英語聽力：長毛象王國-15

For these baby animals, it was a race to grow up over the brief summer to be tough enough to face the winter.

One young animal that died in its first winter was discovered in the permafrost of an Alaskan gold mine. Recreated here are the best-mummified remains of this animal ever found in North America. It’s a baby woolly mammoth. And from its size we know it was less than a year old. But did it starve to death or was it taken by a predator?

Perhaps young elephants provide some clues. They stick close to their mother’s side for more than a year. And they also have backup, a family group of very protective adults. Even lions will think twice about approaching adult elephants. And with the baby so well guarded, they rarely get a chance to strike.

Starvation during its first bitter winter is more likely to have killed our baby mammoth. Perhaps its mother could not provide enough warm milk.

Only part of the body remains. The hind quarters were eaten. There were plenty of scavengers around 14,000 years ago. There were foxes, wolves and grizzly bears.

1 remains

n.剩余物，殘留物;遺體，遺跡

參考例句：

He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。

The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.殘羹剩飯喂狗了。

2 mammoth

n.長毛象;adj.長毛象似的，巨大的

參考例句：

You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.資金到位的情況下方可進行重大變革。

Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那條新鐵路將是一項巨大工程。

3 predator

n.捕食其它動物的動物;捕食者

參考例句：

The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分簡要總結(jié)了食肉動物。

Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龍是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一種令人恐懼的捕食性動物。

4 hind

adj.后面的，后部的

參考例句：

The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.這種動物能夠用后肢站立。

Don't hind her in her studies.不要在學(xué)業(yè)上扯她后腿。

5 grizzly

adj.略為灰色的，呈灰色的;n.灰色大熊

參考例句：

This grizzly liked people.這只灰熊卻喜歡人。

Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般說來，灰熊不是社交型動物。