时间:2018-12-26 作者:英语课 分类:自然百科2009年


英语课

 The divers 1 started in the ocean, but they are now within solid bedrock, 150 feet beneath someone's living room. They are now swimming in the water supply for the town above. Here they find, as they had hoped, life in the pitch darkness. These are hydroids, small filter-feeding organisms, a species entirely 2 new to science. Around the hydroids are mussels. Neither of them are found in the springs above. Both are anchored to the rock and live on food that drifts by. But there is no apparent sign of food and no energy to create it. In almost every living system, the sun provides fuel for all life. But there is no sunlight here, how these organisms kept alive?


 
With such exciting discoveries, the team decides to press on, but time and air are finite. Their air is consumed quickly at this depth and each minute they stay will increase the time they must spend decompressing before they can leave the water. The slightest turbulence 3 stirs up sediment 4 which can render visibility from hundreds of feet to nearly zero. Then, 3,000 feet into the springs, they make an extraordinary discovery--a strange layer of water.
 
The layer below is saltwater but clear, fresh water flows above. Where the layers meet, there is a thin, cloudy substance that they have never seen before. Later analysis reveals it to be bacteria. It lives on a microscopic 5 horizon between fresh and saltwater. It is this bateria which provides the basis for all life in the cave. The bacteria metabolizes sulfur 6 from the water and multiplies. In turn, the bacteria becomes food for the mussels and hydroids downstream. In this cave, lowly bacteria takes the place of sunlight and starts the chain of life.
 
The divers christen the cave of their discovery "the dragon's lair 7" in honor of its unique smoky resident. It's a shock to realize that there is so much life within the town's water supply. But it's probably an indicator 8 of healthy water. If the life here vanishes, maybe then we should worry about the quality of our drinking water.

1 divers
adj.不同的;种种的
  • He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人,要他们和他作伴。
  • Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作,同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。
2 entirely
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
3 turbulence
n.喧嚣,狂暴,骚乱,湍流
  • The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
  • The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。
4 sediment
n.沉淀,沉渣,沉积(物)
  • The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后,水变清了。
  • Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。
5 microscopic
adj.微小的,细微的,极小的,显微的
  • It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
  • A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。
6 sulfur
n.硫,硫磺(=sulphur)
  • Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
  • Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。
7 lair
n.野兽的巢穴;躲藏处
  • How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's lair?不入虎穴,焉得虎子?
  • I retired to my lair,and wrote some letters.我回到自己的躲藏处,写了几封信。
8 indicator
n.指标;指示物,指示者;指示器
  • Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
  • His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。
学英语单词
alginic acid
American run
anti-motion-sickness
apocryphe
austerer
benefit-received tax principle
biltmores
breaking down field strength
butt weld end
buzard
cabbalahs
capacitive pick-up
capacitor diode storage
cementicle
centralized selection
Chahār Dar
chinese characteristics
chinese crested tern
Clos network
coconstructive
contracting job
conventional quenching oil
dabbing motion
dermatosa myiasis
detailed system description
device independent pixel
device offline
electromagnetic seismometer
embuement
European rat flea
extruded brass
fallow deer
field ion microscope(FIM)
fir-tree straddle root blade
fontanite
fordreamed
fracture of head of radius
generated voltage
girya
glycaemia
glycoglyeeride
half-lives
high-grown
hoarhead
house work
ignomious
kfa
Khān Mahammad Kot
laplace's transformation
legacy media
liftgates
Lmhosts file
mass spectrometric detection
mean high high water spring tide
monkey chatter
nozzle with muffler
nuclear transmutation energy
number of common initial
optically ported CRT
package monitor
palatine
passport data
poison sb.'s mind against
porteus maze
pressureair
primosomes
prognosis formula
pulse amplutude-to-time converter
quartzandesite
regulation law of labour relation
remaining income
replacement of teeth
respiratory arrhythmia
sabmiller
scavages
schnozzola
self-registering water level gauge
sense perception
service head
sexperimented
sheath of styloid process
signalization
spline teeth
stadia addition constant
stationary tubesheet
statistology
struverite
substituted service
superchurch
symmetrical short-circuit current
tabular language
Taunusstein
thurls
traget trajectory
Trombicula palpalis
type ball printer
unresuscitable
valve insert
vector display
viridomycin
vowson
writers-in-residence