老托福听力93篇(29-30)-Today's lecture 29 Today's lecture will center on prehistoric people of the Nevada desert. Now, most of these prehistoric desert people moved across the countryside throughout the year. You might think that they were wandering aimlessly—far from it! They actually followed a series of carefully planned moves. Where they moved depended on where food was available—places where plants were ripening or fish were spawning. Now often when these people moved, they carried all their possessions on their backs, but if the journey was long, extra food and tools were sometimes stored in caves or beneath rocks. One of these caves is now an exciting archaeological site. Beyond its small opening is a huge underground grotto. Even though the cave's very large, it was certainly too dark and dusty for the travelers to live in, but it was a great place to hide things, and tremendous amounts of food supplies and artifacts have been found there. The food includes dried fish, seeds, and nuts. The artifacts include stone spear points and knives; the spear points are actually rather small. Here's a picture of some that were found. You can see their size in relation to the hands holding them. 【生词摘录】 1. prehistoric: adj. connected with the time in history before anything was written down 史前的，有历史记载以前的 2. Nevada: a state in the western United States 内华达州(美国西部内陆州) 3. ripen: v. to become ripe or to make something ripe(使)成熟 4. spawn: v. if a fish or frog spawns it produces eggs in large quantities together(鱼、蛙等)大量产(卵) 5. possession: n. [C usually plural]something that someone owns and keeps or uses themselves 所有物;财产 6. archaeological site: 考古遗址 7. grotto: n. [C]a small natural cave, or one that someone has made in their garden 天然小洞穴;(花园中的)人造洞室 8. dusty: adj. covered with dust 布满灰尘的 9. artifact: n. [C]an object such as a tool, weapon etc that was made in the past and is historically important 人工制品(有史学价值的武器、工具等);手工艺品 10. nut: n. [C]a dry brown fruit inside a hard shell, that grows on a tree 坚果;坚果仁 11. spear: a pole with a sharp pointed blade at one end, used as a weapon in the past 矛，梭镖，标枪 12. in relation to: used to talk about something that is connected with or compared with the thing you are talking about 关于;与…相比 30 To us, the environment in which fish dwell often seems cold, dark, and mysterious. But there are advantages to living in water, and they have played an important role in making fish what they are. One is that water isn't subject to sudden temperature changes. Therefore it makes an excellent habitat for a cold-blooded animal. Another advantage is the water's ability to easily support body weight. Protoplasm has approximately the same density as water, so a fish in water is almost weightless. This "weightlessness" in turn means two things: One, a fish can get along with a light weight and simple bone structure, and two, limitations to a fish's size are practically removed. Yet there is one basic difficulty to living in water—the fact that it's incompressible. For a fish to move through water, it must actually shove it aside. Most can do this by wiggling back and forth in snakelike motion. The fish pushes water aside by the forward motion of its head, and with the curve of its body and its flexible tail. Next, the water flows back along the fish's narrowing sides, closing in at the tail, and helping the fish propel itself forward. The fact that water is incompressible has literally shaped the development of fish. A flat and angular shape can be moved through water only with difficulty. And for this reason, fish have a basic shape that is beautifully adapted to deal with this peculiarity. 【生词摘录】 1. subject: adj. likely to be affected by something, especially something unpleasant 易受…(不快事物)影响的;易患…的[+to] 2. cold-blooded: adj. a cold-blooded animal, such as a snake, has a body temperature that changes with the temperature of the air or ground around it (动物)冷血的(如蛇) 3. protoplasm: n.[U]technical the colorless substance that forms the cells of plants and animals 【术语】原生质，原浆 4. approximately: adv. (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct 近似地，大约 5. weightless: adj. having no weight, especially when you are floating in space or water(尤指在空中或水中)失重的;没有重量的 6. limitation: n. [C usually plural]a limit on how good someone or something can be, what they are able to do etc(某人或物)局限，不足之处 7. incompressible: adj. impossible to compress; resisting compression 不能压缩的 8. shove: v. to push someone or something, in a rough or careless way, using your hands or shoulders(用手或肩)推，推挤，推撞 9. wiggle: v. to move with small movements from side to side or up and down, or make something move like this(动作较小地)摆动;扭动 10. propel: v. to move, drive, or push something forward 推动;推进;驱动 11. literally: adv. used to emphasize that something is actually true 的确，确实 12. angular: adj. having sharp and definite corners 有尖角的 13. peculiarity: n. [C]something that is a feature of only one particular place, person, or situation(仅为某人、某地方或某情况所独有的)特点;独特性 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/e64e241a58fafab069dc02c1.html