字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：Climbing Bears Help Plants Keep Cool  爬山熊和櫻桃樹的故事
 洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
 康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!
 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。
 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2016/20160517sa_earth.mp3
 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：
 中英文稿：
Picture a brave fireman carrying a pet from a burning building. Now, imagine that global warming is the burning building, a cherry tree is the pet, and a bear is the fireman. You’ve now got the gist of a new study that finds that cherry trees may be able to survive rising temperatures thanks to mountain-climbing bears that carry the cherry tree seeds to cooler climes.
想像一下這樣的情景，消防隊員抱著寵物從熊熊大火的建築物中出來。現在，設想全球變暖就是燃燒的大樓，櫻桃樹就是寵物，而熊就是這個消防隊員。現在你已經瞭解一項新研究的主要內容，那就是多虧了爬山熊將櫻桃樹的種子帶到了涼爽的地區，櫻桃樹可以在高溫條件下存活。

It’s projected that, over the next hundred years, temperatures on Earth could rise an average of nearly five degrees Celsius. While some animals might be able to migrate north to escape the brunt of the heat, plants can’t uproot themselves quite so easily. But researchers wondered whether the creatures that disperse plant seeds might be able to help.
預計，在未來一百年，地球上的平均溫度將上升5攝氏度。為了避免高溫，很多動物可能會前往北部地方，但是植物卻不能夠輕易的搬家。但研究人員認為傳播植物種子的生物可能會起到幫助作用。

So scientists spent three years sifting through the droppings of Asiatic bears, looking for cherry tree seeds. And they found that the bears were indeed transporting the seeds to cooler locations—not by moving to higher latitudes, but higher altitudes.
所以，科學家們耗時三年篩選亞洲熊的糞便，尋找櫻桃樹的種子。他們發現亞洲熊實際上將種子運到了更涼爽的地方——它們並沒有將種子運到高緯度地區，而是運到了高海拔地區。

Seems the bears snack on the fruits that are found at the foot of the mountains in spring and then make the climb to higher elevations to enjoy young leaves and buds and flowers, particularly as the season progresses.
在春季的時候，亞洲熊以山腳下的植物水果為食，隨著季節的推進，它們就會爬上高處享受幼嫩的葉子還有花蕾和花朵。

The researchers could tell that seeds had been deposited higher up the mountain than they had been harvested by the ratio of their oxygen isotopes, which changes with altitude. And the 300 or so meters the seeds ascended should buy the resulting trees a degree or two in heat relief. The study is in the journal Current Biology.
研究人員通過研究氧同位素的比例發現隨著海拔的變化，種子存儲的海拔升高。種子的海拔增加300米左右，其溫度降低1-2度。該研究結果發表在《當代生物學》雜誌上。

The finding is good news for plants, like cherry trees, that fruit in spring. Unfortunately, the results suggest that plants that fruit in fall, when bears are headed back down for hibernation, will have to hold out for a different animal hero. Or for a bear with a bad sense of direction.
此項研究結果對於櫻桃樹等春天結果的植物是件喜事。但同時不幸的是，該研究結果還表明對於秋天結果的植物，由於熊們已經去冬眠了，這些植物則需要尋求其他動物英雄的幫助了。或者是依賴方向感不太好的熊的援助也可以哦!