Lesson 20-2????? Snake poison
?In fact, it would be an assistance to all carnivores though it would be a two-edged weapon when they fought each other. But, of the vertebrates, unpredictable Nature selected only snakes(and one lizard). One wonders also why Nature, with some snakes, concocted poison of such extreme potency.
In the conversion of saliva into poison, one might suppose that a fixed process took place. It did not; some snakes manufacture a poison different in every respect from that of others, as different as arsenic is from strychnine, and having different effects. One poison acts on the nerves, the other on the blood.
The makers of the nerve poison include the mambas and the cobras and their venom is called neurotoxic.
carnivore??/?kɑ?rn?v??r/??食肉動物
vertebrate?/?v??rt?br?t/??脊椎動物
a two-edged weapon 一把雙刃劍
unpredictable?/??npr??d?kt?bl/??不可預(yù)測的;不可預(yù)知的;難以預(yù)料的
lizard?/?l?z?rd/??蜥蜴
concoct??/k?n?kɑ?kt/??調(diào)制;配制
potency?/?po?tnsi/??效力;影響力
conversion?/k?n?v??r?n/? ?轉(zhuǎn)換;轉(zhuǎn)化;轉(zhuǎn)變;
respect??（事物的）某方面;
arsenic?/?ɑ?rsn?k/? 砒霜
strychnine?/?str?kni?n/??馬錢子堿
nerve? /n??rv/??神經(jīng);勇氣;
mamba? /?m?mb?/??樹眼鏡蛇
cobra?/?ko?br?/?眼鏡蛇
venom?/?ven?m/?毒液
neurotoxic? ??毒害神經(jīng)的
viper?/?va?p?r/??毒蛇;蝰蛇
adder? 蝮蛇
rattlesnake?/?r?tlsne?k/??響尾蛇
haemolytic??溶血的
by far the more unpleasant? 更難受得多
primitive?/?pr?m?t?v/??原始的;
so to speak? 可以這樣說，打個比方說
formula /?f??rmj?l?/??公式;配方，處方
does its business with man? 在人的身上發(fā)揮作用
viperine? 毒蛇的
