10 New York Museum Show Just Crawling with Spiders 纽约博物馆展览遍地蜘蛛

仔细听

What has eight legs，comes in forty-three thousand species and has a serious public image problem？If you said a spider，you are right！

什么东西有8条腿，4.3万个种类，并且有着严重的公众形象问题？如果你说是蜘蛛，那么你猜对了！

听力破解：开篇第一段要认真听，因为是整篇新闻的一个总结概括性的段落。播音员在第二句话时重读了单词spider，因此可知这段新闻主要谈论spider的相关话题。仔细听

The spider family has lived on Earth for about three hundred million years.But it has had trouble making friends with people.A new show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City hopes to improve those relations.Christopher Cruise has more.

蜘蛛家族在地球上居住了大约3亿年，但它们难以成为人类的朋友。位于纽约城的美国自然历史博物馆近期举办了一场展览，希望能改善蜘蛛与人类的关系。克里斯多夫·克鲁斯带来更多报道。

听力破解：注意英语中的吞音问题，如had trouble在一起出现的时候，[d]被吞掉。同时，要注意英语中的分词形式的-ing读音异化问题，由[iη]变为[in]，如making读为[meikin]等。

仔细听

“Spiders Alive！” includes live examples of twenty different spider species.Visitors can get up close and personal with arachnids including the famed tarantula，the small but powerful black widow and the little known fishing spider.And there are many more spiders to learn about at the exhibition.

“活蜘蛛！”展览包括20个不同种类的活蜘蛛。参观者可以近距离地与这些蛛形纲动物亲密接触，其中包括著名的狼蛛、小而强悍的黑寡妇和鲜为人知的捕鱼蛛。展览中还有许多其他蜘蛛在等待人们去了解。

听力破解：要注意英语中的连读问题，如there are连读为[ðeə′rα：]。

仔细听

The American Museum of Natural History claims the largest collection of the animals in the world.

Most people think of spiders as insects.But insects have wings and antennae.Spiders do not.And spiders' bodies are made up of two parts while insects have three.Finally，spiders，like all arachnids，have eight legs.Insects have six.

Scientist Norman Platnick has been gathering and studying spiders for more than forty years.He was responsible for organizing the exhibit.

美国自然历史博物馆里的动物是世界上最多的。

多数人认为蜘蛛是昆虫。但是昆虫有翅膀和触角，蜘蛛却没有。蜘蛛的身体由两部分组成，而昆虫的身体由三部分组成。最后，蜘蛛和其他蛛形纲动物一样有8条腿，而昆虫则有6条腿。

科学家诺曼·普莱特尼克收集和研究蜘蛛已有40余年了。他是展品组织工作的负责人。

词汇宝典：exhibit在这里并非动词，而是名词“展品”的意思；exhibition的意思是“展览会，展览品”，与其同义的词语有display、expo、show等。

exhibition常见短语有：exhibition center“展览中心”，on exhibition“展览中”，car exhibition“车展”。

仔细听

Mister Platnick says people need spiders because the creatures help keep the insect population down.He says they can eat more than thirty-five kilograms of bugs each year on less than half a hectare of land.

“If the spiders were not here，we might not be here either because insects would have devoured all those crops.”

普莱特尼克先生说，人们需要蜘蛛，因为它们能帮助控制昆虫的数量。他说它们每年能在小于半公顷的地区内吃掉超过35千克的虫子。

“如果没有蜘蛛，也许人类也就不存在了，因为昆虫会吞噬所有的农作物。”

词汇宝典：devour的意思是“吞食，毁灭”，与其同义的词语有devastate，wrack等。devour还有一个意思，指“贪看，贪听”，如：She devoured books when she was a little girl.当她还是小孩子的时候，她就如饥似渴地读书。

学着说一说

1.have trouble doing做某事有困难

▶have trouble doing 表示“做某事有困难”，这个短语还可以变形为

have trouble in doing sth.。如：

He has trouble in learning math.他学数学有困难。

▶口语中表达“做某事有困难”的短语还有：have difficulty in doing，

如：

Do you have any difficulty in finishing the work？

你完成这个工作有困难吗？

2.be made up of由……组成

▶be made of 表示“由……组成”，指的是原材料可见，如：

The kite is made of paper.风筝是用纸做的。

▶be made from 也是这个意思，但原材料不可见，如：

The paper is made from wood.纸是木头做的。

3.be responsible for对……负责

▶be responsible for 的意思是“对……负责”，如：

A：What have you learned from this story？

你从这个故事当中学到了什么？

B：We should be responsible for ourselves.

我学到了我们应该对自己负责任。