时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(二)月


英语课

If you splashed down in the Atlantic, you'd flounder on which way to swim. But a hatchling loggerhead turtle would know just where to paddle—by reading the Earth's magnetic field. Scientists knew turtles can pinpoint 1 latitude 2 this way, because the field varies a lot from north to south. But not east to west. So how do turtles know which side of the Atlantic they're on?


To find out, researchers strapped 3 hatchlings into custom Lycra bathing suits, tethered to a tracking unit. They plopped each turtle into a small pool surrounded by magnetic coils. And they replicated 4 the magnetic fields of Puerto Rico and the Cape 5 Verde Islands, two points along the turtles' migration 6, with equal latitudes 7 but different longitudes 8. The hatchlings swam opposite directions in the two trials—both being the right ones, to stay on the migratory 9 track. The study appears in the journal Current Biology.


The researchers say turtles may calibrate 10 their migratory maps by sensing the magnetic field's intensity 11, and its inclination 12 to the Earth's surface—a combo that gives each point of the migration a unique signature. As for any human navigators out there, you'll just have to shell out for a GPS.



1 pinpoint
vt.准确地确定;用针标出…的精确位置
  • It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出,现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
  • I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。
2 latitude
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区
  • The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
  • The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。
3 strapped
adj.用皮带捆住的,用皮带装饰的;身无分文的;缺钱;手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词);用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带
  • Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 replicated
复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 ); 重复; 再造; 再生
  • Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
  • The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。
5 cape
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
6 migration
n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙
  • Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
  • He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
7 latitudes
纬度
  • Latitudes are the lines that go from east to west. 纬线是从东到西的线。
  • It was the brief Indian Summer of the high latitudes. 这是高纬度地方的那种短暂的晚秋。
8 longitudes
经度
  • Nothing makes earth seem so to have friends at a distance; they make latitudes and longitudes. 没有什么比得上有朋在远方更使地球显得如此巨大,他们构成了纬度和经度。
9 migratory
n.候鸟,迁移
  • Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
  • This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。
10 calibrate
校准;使合标准;测量(枪的)口径
  • Pesticide levels in food are simply too difficult to calibrate.食品中杀虫剂的含量很难精确测定。
11 intensity
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度
  • I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
  • The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。
12 inclination
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好
  • She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
  • I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。
标签: sss 托福素材
学英语单词
apparent violation
artificial sweetener
Artëm-Ostrov
asymmetrical hearing loss
auditory osseous
Authorized Forex Dealer
backlash error
before one's nose
Belcherville
betrothing
bitchily
bottle-shaped organs of labeo
Brunstatt
caesium-beam tube
chain belt conveyor
codification
construction plant
cymbelines
dead front type
declination vernier
die horribly
draglink
dualayer process
Echinococcus hydatid cyst
echocardiograph
empty column
eplus
equal-thickness fringe
erect hair
exoccipital cartilage
exogastrula
fan layout
fanfares
feting
finstein
Galapagos Seamount
Germain
gonadial
grant-reeled silk
helium 3 beam
heterokinesia
i-likeness
imitation die stamping
Juncus turczaninowii
Kellia
l'atlantique
leno loom
Leontodon taraxacum
liechtensteins
Lysionotus pauciflorus
magnetic particle
Magumeri
medication
medium term forecast
methiodides
Morquio's disease
mucous polyp of larynx
Nambale
off-load deaeration
oil coat
Old Harbor
onuss
orthostade
Ovacιk Burun
parasomnia
pass all understanding
passive-flow folding
patern
permanent wilting
plain calliper gauge
plasma-arc machining
plastic clad fibre
ploughman's spikenard
pretreatment of hot metal
probe message
prodrug
proterandry
public relief or assistance
Rachecourt
rachele
radionuclide in vitro image
real estate problem
recoverable deformation
regulatorproblem
reproductive property
Salaspils
select agents
Sir Harry MacLennan Lauder
solid tooth circular saw
sophistically
spatial mesh
stayed over
storm switch
teacher-student relation
Tetra-tablinen
tetraandrine
time mean value
tremelimumab
trigonal
tritylodontids
uncertainty sample survey
unframed (unstiffened ) shell