Extinction or Exaggeration - 멸종 혹은 과장

  More than a fifth of the world's plant species faces the threat of extinction, a trend with potentially catastrophic effects for life on Earth, according to research released on Wednesday. But a seperate study cautioned that extinction of mammals had been overesimated and suggested some mammal species thought to have been wiped out may yet be rediscovered.

  Stephen Hopper director of Royal Botanic Garden in Kew, London, said the report on plant loss was the most accurate mapping yet of the threate to the planet's estimated 380,000 plant species. He said, "This study confirms what we already suspected, that plants are under threat and the main cause is human-induced habitat loss.

  Meanwhile, a study by two Australian authors said Tuesday that fewer mammal species than believed may be extinct, especially those animals threatened by habitat loss. Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg of the University of Queensland said they had identified 187 mammals than have been missing since 1500, 67 species of which had subsequently been found again. "Extinction is difficult to direct," the study said. "Species with long gaps in their sighting records, that might be considered possibly extinct, are often redicovered."      

 

  1) extinction [ɪk^|stɪŋkʃn]: 멸종, 절멸, 소멸  cf. a tribe threatened with extinction

  2) exaggeration[ɪg_|zӕdƷə^|reɪʃn]: [주로 단수로] 과장 

  3) catastrophic [kæ̀təstrɑ́fik]= catastrophe : 비극적인 대단원의, 대재앙적인, 파국적인 

       cf. By 1960 the worst catastrophic predictions came true

  4) yet : 최상급을 강조하는 부사로 ' 가장 잘 파악한'

  5) threat to A : A에 가해지는 위협

  6) habitat : 서식지.   habitation : 거주지