新托福考试阅读练习资料：杀人松果

传说澳大利亚是一个危机四伏的地方，那里有致命的毒蛇，海滩里潜伏着蜇人的水母和吃人的鲨鱼。倘若说动物很可怕也就算了，在澳大利亚松果也能杀人!开始看题目，我觉得这不是扯淡吗?北京的松果大了去了也就半个拳头大，就算美国大松塔也就是一个拳头左右，可是看了澳大利亚的松塔，彻底让人折服了。

As travel writer Bill Bryson pointed out in his book In a Sunburned Country, Australia “has more things that will kill you than anywhere else” — including poisonous snakes and jellyfish, crocodiles, and sharks. If you’re traveling to the Land Down Under, be wary of those things — but now add pine cones to that list. That’s right; according to Australia’s ABC News, there are huge pine cones dropping from above in the town of Warragul, Victoria (about 65 miles east of Melbourne), just outside the Courthouse Hotel where travelers should be finding refuge.

“These things are enormous,” said Warragul Mayor Diane Blackwood, describing the potentially lethal pine cones of the Bunya pine tree on the hotel grounds, which is 120-years-old and on their historical heritage list. “They are the size of a watermelon, falling literally out of the sky from potentially 20 meters high… So you wouldn’t want to be under one, I tell you.”

The watermelon-sized pine cones weigh up to 22 lbs. each, which is heavier than most bowling balls. Try to imagine one of those falling on your head and cracking your skull; it won’t be pretty. So be careful when traveling to Warrugul; it may be a good idea to look up when you’re walking down under.

通过托福的阅读材料提高了英语阅读水平，又能知晓世界上各地的奇闻趣事，学习起来是不是倍感有趣呢？