听力文本

Extinction. When species go bye-bye forever, we usually blame things like climate change, volcanic eruption or asteroid impact.
But for the giant flightless birds that once roamed the Australian outback, it was an omelet station what did 'em in.
A new study finds evidence that about 47,000 years ago, humans helped to wipe out this avian leviathan by collecting and cooking its eggs.
The study is in the journal Nature Communications.
Before humans swept over the land down under, animals of enormous proportions were not uncommon.
A two-ton wombat, a thousand-pound kangaroo, and a 500-pound bird now known as Genyornis newtoni were spread across the continent.
But most of these so-called megafauna disappeared once humans hit the scene.
Coincidence? Well, it could be.
Which is why researchers set out to look for proof that human predation played a role in the demise of Genyornis.
They collected eggshells from hundreds of sites around the country.
And they found that the shell fragments exhibited scorch marks that suggested that the eggs had been purposefully cooked over an open flame.
Marks that were not consistent with the eggs getting, say, burned up in a wildfire.
Three different dating methods put the eggs'age in the correct era, and thus place the smoking gun—or in this case, firepit—directly in the hands of hungry humans.
Which suggests that our ancestral appetite for over-easy compromised the fitness of this species.
Ultimately leading to its egg-stinction.

参考译文

物种灭绝Z2^!IVJro(x_。当物种永远离开我们时，我们通常会将责任归咎于气候变化、火山喷发或行星碰撞等因素8odt=E_8;tW%uX9yvQsy。
但对于一种曾经在澳大利亚生活无法飞行的鸟类而言，该物种灭绝的原因是它们成为煎蛋的材料g8J-z(_.Z!u。

一项新的研究发现大约47,000年前，人类通过采集并烹饪这种鸟的蛋加速了它们的灭亡5DOG|HyLelZl。
这项研究已经在《自然通讯》杂志上发表J2CKpr=hg;RXtZ-gQ。
在人类抵达疯狂席卷这片大陆之前，各种各样的动物并不罕见=-p&W|Apr36ZIOz3j%op。
2吨重的袋熊、1000磅的袋鼠及500磅重现在名为牛顿的这种巨鸟，在当时的大陆上随处可见%MK@,E95|a_m。
但人类抵达后，这些巨型动物就消失了45UiP,%JG^B9v!+]|LK。
这是巧合吗?可能吧!3E]zTB]]RP|PXvf。
因此研究人员们搜集证据，希望找出远古人类的捕猎对这种巨鸟灭绝产生的影响L%FLu3p6E5E。
研究人员在数百个地方收集到鸟蛋的化石@lTp;kp+N7HPrSC。
结果他们发现蛋壳碎片被烧焦的痕迹显示它们可能经过明火烹调SJ[4dB^Xj59gsyC。
而这些烧痕迹同野火不同|B6@)^jdvM435r^~a。
研究人员使用3种不同的方法正确定位这些蛋的所处年代并且找到确凿的证据—或者这种情况下当时人类使用的是火坑4ySbK|O0;Fwa@#J5m。
这表明我们的祖先为了自己的生存猎杀这种鸟类bh%||Cl(&*M*~84z;G。
最终导致了这个物种的灭绝^bK9ZLGOLzWF38~tNR;T。

译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！

重点讲解

1.wipe out 消灭

例句:The man is a fanatic who is determined to wipe out any opposition to the way he conducts himself.
这人是个狂热分子，决意扫除任何反对其行事作风的声音MXE*P&]h^JCw(JnX!ll。

2.help to 帮助

例句:It would help to end illiteracy and disease, but it would also dislocate a traditional way of life.
这将有助于消除文盲和疾病，但也会扰乱传统的生活方式(-N0=4s-gaA|0Z。

3.set out to 动身去

例句:Theres no better feeling than knowing no matter what happens for the rest of the day, youve accomplished what you set out to.
这是一种非常棒的感觉：因为你清楚得知道不管这天接下来会发生什么事，你都已经完成了你打算做的事情tg~o;]DLmh23l~。

4.look for 寻找

例句:In that leafy, flowery, bushy time, to look for any one in this garden was like playing at “ hide-and-seek ”.
在这树密枝长叶茂花繁的时节，要在这个花果园里寻找谁，简直就象玩“捉迷藏”一样了e6D-8!&-yrZZu。