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词汇典故:特立独行,一个真正的美国
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
, A Truly American Word&词汇典故:特立独行,一个真正的美国
Now, the VOA Learning English program, Words and Their Stories.
Our word today is &maverick.&
A maverick describes a person who thinks independently. A maverick refuses to follow the customs or rules of a group to which he or she belongs. In the U.S., a maverick is often admired for his or her free spirit. Although others who belong to the maverick&s group may not like the maverick&s independent ways.
But where did the name &maverick& come from?
Early in the 1800s, a man named Samuel Augustus Maverick moved to Texas from the eastern United States. Texas was a place of wide-open land, rich soil, cattle
and cowboys. Actually, it still is. But back then, it was even more so. & &&
Samuel Maverick had just completed law school. He settled down in Texas and became an important landowner and a politician. In fact, he became mayor for the city of San Antonio.
As the years passed, Mr. Maverick added to his property in Texas. Before long, he owned huge pieces of land good for raising cattle. But he had no cattle. He wasn&t a rancher.&
One day a man came to Sam Maverick to pay an old debt. But the man did not have the money he owed. So, he offered Mr. Maverick 400 cattle. Mr. Maverick accepted them. But, he didn&t really want them. He simply turned the cattle loose on his land to eat and care for themselves.
It was not long before the cows reproduced. The
grew, and had more calves. Soon hundreds of cows and calves moved freely across Sam Maverick&s land. They also moved across the land of nearby
It was a tradition among ranchers in the West to put a mark of ownership on newborn calves. They burned the name of their ranch into the animal&s skin with a hot iron. The iron made a clear mark called a &brand.& Brands allowed ranchers to easily see who owned which cattle.
Sam Maverick refused to brand his calves. Why should he, he asked. If all the other cattle owners branded theirs, then those without a brand belonged to him.
And this is how the word &maverick& got into the American language. It meant a
without a brand.
As time passed, the word &maverick& took on a wider meaning. It came to mean a person who was too independent to follow even his or her group. Sam Maverick was a maverick in two ways. It was his name, of course. And it described his decision not to follow the tradition of ranchers to brand their cattle.
Sam&s grandson, Maury, was also a maverick. He was elected to Congress in 1935.
Maury Maverick was a member of the Democratic Party. But he was an independent thinker. As a
in Washington, he refused to follow his party. In fact, he led a group of progressive
who also disagreed with party leaders. His group was called &The ,& because it refused to wear the Democratic brand.
Besides politics, you can also find mavericks in popular culture. The Mavericks is an American professional basketball team from Dallas, Texas.
In the 1986 movie &Top Gun,& Tom Cruise&s character is a fighter pilot named Maverick who plays by his own rules. (See movie clip below for an example.)
And a sporty car called the
Maverick popular in the 1970s has a nameplate that looks like a cow head.
Now, the word is also becoming a popular name for boys in the U.S. In fact, Maverick is my son&s middle name.
You have been listening to the VOA Learning English program, Words and Their Stories.
In the scene from the 1986 movie &Top Gun,& the pilot who performs a gutsy move is called Maverick. The
criticizes his daring, gutsy flight moves and suggests a textbook , the opposite of a maverick one.
&Unfortunately, the gamble worked. The MiG never got a clean shot. Maverick makes an aggressive
move here. Comes over the top and he defeats the Bandit with a missile shot. The encounter was a victory but I think that we&ve shown it as an example of what not to do. Next &&
&Gutsiest move I ever saw.&
&Now then, this is a perfect example of a textbook maneuver ...&
Words From the Movie Dialogue
MiG - Russian fighter jet
gutsiest & very tough or brave : showing courage
textbook - very typical
maneuver & a movement or series of moves requiring skill and care
点击收听单词发音&&
adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者
参考例句：
He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。
n.大牧场，大农场
参考例句：
He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )
参考例句：
They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。
n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解
参考例句：
a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮
参考例句：
The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。
n.（美）国会议员
参考例句：
He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
参考例句：
The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
未烙印的牲畜( maverick的名词复数 )； 标新立异的人，不合常规的人
参考例句：
And what about the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki? 那达拉斯小牛队和诺维斯基呢？
And we see it with bringing Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks. 而且我们看到它同实现基德向达拉斯小牛队。
n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过
参考例句：
They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。
n.指导者，教员，教练
参考例句：
The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。
n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略
参考例句：
All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。
adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置
参考例句：
The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。
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森林能帮着为世界提供粮食吗?
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Can Forests Help Feed the World?&森林能帮着为世界提供粮食吗?
Experts predict nine billion people will live on our
by 2050. They say by that time demand for food will be two times what it is now. Officials are worried about that prediction because many people already suffer from a lack of food. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry.&
A solution to the problem may be as close as our forests. A new report says forests could help reduce hunger and improve nutrition if they are properly managed.
Sayay Veoun
at the Cambodian
for Bee Conservation. He says some of the best honey in the world comes from forests in southern Cambodia.
He says they work with five local honey buyers who work with 42 honey collectors.
People like Hak Laang buy the honey at stores in the capital, Phnom Penh.
She says it smells like fresh flowers. She says the smell means it is natural honey from the jungle.
Healthy forests provide half of the fresh fruit we eat worldwide. They also produce valuable crops like coffee, avocados, cashews and other healthful seeds and nuts.
Bhaskar Vira is the director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and an expert with the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, or IUFRO. It recently
a report at the United Nations about forest and jungle foods.
Mr. Vira says crops that grow on trees can help feed people living in and around forests.
&It&s like an insurance policy. Having access to those tree-based foods is hugely important when you can&t buy food from other sources or when you can&t produce food because your fields have failed.&
The growing of crops requires fields. Many fields are created by clearing, or removing, trees. But Mr. Vira says properly managed fields and forests can exist together. He says if you increase food production in the field, you can keep the forest and trees. He says they are important for the products and services they provide.
The report says that forest health and economic value improves when people who live in or near forests are given greater control of them. For example, a project in Ghana aims for proper management of forests and fields together. The people involved hope to grow the Allanblackia plant. The oil from its seed can be used in soap, beauty products and food.
Okai Michael Henchard leads the project. He says he will help people who live nearby. He says they earn money and get trees on their land. The trees provide shade and improve air quality. Mr. Henchard says the project also helps fight climate change.
Words in This Story
properly & adv. in a way that is
or suitable
manage & v. to take care of and make decisions about
insurance & n. an agreement in which a person makes regular
to a company and the company promises to pay money if the person is injured or dies, or to pay money equal to the value of something (such as a house or car) if it is damaged, lost, or stolen
jungle & n. a
forest where plants and trees grow very thickly
soap & n. a substance that is used for washing something
点击收听单词发音&&
参考例句：
Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。
n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件
参考例句：
We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会
参考例句：
It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行
参考例句：
He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。
adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的
参考例句：
The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。
n.支付，付款，缴纳，报酬( payment的名词复数 )；付出的[要付出的]款项；报答，报偿
参考例句：
Welfare payments cease as soon as an individual starts a job. 一旦就业，即停发福利救济。
The law can compel fathers to make regular payments for their children. 这项法律可强制父亲定期支付子女的费用。
adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的
参考例句：
You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。
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下列关于生物多样性价值的说法中，属于间接价值的是（　　）A. 许多动植物是生产药物的原材料B. 森林能涵养水源、调节气候C. 植物为人类提供了粮食、油料D. 许多野生生物是新药开发的原料
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直接使用价值，指对人类的社会生活有直接影响和作用的价值，如：药用价值、观赏价值、食用价值和生产使用价值（野外收获进入贸易市场）等．间接使用价值，一般表现为涵养水源、净化水质、巩固堤岸、防止土壤侵蚀、降低洪峰、改善地方气候、吸收污染物、调节碳氧平衡、在调节全球气候变化中的作用等，主要指维持生态系统的平衡的作用等等．潜在价值，今天还未被利用的那些物种在将来会有利用的价值．可见B符合题意．故选：B．
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其他类似问题
生物多样性通常有三个主要的内涵，即生物种类的多样性、基因（遗传）的多样性和生态系统的多样性．
本题考点：
生物的多样性的内涵．
考点点评：
解答此类题目的关键是理解生物多样性的价值．
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