英语听力：自然百科 2008-03-15 Antarctic Ocean Creature 南极深海的神秘生物
时间：2018-12-03 作者：英语课 分类：自然百科2008年
英语课
Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said on Tuesday they collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms from the murky 1 depths. Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census 2 of marine 3 life in the southern ocean collected specimens 4 from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface. Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called "gigantism" that scientists still don't fully 5 understand. Voyage leader Dr. Martin Riddle 6 said during twenty days of actual sampling, they collected many samples of marine life, up to twenty-five percent of them previously 7 unknown.
We saw giant worms, giant crustaceans(甲壳类), giant sea spiders, glass-like tunicates(被囊动物), enormously diverse areas in some places, in other places things scraped bare and barren by iceberg 8 scour 9. So huge diversity of life, very colorful, very rich, far exceeding any of our expectations.
Among the bizarre looking creatures the scientists spotted 10, was a species of tunicates, plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to three feet tall, other animals were equally baffling.
They had, they had fins 11 in various places. They had funny dangly 12 bits around their mouths. They, most of all we were working on the bottom, so they were all bottom dwellers 13. So they were all evolved in different ways to live, to hang on the seabed in the dark, so many of them had very large eyes, so that what they are gonna use them for there where there's no light? I couldn't tell you. But yeah, they are very strange-looking fish.
The specimens have been sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA 14 studies. The expedition was part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the "Southern Ocean''. Scientists are studying the impact of climate change and monitoring how increased ocean acidification affects coral gardens. Increased acidification will make it harder for marine organisms to grow and sustain calcium 15 carbonate skeletons. Scientists are planning a follow-up expedition in ten years to examine the effects of climate changes on the environment.
1 murky
adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗
- She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
- She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。
2 census
n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查
- A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
- The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
3 marine
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。
4 specimens
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人
- Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
- The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 fully
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
- The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
- They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
6 riddle
n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜
- The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
- Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
7 previously
adv.以前，先前（地）
- The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
- Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。
8 iceberg
n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人
- The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
- The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
9 scour
v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷
- Mother made me scour the family silver.母亲让我擦洗家里的银器。
- We scoured the telephone directory for clues.我们仔细查阅电话簿以寻找线索。
10 spotted
adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的
- The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
- Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
11 fins
[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌
- The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
- Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句
13 dwellers
n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )
- City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》