轻松英语阅读：一只侦探鼠

今天我们要学的词是shortlist。 Shortlist, 是指供挑选的最后名单。 "Three democrats made the shortlist for the soon-to-be vacant secretary of state position for Colorado," 三个民主党人进入最后的候选人名单，角逐科罗拉多州即将空出来的州务卿的位置。 "Four movies made the shortlist for the Critics Choice Awards," 四部影片入围影评家奖的最后一轮角逐。 "The bestseller made the shortlist for three book awards," 这本畅销书进入了三项图书奖最后入围的候选名单。好的，今天我们学习的词是shortlist...

Derrick is in training with the Dutch police at the moment. But Derrick is not a person or even a police dog; he’s a police rat.

What is Derrick’s expertise? He can sniff out substances such as drugs or gunshot residue and he does it with a 98.8 percent accuracy. He is a part of a group of rats being trained by the Dutch police for criminal investigations.

There are machines that can do what Derrick does, but he can do it much faster and cheaper. Under pressure to cut costs, the Dutch police started the program two years ago. For example, a test for gunshot residue requires several technicians, expensive lab equipment and chemicals and can take at least two hours. A rat like Derrick can do the same thing in seconds.

This is the first time ever to use rats in this way and there have been some difficulties in training them. But Derrick and his buddies should begin working in January of next year. It will be interesting to see how they perform.