托福听力练习对照文本第八十二篇

　　If you liked the colorful animals we just saw, you're going to love these next animals: frogs.

　　如果你喜欢我们刚刚见到的色彩斑斓的动物，你们将会喜欢这些接下来的动物：蛙类。

　　You might not normally think of frogs as being colorful, but these frogs definitely are.

　　你们可能通常不认为蛙类是色彩斑斓的，但是这些蛙类的确是的。

　　They are the dart-poison frogs of Central and South America.

　　它们是中部和南部美洲的箭毒蛙。

　　Look at their striking colors, often yellow with black stripes or deep blue with black spots.

　　看看它们醒目的颜色，通常是黄色带着黑色条纹或者深蓝色带着黑点。

　　Beyond being nice to look at, these markings have a purpose.

　　除了好看之外，这些斑纹还有一个目的。

　　They warn predators that these frogs are poisonous.

　　它们警告捕食者这些蛙类是有毒的。

　　When threatened, these frogs secrete a substance through their skin that would easily kill whatever animal might try to eat them.

　　当受到威胁时，这些蛙类通过它们的皮肤分泌一种物质，可以轻易的杀死可能试图要吃掉它们的任何动物。

　　Their bright colors communicate this, and so most animals tend not to hunt them.

　　它们明亮的颜色传递了这个(信息)，所以大部分动物不会去捕猎它们。

　　Now, speaking of hunting, for centuries these frogs were sought after by hunters.

　　好，说道捕猎，几个世纪以来，这些蛙类受到猎人们的需要。

　　As you might think, the hunters didn't want to eat the frogs, but rather, they captured them for their poison.

　　正如你所想的，猎人不是想吃这些蛙类，而是，他们捕获它们是为了它们的毒素。

　　They would add the poison to the tips of their hunting arrows.

　　他们会把毒素添加到他们打猎(用的)箭尖上。

　　Of course, nowadays most hunters use guns.

　　当然，现在大部分猎人用枪。

　　These days, dart-poison frogs are of less interest to hunters than to medical researchers.

　　目前，猎人比研究者对箭毒蛙的兴趣小。

　　Researchers believe that they can make new heart medicine from the poison, because it acts as a stimulant on the body's nervous system.

　　研究者相信他们能从毒素中制造新的心脏药物。

　　Researchers think they could use it to stimulate a weak heart.

　　研究者认为他们能使用它来刺激心脏衰竭。

　　There is, however, a problem with doing research on these frogs.

　　然而，在这些蛙类上做研究有一个问题。

　　Those that are caught in the wild will produce their poison until they die.

　　从自然环境中捕捉的那些(蛙)将产生毒素直至他们死去。

　　However, those that are born in captivity, like the ones you see here, will not produce any poison at all.

　　然而，那些出生在圈养(环境中的)，像你们看到的这些，将根本不会产生任何毒素。