胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯144：災難即將降臨于世界 calamities may befall the world
The mighty mammoth once was the largest mamo of them all, a sight of magnificence, if not to say majesty, as it strolled across the primoridy of landscape. But where have they gone, those mighty beasts?
巨大的猛犸象曾經是最大的哺乳動物，它在原始的土地上大步行走時看上去十分地壯觀(如果不用威嚴來形容的話)。但是，這些巨大的動物去哪兒了呢?
One theory is that some malign organism caused that majestic mammoth demise. Another is that there was some serious flaw in the mammoth’s genetic makeup, leading to a gradual decrease in fertility rates. Yet another is that a medial of large magnitude struck earth. The resulting dust cloud hit the planet in darkness lasting for many years. This magnified devastation by leading to a major decline in the yield of wild maze, their major source of protein. If that be so, the beasts would have gradually and painfully died of malnutrition.
有一種理論認為某些有害的生物體造成了這種威嚴的哺乳動物的死亡。另外一種理論認為猛犸象的遺傳結構有嚴重缺陷，從而導致繁殖量逐漸減少。還有一種觀點認為是一顆體積龐大的流星擊中了地球。帶來的塵霧使整個星球籠罩于黑暗之中，這種現(xiàn)象持續(xù)了很多年，這使得野生玉米的產量嚴重下降，玉米是它們蛋白質的主要來源，從而加劇了猛犸象的滅亡。如果真的是那樣，這些動物肯定是由于營養(yǎng)不良而逐漸痛苦地死去的。
Natural calamities such as medial strikes luckily are rare occurrences. Much more frequent are malicious attacks by the arranged people who, for some reason or other, have become seriously malcontent, in days of old a simple tool such as a mallet would often be those maniacs’ means of attack. With increasing scientific and technological progress alas, they increasingly went their malevolent intent by the release of poisonous gas or organisms, resulting in serious malady or even death for many. In some crowded mall or station concourse, what could be the causes for such acts of malice? One wonders.
令人慶幸的是，諸如流星撞擊之類的自然災害極其偶然。更為頻繁的是一些發(fā)狂的、帶著嚴重不滿的情緒的人因為這樣或那樣的原因而進行的惡意的攻擊。在古老的年代，像槌棒這樣簡單的工具都可以成為那些瘋子進攻的工具。隨著科技的進步，天哪!他們越來越多地利用毒氣或者生物武器來發(fā)泄他們的惡意，從而在一些擁擠的購物商場或車站大廳造成了很多人得嚴重的疾病甚至死亡。這種惡意攻擊的原因是什么呢?人們想知道答案。
Mercifully, those criminals spent most of their energy and ideological in doctrination, leaving insufficient time for the maintenance of their equipment. Cases of malfunction are therefore fairly common, causing the attackers designed to be thwarted.
幸運的懸，罪犯們將大量的心血花在意識形態(tài)的教化上，留下少量時間去保養(yǎng)他們的裝備。因此，故障很常見，導致罪犯的計劃受到挫折。
Words
magnificence n. 華麗，富麗堂皇，壯觀
magnify vt. 放大，擴大
magnitude n. 大小，光度，重要
maintenance n. 維修，保養(yǎng)，維持，繼續(xù)
maize n. 玉米
majestic adj. 壯觀的，莊嚴的
majesty n. 威嚴，最高權威
makeup n. 補考，組成，結構
malady n. 疾病，弊病
malcontent adj. 不滿的
malevolent adj. 有惡意的，惡毒的
malfunction n. 故障，失靈
malice n. 惡意
malicious adj. 惡意的，怨毒的
malign v. 誹謗，中傷 adj. 有害的，有毒的，邪惡的
mall n. 大規(guī)模的購物，中心
mallet n. 槌棒
malnutrition n. 營養(yǎng)不良
mammal n. 哺乳動物
mammoth n. 猛犸象 adj. 巨大的
