中学生科普英语趣味阅读低年级阅读材料..docVIP

II. Life Science 生命科学 Animal Kingdom 早在人类出现之前，史前动物已经在地球上繁衍发展。地球上的动物以从低等到高等、从简单到复杂的趋势不断进化并繁衍至今。科学家根据动物的各种特征将动物分为两大类和七个等级。至今科学家已经鉴别出46900多种脊椎动物，130多万种无脊椎动物。下面让我们一起去探索奇妙的动物世界吧! Rearing of lion cubs 狮子是唯一雌雄两态和群居的猫科动物，生活于开阔的草原疏林地区或半荒漠地带。 · Warm-up Have you ever seen the movie The Lion King? Do you know how lions live in the wild in reality? · Big question to think about while you read How does the rearing of lion cubs go according to the text? Content Vocabulary 1. rearing n. the process of helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community 抚养 2. litter n. a group of animals born to the same mother at the same time 一窝( 动物的幼崽) 3. cheetah n. a wild animal that looks like a large cat with black spots on its body 猎豹 4. leopard n. a large feline living in African and Asian forests, usually having a tawny coat with black spots 豹 5. hyena n. a wild animal like a dog and eats the meat of animals that are already dead 鬣狗 6. mortality n. the number of deaths in a particular place 死亡 The pride is highly structured when it comes to rearing the cubs. Males are extremely protective of their mates while they are breeding. At the end of the approximately 105-day gestation period, the lioness leaves the pride to go to a sheltered, isolated area to give birth to its litter of two to five cubs. Cubs are born blind. They weigh 1.5 to 2 kilograms, and they have a soft, woolly grayish-yellow-brown coat. The lioness rarely leaves her cubs. When she does, either to hunt or drink, she risks losing them to predators, such as cheetahs, leopards, jackals, or hyenas. At first, the cubs will stay close to their mother as they explore their surroundings. Male cub mortality is high because males are more active and more likely to leave their protected shelter. Cubs accompany their mother on hunting expeditions when they are three to four months old. Cubs will not be able to kill their own prey until they are about two years old. Through early play experiences, the cubs le