1. That means dinosaurs lived long before human beings appeared!
那意味着恐龙生活在人类出现以前的很长一段时间里。
解析:1) appear意为“出现”、“显露”,是不及物动词,没有被动语态。如:
My friend didn’t appear until seven o’clock. 我的朋友7点钟才到。
2) human being表示“人,人类”,是由“human”和“being”构成的。human意为“人(类)的”,being意为“存在物;生物;人”,合为human being (人类)。其复数形式是在being后加-s。如: a human being 一个人,five human beings 五个人。
2. Scientists try to explain their disappearance, but they’ve got more questions than answers.
科学家试图解释它们消失的原因,但他们发现的疑问比找到的答案还要多。
解析:1) explain意为“解释”,它的用法为:explain sth. to sb.或 explain to sb. wh-/that。如:
Could you explain the answer to me?
你能给我解释一下这个答案吗?
Can you explain to me the reason why you are late?
你能向我解释一下你为什么迟到到吗?
2) try to do something意为“设法做……”。如:
He tried hard to pass the exam, but failed.
他试图通过考试,但失败了。
3. It was discovered in Liaoning Province. 它是在辽宁省被发现的。
解析:discover意为“发现”,表示发现原来已存在但人们还不知道的东西,如某个地方或科学规律等,它与invent的区别为:invent意为“发明”,表示发明原先不存在的东西,诸如机器或工具等。试比较:
Do you know who discovered America? 你知道谁发现了美洲吗?
Edison invented the electric bulb. 爱迪生发明了电灯泡。
4. When the bowl was filled with hot water, the wine would get warm.
当碗里(被)盛满热水,酒就变热了。
解析: be filled with意为“(被)盛满;(被)装满”,是fill...with...的被动结构,暗示外界主语“使……充满……”。如:
The bowl was filled with oil. 碗里(被)装满了油。
另外,be full of也可表示“充满”,强调“充满的状态”;be filled with强调用于充满的“事物”。试比较:
The pool was full of water. 池子里装满了水。
The pool was filled with water. 池子里(被)注满了水。
