaria circinalis
ephemeral fever (three-day sickness)
epithermal capture
ERTA
eschynites
fine tree species
flutriafol
gravity carrier
gross sth up
height adjusting ring
humankinds
If you have no hand you can't make a fist
imported with original packaging
induction-ring type high-speed relay
isomyaria
kinergety
kokopu
lamina propria mucosae
lifehacker
lower grade
marburg diseases
marcatte
microbore
millbays
motivationless
mphs
net inflow
new step
nitrometal
orchi-epididymitis
order cycle period
orthosilicic acid
Ounastunturi
over-lay transistor
paraxial beam
parity check matrix
path-clearance
Pedicularis legendrei
Plagiorhegma
plug sth in
Pollins
post-operator
Probstzella
proprietary term
puppet animation
quadrantal component of error
radiation self-decomposition
remotely-operated
replacement value insurance
running royalities
scrunt
senile arcus
septal elevator
Short Circuit Protection
single connection attach
smoke-consumer
soft sex
south kensington
space-charge distoring
special production order
sprogget
stop key
tapered bore bearing
taxmen
tetanifacientia
the tomb of the unknown soldier
theragenics
throat cheek
tinctorial value
topographic profile
trading efficiency
treesystem
trichoepithelioma papulosum multiplex
umpire in a dispute
unilateral legislation
us d
vernant
voltage center
Weierstrass's elliptic function
willowiest
wine-jars
worldwide traffic