彭蒙惠英语：Dive the South Pacific

 

Dive the South Pacific

2

Dolphins delight

 

Diving in French Polynesia isn’t all sharks. One day during a dive, half a dozen dolphins showed up.

 

We were swimming over to a reef at Rangiroa when two divers¹ started pointing and waving. The dolphins emerged slowly from the deep blue. At first, we could only discern a blob. Then the dolphins separated into distinct shapes and got close enough for us to see shades of silver skin and scars. Their echolocating squeaks² vibrated in our heads.

 

They swam in formation, looping and twirling. The divers’ exhaled³ air rose in bubble sheets and the dolphins cut in and out of the curtain in a surreal ballet.

 

“The crazier you act, the closer they’ll get,” Randy said. And he was right.

 

At this point, novice⁴ divers might find themselves in over their heads. We were in fast currents, bouncing with the dolphins . . . up to 15 feet one minute, down to 60 feet the next.

 

There were more relaxing dives, of course. At Apataki, the Fish Holes site was a garden of hard coral and fish — platinum⁵ African pompano, lionfish, snapper of all kinds, plus an assortment⁶ of butterfly fish and angelfish.

 

Majestic⁷ manta rays

 

Manta rays soon emerged: two dozen, some flapping on the surface, more swooping⁸ back and forth⁹ below. Each was easily 12 feet across. They came at us, their huge white mouths open to catch plankton¹⁰, passing under us, over us, beside us.

 

At one point, half a dozen rays filled my camera viewfinder... a swirl¹¹ of wings and tails and gaping¹² mouths. Several had remoras attached to their backs like white flags. One actually bumped into me, brushing my shoulder with a silky soft push.

 

Vocabulary Focus

majestic (adj) [mE5dVestik] beautiful, powerful or causing great admiration¹³ and respect

formation (n) [fC:5meiFEn] a certain structure, arrangement or shape

surreal (adj) [sE5ri:l] strange; not like reality; like a dream

in over one’s head (idiom) to be involved in a situation that is too difficult for you to deal with or to manage

 

Specialized¹⁴ Terms

echolocate (v) 回声定位 to locate objects by emitting high-pitched sounds; the echoes are then interpreted to determine the direction and distance of the object

plankton (n) 浮游生物 very small plants and animals which float in great numbers on the surface of the water and on which fish and other animals feed

remora (n) 鲫鱼 a fish with a suction disk on the top its head that is used to attach itself to a larger fish or a ship’s hull¹⁵

潜入南太平洋

2

海豚带来的喜悦

在法属波利尼西亚潜水遇到的不都是鲨鱼。有一天潜水时，6只海豚出现在我们眼前。   

我们游向朗伊罗的一处礁石时，有两位潜水者开始指着某处招手。海豚慢慢地从海洋深处现身。一开始，我们只能看到一团东西。接着，那几只海豚分散开来，逐渐看得出个别的形状，后来近到连它们身上银色表皮的色调及疤痕都显而易见。它们回声定位的叫声在我们的脑中震动着。   

它们或绕圈、或旋转，排成一个队形游开。潜水者吐出的空气形成一片气泡帷幕，海豚游进这片帷幕后随即穿出，就像在表演一出超现实的芭蕾舞剧。   

蓝迪说：“你动作愈疯狂，它们就会靠你愈近。”他说得很对。    

在这种时候，潜水新手或许会觉得身不由己。你身处快速的水流中，与海豚冲撞……这一分钟你往上飘到水下15英尺处；下一分钟又会被带到低至60英尺的海中。   

当然，还有一些比较轻松的潜水。阿帕塔奇的鱼洞场是硬珊瑚与鱼类的园地；这里有白金非洲鳎参鱼、狮子鱼、各类笛鲷，还有一些鲽鱼及天使鱼也在其间穿梭。

 

尊贵的魟鱼   

很快地，魟鱼出现了。有二十几条，一些在水面上拍动，但有更多在水下前后扑来冲去。每条的直径动辄在12英尺上下。它们正对着我们游来，巨大白色的嘴巴是张开着的，为了捕食浮游生物，之后就从我们下方、上方或身旁游过去。   

一度，大约六七条魟鱼挤满了我相机的取景窗……翻转的鱼翼、鱼尾及不断张合的嘴。有几条的背上还吸附着?鱼，看起来好像白色的旗子。其中有一条甚至撞到了我，如丝绸般滑溜地擦过我的肩膀。

 

1 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• 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 squeaks   

n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The upper-middle-classes communicate with each other in inaudible squeaks, like bats. 那些上中层社会的人交谈起来象是蚊子在哼哼，你根本听不见。 来自辞典例句
• She always squeaks out her ideas when she is excited. 她一激动总是尖声说出自己的想法。 来自互联网

3 exhaled   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He sat back and exhaled deeply. 他仰坐着深深地呼气。
• He stamped his feet and exhaled a long, white breath. 跺了跺脚，他吐了口长气，很长很白。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

4 novice   

adj.新手的，生手的

参考例句：

• As a novice writer,this is something I'm interested in.作为初涉写作的人，我对此很感兴趣。
• She realized that she was a novice.她知道自己初出茅庐。

5 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

6 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

7 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

8 swooping   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
• And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东，一下子谈到西。

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

11 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

12 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

14 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

15 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。