全新版大学英语视听阅读4视频听力原文.docx

Unit 1 The Perfect Swarm Narrator: Damage from swarms of locusts can reach disastrous proportions. A single swarm of desert locusts can consume over 70,000 metric tons of vegetation a day. There is, however, one continent that’s locust-free: North America.旁白：蝗虫群的伤害可以达到灾难性的程度。一个单一的沙漠蝗虫可以消耗超过70000吨的植被一天。然而，有一个大陆是蝗虫自由：美国北部。Interestingly enough, this wasn’t always true. For hundreds of years, the Rocky Mountain locust was a common pest in the American West. Back in the mid-1800s, thousands of pioneers journeyed across the U.S. in search of free land and new opportunities. They settled on the frontier of the western states, and began to farm the land intensively, growing corn and other crops.有趣的是，这并不总是真实的。几百年来，落基山脉的蝗虫是美国西部的一种常见害虫。早在19世纪中叶，成千上万的先驱者跨越美国在自由的土地和寻找新的机会。他们定居在西部边境，并开始对土地进行集中耕种，种植玉米和其他农作物。Then, in 1875, out of nowhere, a rare combination of air currents, drought, and basic biology produced the right conditions for an unthinkable event, the worst storm ever recorded, the “perfect swarm.” It came over the horizon like a strange, dark cloud. Not millions, not billions, but trillions of insects, sweeping through the land like a living tornado. Those who saw the incredible event and survived never forgot what they witnessed.然后，在1875，走出无处，一个罕见的组合，空气电流，干旱，和基本生物学产生了正确的条件为一个不可想象的事件，最坏的风暴有史以来，“完美的群”，它在地平线上像一个奇怪的，黑暗的云。不是上百万，不是数十亿，而是数以万亿计的昆虫，像一个活生生的龙卷风席卷过大地。那些看到了令人难以置信的事件，并幸存下来的人从来没有忘记他们见证了什么。The swarm came together over the state of Texas, and soon moved quickly across the frontier in a huge destructive cloud that was nearly 3,000 kilometers long. The storm spread north towards North Dakota. The locusts eventually went as far west as the Rocky Mountains, leaving a path of devastation and destruction wherever they went.群聚在德克萨斯州的上空，并很快在一个巨大的破坏性的云，是近3000公里长的边界迅速移动。风暴向北到了北。蝗虫最终在落基山脉的西部，离开了一条破坏性的道路和毁灭的道路。An account from one person who observed the swarm described the locust storm. The locusts came down from the sky like hail. Frightened people ran screaming into their homes as