【英语听和读】理查德·费尔斯通

 Dima: Hello, I'm Dima, and today our guest is Richard Firestone, an American

scientist in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who has recently been

involved in a fascinating research into an unusual 'meteor', that's a piece of

rock or other matter from space.

Firestone - taster 0'12"

We think that this impact was the air burst, or an explosion in the air, of a meteor, so anything

underneath¹ this impact was likely to be injured or killed …

Dima: Richard Firestone explaining the theory behind a unique discovery: ancient

animal bodies pierced with small pieces of matter which scientists believe

came from outer space some 35,000 years ago. As you can imagine, with a

topic like this we're certain to hear a number of words and expressions that can

be used when talking about science, and in particular, about natural history.

Words like 'impact', meaning the force of one object hitting another; 'burst' and

'explosion', both meaning a blast, or sudden expanding after a release of energy;

'meteor' - a piece of rock or other matter from space that produces a bright light

as it travels through the Earth's atmosphere; and 'shrapnel' - small pieces of

matter that cover an area in a blast, usually causing damage or death. Let's now

listen to Richard Firestone as he describes what his team thinks happened to

the meteor, but before we listen, here's a quick reminder² of the words to look

out for: 'impact', 'burst', 'explosion', 'meteor' and 'shrapnel'.

Firestone 0'18"

We think that this impact was the air burst, or an explosion in the air, of a meteor. Probably an

iron meteor, right, that came in over Siberia and Alaska and exploded maybe several miles up

in the air sending shrapnel, essentially³, in all directions.

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Dima: So to sum up, when the meteor entered the atmosphere, there was an impact

that caused a burst, or an explosion in the air, and as a result of the explosion

many small pieces, or shrapnel, covered a large area. Listen again and as you're

listening, try to find answers to these questions: first, which two regions of the

Earth did the meteor fly over? And second, how high above the ground did the

explosion happen?

Firestone 0'18"

We think that this impact was the air burst, or an explosion in the air, of a meteor. Probably an

iron meteor, right, that came in over Siberia and Alaska and exploded maybe several miles up

in the air sending shrapnel, essentially, in all directions.

Dima: So which two regions of the planet did the meteor travel over? Richard

Firestone mentions Siberia and Alaska. And how high above the Earth's

surface did the blast happen? The answer is - 'several miles up in the air'.

Sting

Dima: Today we're talking about a unique discovery - ancient animal bodies severely⁴

damaged by particles, that is small pieces of matter, from a burst meteor. But

why are scientists so excited by this find? Surely our planet has been hit by

meteors and comets uncounted number of times! Well, as Richard Firestone

will explain, it's true that meteors are known to have killed off whole species of

animals, but not directly: usually this happened because of resulting climate

changes. In this case, the shrapnel affected⁵ animals in a direct way, damaging

their body parts or even killing⁶ them. Although Richard Firestone doesn't

mention them, he means 'mammoths' - large hairy elephant type animals which

no longer exist. And how do we know this? Well, because, as you're about to

hear, he does mention particular body parts which mammoths had. See if you

can spot the word for these body parts. Here's a clue: this word appears right at

the end of the clip and means pointed⁸ teeth which stick out from some animals'

mouths: 

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Firestone 0'12"

And these animals were lying under it, so anything underneath this impact was likely to be

injured or killed by these things. Because there was one every few centimetres, hitting these

tusks¹⁰.

Dima: Did you manage to spot the word for large pointed teeth? It was 'tusks'. And if

you're still not sure what tusks are, take a look at the picture on the web page

where you can see an artist's impression of a mammoth⁷ - just visit

bbclearningenglish.com and follow the link to People and places. In a moment

we'll hear from Richard Firestone again, but just before that, here again is

today's vocabulary:

'meteor'

'impact'

'a burst'

'an explosion'

'shrapnel'

'a mammoth' and

'a tusk⁹'.

 

Firestone 0'30"

We think that this impact was the airburst, or an explosion in the air, of a meteor. Probably an

iron meteor, right, that came in over Siberia and Alaska and exploded maybe several miles up

in the air sending shrapnel, essentially, in all directions. And these animals were lying under it,

so anything underneath this impact was likely to be injured or killed by these things. Because

there was one every few centimetres, hitting these tusks. 

1 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

2 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

10 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）