时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:2017年科学美国人(七)月


英语课

Widening the Suez Canal Ushers 1 In Underwater Invaders 2


苏伊士运河对地中海水下物种的侵害


The Mediterranean 3 Sea is home to some 17,000 native species. But it's also home to a growing number of non-native species: 756 at last count. 756 may not sound like a lot, compared to 17,000.


地中海是大约17000种本土物种的家园。同时它也是越来越多的非本土物种的家园:据最新统计当地非本土物种为756种。相比17000种本土物种,这似乎听起来并不是很多。


\"But this is not arithmetic." Bella Galil, a naturalist 4 at Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies in Tel Aviv. "Those invasive species have a large population, and they rend 5 apart the native food web. They disturb an already stressed community."


“但这不是算术问题。”来自特拉维夫以色列国家生物多样性研究中心的博物学家贝拉·加利尔说道。“这些入侵物种种群非常大,它们会分裂本地的食物链。它们还扰乱了本就已经很紧张的社区。”


The invaders she's talking about are central casting for an underwater horror movie. Take the nomadic 6 jellyfish, in huge swarms 7 60 miles long, which sent hundreds of people to Turkish hospitals a few summers back. Or a type of pufferfish, extremely poisonous, that occasionally gets fished out, and lands at fish markets by mistake.


她所说的入侵者可以说是一部水下恐怖片的演员阵容了。以游动型的水母为例,其巨大的种群阵容可达60英里长,几个夏天以来已有数百人因被它们蛰伤而去土耳其医院就医。又或者以一种体内含有剧毒的河豚鱼为例,它们偶尔会被捕鱼的人捞出,然后不小心被放到鱼市上售卖。


Galil says these bad guys, and many others, have invaded the Mediterranean through the ever-widening Suez Canal. As the canal grows, so do the number of non-native species. And it's a dilemma 8 that's not easily addressed. "It's a Humpty-Dumpty sort of problem. Once it's broke it's broke. We cannot re-engineer it. It's too complex for us." Galil and her team outline the scope of the problem in the journal Management of Biological Invasions.


加利尔表示,这些“坏家伙”连同其它许多物种,通过日益扩大的苏伊士运河入侵进地中海。随着运河的扩大,非本土物种的数量也在增加。而这又是一个难以解决的难题。“这是一个一旦产生便无法修复的问题。一旦被打破,便只能如此。我们不能对其进行重新设计。这对我们来说太复杂了。”加利尔和她的团队在《生物入侵管理》杂志中概述了这个问题的范围。


Installing locks or salinity 9 barriers could help block future invasions, she says—those methods have worked in other canals. But that's an engineering and governance issue. "As biologists we've raised our voices. The community is aware of it. The problem is to go beyond this. And to go beyond this we need to go into the regional bureaucracy and the industry." It'll undoubtedly 10 cost money, too. One motivating factor for taking action: Mediterranean beaches are big business. And swarms of jellyfish can quickly drive away the customers.


她表示,安装水闸或盐度屏障或许有助于阻止将来发生物种入侵。这些方法已经在其他运河中起到了作用。但这是一个工程和治理问题。“作为生物学家我们已经尽力发出了呼声。社会上也意识到了这一问题。但问题是这还远远不够,为了真正达成应有的效果,我们还需进入到该地区的官僚机构和工业产业中。”毫无疑问,这需要资金。能够激励地方采取行动的一个因素是:地中海海滩经济规模很大。而成群的水母则会很快让游客们望而却步。



1 ushers
n.引座员( usher的名词复数 );招待员;门房;助理教员v.引,领,陪同( usher的第三人称单数 )
  • Seats clicked, ushers bowed while he looked blandly on. 座位发出啪啦啪啦的声响,领座员朝客人们鞠躬,而他在一边温和殷勤地看着。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • The minister then offers a brief prayer of dedication, and the ushers return to their seats. 于是牧师又做了一个简短的奉献的祈祷,各招待员也各自回座位。 来自辞典例句
2 invaders
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 )
  • They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
  • The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。
3 Mediterranean
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
4 naturalist
n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)
  • He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业,同时是个博物学爱好者。
  • The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。
5 rend
vt.把…撕开,割裂;把…揪下来,强行夺取
  • Her scrams would rend the heart of any man.她的喊叫声会撕碎任何人的心。
  • Will they rend the child from his mother?他们会不会把这个孩子从他的母亲身边夺走呢?
6 nomadic
adj.流浪的;游牧的
  • This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
  • The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。
7 swarms
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 )
  • They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
  • On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天,这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。
8 dilemma
n.困境,进退两难的局面
  • I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
  • He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。
9 salinity
n.盐分;咸度;盐浓度;咸性
  • In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中,盐度为千分之二。
  • In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中,地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。
10 undoubtedly
adv.确实地,无疑地
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
学英语单词
acetobutylicum
adverse drug events
after - sale service department
akasic
angelism
anorchus
answering machine
antipodists
antipyrino-caffeinum citricum
auto-Transfusion
Axenfeld's test
Bashir
black-on-black
bolometric method
Bolshevize, bolshevized
Burry Inlet
chopper spectrophotometer
clotbusters
combination carrier
complementary MOS integrated circuit
consolatory
critical magnetic flux density
Current Coupon
decline of water table
detonation wave
diareses
direct coupling system
direito
Doppler navigation system
dot speed
eacc
ECE
Edwin Drood
efficiency expert
electron-pair production
ever-handy
fancy for
feigned issue
fjord oceanography
flax dodder
fordist model
full-louvered door
functional assembly
further development
genus batrachosepss
genus Helipterum
group incentive plan
haulered
home-repair
icteric phthisis
indexlink
infidels
international liquidity units
Isocainide
isogredient
Jewified
longitude difference
major conjugate arc
man made satellite
means of fastening
megahenry
Middendorfa, Mys
minister of economic affairs
Morro, R.
NEC necessary
nonvascular organisms
nuculana husamaru
overlay contact
parameter model
pop-up missile
Pulindas
pump surging
relative degree of development
Republic of Finland
Richard Haldane
running set
Rupert
Ruppia maritima
sack trucks
safety colour
sanitoriums
satellite position
seven-card stud
shaped joist
shoot-em-up
singularity line
splittail
step up n.
superintending
supersalts
swine rearing
talipes planus
Tintigny
transprosed
uncollegiate
ungroup
value broker
waive sb off
X-Machine
You never know your luck.
zinc dichromate