国家地理:Octopus Loses Arm 章鱼逃命大法

Here in the Timor Sea off northern Australia, take a look at a creature that seems to have the soul of a riverboat gambler. It moves through turf dominated by large hungry predators¹, and it fights these predators in a way that will astound² you.

This is ameloctopus -- it's not a baby. It's one of the smallest octopi in the world, stretching only a tiny 10 inches from tentacle⁴ tip to tentacle tip. Ameloctopus scoots across the sea bottom, its limbs hunting almost blindly for small invertebrates⁶ like miniscule crabs⁸ it can gobble with ease.

Speaking of gobbling with ease, there are plenty of creatures down here who would love to wolf down this soft little guy. This blue crab⁷ is much more crustacean⁹ than any ameloctopus can handle.
The crab eyes its quarry¹⁰ then pounces¹¹, going for all eight arms and the body. But the crafty¹² ameloctopus scrams out of there. The crab seems to gloat over its big moment as a master hunter. And then it examines what it's got ---- an arm, one crummy arm, I mean, what the heck?

Ameloctopus can afford to gamble because of its ability to drop an arm when it gets in a jam. It won't be disabled for long. The arm will grow back.

The crab gobbles down the arm while ameloctopus finds a convenient hiding hole to begin the regeneration process. If you scour¹³ the sea bottom where this critter lives, you may come upon a still squirming limb. Throughout its life, ameloctopus will lose one limb after another, but will continue to survive.

Words

turf : Turf is short, thick, even grass. 草皮,草根土
invertebrate⁵ : An invertebrate is a creature that does not have a spine¹⁴, for example an insect, a worm, or an octopus³. 无脊椎动物
crustacean : A crustacean is an animal with a hard shell and several pairs of legs, which usually lives in water. Crabs, lobsters¹⁵, and shrimps¹⁶ are crustaceans¹⁷. 甲壳纲动物
quarry : A person's or animal's quarry is the person or animal that they are hunting. 猎物
gloat over : If someone is gloating, they are showing pleasure at their own success or at other people's failure in an arrogant¹⁸ and unpleasant way. 贪婪地或幸灾乐祸地看(或想)
critter : A critter is a living creature. 生物
wolf down: If someone wolfs (down) their food, they eat it all very quickly and greedily. 狼吞虎咽地吃

1 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 astound   

v.使震惊，使大吃一惊

参考例句：

• His practical grasp of affairs and his energy still astound me.他对事物的实际掌握和他充沛的精力实在使我惊异。
• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance.过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。

3 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

4 tentacle   

n.触角，触须，触手

参考例句：

• Each tentacle is about two millimeters long.每一个触手大约两毫米长。
• It looked like a big eyeball with a long tentacle thing.它看上去像一个有着长触角的巨大眼球。

5 invertebrate   

n.无脊椎动物

参考例句：

• Half of all invertebrate species live in tropical rain forests.一半的无脊椎动物物种生活在热带雨林中。
• Worms are an example of invertebrate animals.蠕虫是无脊椎动物的一个例子。

6 invertebrates   

n.无脊椎动物( invertebrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Insects and worms are all invertebrates. 昆虫和蠕虫都是无脊椎动物。 来自辞典例句
• In the earthworm and many other invertebrates, these excretory structures are called nephridia. 在蚯蚓和许多其它无脊椎动物中，这些排泄结构称为肾管。 来自辞典例句

7 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

8 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crustacean   

n.甲壳动物；adj.甲壳纲的

参考例句：

• Seafood is a valuable lobster crustacean section.名贵海珍品龙虾属甲壳科。
• The illustrious Cuvier did not perceive that a barnacle was a crustacean.大名鼎鼎的居维叶也未看出藤壶是一种甲壳动物。

10 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

11 pounces   

v.突然袭击( pounce的第三人称单数 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• The attacker thinks it's still part of the lizard and pounces on it. 攻击者认为那仍然是蜥蜴身体的一部分，向它猛扑过去。 来自互联网

12 crafty   

adj.狡猾的，诡诈的

参考例句：

• He admired the old man for his crafty plan.他敬佩老者的神机妙算。
• He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家，也是个狡黠的独裁者。

13 scour   

v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷

参考例句：

• 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。

14 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

15 lobsters   

龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters. 我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• She sold me a couple of live lobsters. 她卖了几只活龙虾给我。

16 shrimps   

n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人

参考例句：

• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood. 小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I'm going to have shrimps for my tea. 傍晚的便餐我要吃点虾。 来自辞典例句

17 crustaceans   

n.甲壳纲动物（如蟹、龙虾）( crustacean的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These crustaceans provide a valuable food source for some fish. 这些甲壳纲动物是某些鱼类重要的食物来源。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。 来自辞典例句

18 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。