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.

　　图片:https://assets-cdn.shimo.im/docs/assets/shape_table_error.png

　　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