IELTS Listening Part 4: How Desert Animals Survive Without Water

Part Four. You will hear a lecture about how desert animals survive.

第四部分。你将听到一场关于沙漠动物如何生存的讲座。

You have some time to look at questions thirty-one to forty.

你有一些时间看第三十一到四十题。

Now listen carefully and answer questions thirty-one to forty.

现在请仔细听，并回答第三十一到四十题。

Good morning, everyone. Today we're heading somewhere very hot.

大家早上好。今天我们要去一个非常炎热的地方。

How can an animal live for weeks without a single drink?

动物怎么能几个星期一口水都不喝还活着呢？

Well, let's begin with the most famous example, the camel.

好，我们先从最有名的例子说起：骆驼。

Many people think the hump is full of water.

很多人以为驼峰里装满了水。

In fact, it's mostly fat, which the camel uses for energy.

其实里面主要是脂肪，骆驼用它来获取能量。

And when it does find water, it can drink a hundred litres in ten minutes!

而一旦找到水，它十分钟就能喝下一百升！

Now, smaller animals have a different problem.

那么，小型动物面临的问题就不一样了。

They lose heat and water very quickly through their skin.

它们会通过皮肤很快地流失热量和水分。

The kangaroo rat is my favourite answer to this!

更格卢鼠是我最喜欢的答案！

It never drinks at all, and gets water from dry seeds.

它从来不喝水，而是从干种子里获取水分。

During the day, it stays in a cool burrow under the sand.

白天，它待在沙子下面凉爽的洞穴里。

But perhaps the cleverest trick belongs to a tiny beetle!

不过，最聪明的招数也许属于一只小小的甲虫。

It lives in the Namib Desert, near the Atlantic coast.

它生活在纳米布沙漠，靠近大西洋海岸。

On foggy mornings, it climbs to the top of a dune,

在有雾的早晨，它会爬到沙丘顶上，

and points its back into the wind.

把背部对着风。

Tiny drops collect on its back and run straight into its mouth!

小水珠聚在它背上，直接流进它嘴里！

So, what about animals that hunt?

那么，捕猎的动物又是怎样的呢？

Most of them simply avoid the heat by hunting at night.

大多数只是靠夜间捕猎来避开炎热。

Take the fennec fox, with its enormous ears.

比如耳朵特别大的耳廓狐。

Those ears help it hear insects moving under the sand.

这对耳朵能帮它听到沙子下面虫子的动静。

They also release heat from its body, a bit like a radiator.

它们还能把体内的热量散出去，有点像散热器。

Sadly, these clever animals now face a serious problem.

遗憾的是，这些聪明的动物如今面临着一个严重的问题。

Deserts are getting hotter, and towns are using more groundwater.

沙漠越来越热，城镇也在抽取更多地下水。

Some small waterholes have already disappeared completely.

一些小水坑已经完全消失了。

So, protecting these waterholes must be our first priority.

所以，保护这些水坑必须是我们的首要任务。

Next week, we'll look at animals in the Arctic instead.

下周，我们会转而讲北极的动物。

Don't worry, it'll be a lot cooler!

别担心，那会凉快得多！

That is the end of Part Four.

第四部分到此结束。