万物简史 第404期:浩瀚的海洋(23)
英语课
As of 1995, some 37,000 industrial-sized fishing ships, plus about a million smaller boats, 到1995年,世界上大约有37000越工业规模的渔船,加上大约100万条小型渔船。
were between them taking twice as many fish from the sea as they had just twenty-five years earlier. 它们每年从海里的捕鱼量是25年前的两倍。
Trawlers are sometimes now as big as cruise ships and haul behind them nets big enough to hold a dozen jumbo jets. 现在的拖网渔船有时候大得很像巡洋舰,后面拖的网大得能装下十几架大型客机。
Some even use spotter planes to locate shoals of fish from the air. 有的甚至使用侦察机从空中寻找鱼群。
It is estimated that about a quarter of every fishing net hauled up contains "by-catch", 据估计,每拖上来一网,大约有四分之一是“无意捕获物”,
fish that can't be landed because they are too small or of the wrong type or caught in the wrong season. 即因为太小而抓不住的鱼,或不该捞的鱼,或不该在那个季节捕的鱼。
As one observer told the Economist 1: "We're still in the Dark Ages. We just drop a net down and see what comes up." 正如一位观察员对《经济学家》杂志说的:“我们仍处于愚昧黑暗时代。我们只是把网一撤,看看能捞上来什么。”
Perhaps as much as twenty-two million metric tons of such unwanted fish are dumped back in the sea each year, mostly in the form of corpses 2. 每年大约有多达2200万吨这类不要的鱼倒回海里,大多数是以尸体的形式。
For every pound of shrimp 3 harvested, about four pounds of fish and other marine 4 creatures are destroyed. 每收获1千克虾,就有大约4千克鱼和别的海洋动物遭受灭顶之灾。
Large areas of the North Sea floor are dragged clean by beam trawlers as many as seven times a year, 北海的大片海床,每年要被横衔拖网渔船扫荡七次,
a degree of disturbance 5 that no ecosystem 6 can withstand. 哪个生态系统也受不了这等干扰。
At least two-thirds of species in the North Sea, by many estimates, are being overfished. 据许多人估计,北海至少有三分之二的鱼类处于过捕捞的状态。
Across the Atlantic things are no better. 在新英格兰近海,
Halibut once abounded 7 in such numbers off New England that individual boats could land twenty thousand pounds of it in a day. 原来大比目鱼如此之多,分散的渔船一天可以捕捞到9000多千克。
Now halibut is all but extinct off the northeast coast of North America. 如今,大比目鱼在美国东北海岸附近几乎已经灭绝。
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人
- He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
- He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 )
- The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云,同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
n.虾,小虾;矮小的人
- When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来,将会截断这条河流。
- When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜,我最喜欢虾。
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵
- Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时,他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调
- He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
- You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。
n.生态系统
- This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
- We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
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