Unit 23

UNIT 23 WORD LIST accurate If something is accurate it is completely correct. The story in the newspaper wasn't very accurate. analyze To analyze something is to study it. The scientist will analyze the blood sample, asteroid An asteroid is a giant rock from outer space. In 1908, a giant asteroid hit Siberia. controversy A controversy is a dispute about something that affects many people. There has been a lot of controversy over the judge's decision. evolve To evolve is to change over time. Many people think that humans evolved from animals. factor A factor is something that has an effect on the way another thing happens. Smoking is the main factor that causes lung cancer. genetic If something is genetic, it is related to the genes in one's body. The color of one's eyes is genetic. genome A genome is the collection of all the genes in a living thing. Understanding the human genome may help cure many diseases. identical To be identical is to be the same as someone or something else. James and John are identical twins. intellectual An intellectual is a very smart person. We've always considered my Uncle Max to be the intellectual of the family.

如果某件事是准确的，那就是完全正确的。 报纸上的报道不太准确。 分析某事就是研究它。 科学家将分析血液样本小行星小行星是来自外太空的巨大岩石。 1908年，一颗巨大的小行星撞击了西伯利亚。 controversy是指对影响很多人的事情的争论。 对法官的判决有很多争议。 进化就是随着时间的推移而改变。 许多人认为人类是从动物进化而来的。 一个因素是对另一件事发生的方式有影响的东西。 吸烟是导致肺癌的主要因素。 如果某物是遗传的，它与人体内的基因有关。 眼睛的颜色是遗传的。 基因组是生物体内所有基因的集合。 了解人类基因组可能有助于治愈许多疾病。 相同的与某人或某物相同。 詹姆斯和约翰是同卵双胞胎。 intellectual adj .聪明的知识分子是一个非常聪明的人。 我们一直认为马克斯叔叔是家里最有知识的人。

majority A majority of something is more than half of the people or things in that group. A majority of the people voted for Tom Smith in the election. mammal A mammal is an animal that usually has hair and is not born from an egg. Even though they live in water whales are actually mammals. multiply To multiply is to increase in number. In the past year, the number of people at work has multiplied by ten percent. offspring Offspring are the children of a person or the babies of an animal. The dog's offspring had the same color of fur as she did. pesticide A pesticide is a substance used to kill insects. The farmer sprayed his crops with a pesticide to keep bugs away. regulate To regulate something is to control how it happens. The bank regulates how much money people can borrow. reinforce To reinforce something is to make it stronger. Peter reinforced his opinion with information from a book. stricken If someone or something is stricken by a disease or problem, they are badly affected by it. The pilot landed the stricken airplane with difficulty. vast If something is vast, it is very large. The wealthy man bought a vast amount of land in the countryside. vegetarian A vegetarian is someone who does not eat any meat products. I became a vegetarian because I don't like the taste of meat.

majority of something指某一群体中超过一半的人或事物。 大多数人在选举中投票给汤姆·史密斯。 哺乳动物是一种通常有毛的动物，不是从蛋里生出来的。 尽管鲸鱼生活在水中，但它们实际上是哺乳动物。 倍增就是在数量上增加。 在过去的一年里，工作的人数增加了百分之十。 offspring后代后代是人的孩子或动物的婴儿。 这只狗的后代皮毛的颜色和她一样。 农药是一种用来杀虫的物质。 农夫在庄稼上喷洒杀虫剂以驱虫。 规范某事就是控制它如何发生。 银行规定人们可以借多少钱。 reinforce加固某事就是使它变得更强。 彼得从一本书中得到的信息加强了他的观点。 如果某人或某物受到疾病或问题的打击，他们受到了严重的影响。 飞行员好不容易使失事的飞机降落。 如果某物是vast，它是非常大的。 这个富人在乡下买了大量的土地。 素食者是不吃任何肉制品的人。 我成为素食主义者是因为我不喜欢肉的味道。

How the Dinosaurs Really Died Many scientists and intellectuals think that dinosaurs died when an asteroid smashed into the Earth millions of years ago. However, recently, there has been some controversy over this theory. Some scientists think that it isn't accurate. They think that a tiny insect may have been the biggest factor in the death of these huge creatures. That insect was the mosquito. These scientists do think that an asteroid hit the Earth in the time of the dinosaurs. But that wasn't what killed all of them. At that time, insects, including the mosquito, were beginning to evolve. Today, we can regulate the number of mosquitoes with pesticides. But that was impossible millions of years ago. The mosquitoes multiplied quickly. And they were certainly not idle. Since there were so many mosquitoes, it was easy for them to bite many of the dinosaurs. When they bit another living thing, the mosquitoes passed along a deadly disease. So the dinosaurs were stricken with the disease. The vast majority of them—from the vegetarians to the meat eaters died. To reinforce this idea, scientists stress how gradually the dinosaurs died. If an asteroid had killed them, they would have died very quickly. But the number of dinosaurs decreased slowly. In addition, scientists have found genetic material of mosquitoes in fossils. This material proves that mosquitoes existed back then. Although there may have been other factors, the dinosaurs died mainly because of disease, the scientists say. No matter how it happened, the dinosaurs' death had a major impact on other living things. Many dinosaurs ate mammals. After the dinosaurs died, mammals were able to evolve and produce offspring. Birds also evolved. Scientists have analyzed the genomes of birds and have discovered that birds have identical genetic material to some dinosaurs. So, there may still be dinosaurs among us after all.

恐龙是如何灭绝的许多科学家和知识分子认为恐龙是在数百万年前一颗小行星撞击地球时灭绝的。 然而，最近，这一理论出现了一些争议。 一些科学家认为这并不准确。 他们认为一种微小的昆虫可能是这些巨大生物死亡的最大因素。 那昆虫就是蚊子。 这些科学家确实认为在恐龙时代有一颗小行星撞击过地球。 但这并不是杀死他们所有人的原因。 那时，包括蚊子在内的昆虫开始进化。 今天，我们可以用杀虫剂来控制蚊子的数量。 但这在数百万年前是不可能的。 蚊子迅速繁殖。 他们当然也没有闲着。 因为有这么多蚊子，它们很容易咬到许多恐龙。 当它们叮咬另一种生物时，蚊子就会传播一种致命的疾病。 所以恐龙受到了这种疾病的侵袭。 他们中的绝大多数——从素食者到肉食者——都死了。 为了强化这一观点，科学家们强调了恐龙是如何逐渐灭绝的。 如果一颗小行星杀死了它们，它们会很快死去。 但是恐龙的数量减少得很慢。 此外，科学家们还在化石中发现了蚊子的遗传物质。 这些材料证明了蚊子在当时是存在的。 科学家们说，尽管可能有其他因素，但恐龙的死亡主要是由于疾病。 不管它是怎么发生的，恐龙的死亡对其他生物产生了重大影响。 许多恐龙吃哺乳动物。 恐龙死后，哺乳动物得以进化并繁衍后代。 鸟类也进化了。科学家们分析了鸟类的基因组，发现鸟类的遗传物质与一些恐龙相同。 所以，我们中间可能还是有恐龙的。