文字稿

一副近乎完整的渡渡鳥(niǎo)骨架在英國(guó)一家拍賣(mài)行舉行的拍賣(mài)會(huì)上出售給了一名私人收藏家。渡渡鳥(niǎo)是一種不能飛的鳥(niǎo)，已經(jīng)絕種近三百年。據(jù)說(shuō)世界上僅有 12副類(lèi)似的完整骨架，而且全部都由博物館收藏。這副被拍賣(mài)的骨架是一名渡渡鳥(niǎo)迷用四十年的時(shí)間通過(guò)各種搜集渠道獲取的渡渡鳥(niǎo)碎骨拼湊而成的，完整度近 95%。請(qǐng)聽(tīng) BBC 的報(bào)道。

It’s a comical icon of natural history, the dumpy, flightless and ultimately doomed native bird of Mauritius.

European explorers discovered the dodo in 1598, but they also hunted the birds, destroyed their habitat and drove the species to extinction within a century. A fascination with the story of this enigmatic creature inspired a British collector to start acquiring individual dodo bones in private sales and auctions in the 1970s. Forty years later, he had enough to piece together this skeleton.

It’s the first dodo to come up for sale for a century and sold over the phone for 346,300 pounds.

詞匯表

comical 滑稽的
icon 代表
dumpy 又矮又胖的
flightless（鳥(niǎo)或昆蟲(chóng)）不能飛的
doomed 注定要滅絕的
habitat 棲息地，生活環(huán)境
fascination 著迷，癡迷
enigmatic 神秘的，被謎團(tuán)包圍著的
to piece together 拼湊起來(lái)
skeleton 骨架

測(cè)驗(yàn)

請(qǐng)聽(tīng)報(bào)道并回答下列問(wèn)題。

1. Explorers from which continent discovered the dodo birds?

2. How long did it take for dodo birds to become extinct?

3. True or false? The dodo skeleton was discovered forty years ago.

4. Which word in the text means ‘mysterious’?

答案

1. How many people have played the game mentioned in the text?
European explorers discovered the dodo birds in 1598.

2. How long did it take for dodo birds to become extinct?
Within a century.

3. True or false? The dodo skeleton was discovered forty years ago.
False. The collector spent forty years collecting bones from private sales and auctions, then he built the skeleton.

4. Which word in the text means ‘mysterious’?
Enigmatic.