万物简史 第399期:浩瀚的海洋(18)

 It was all quite extraordinarily¹ sloppy². 这种事于得真是马虎。

Most of the drums were exactly the sort you see rusting³ behind gas stations or standing⁴ outside factories, with no protective linings⁵ of any type. 大多数的桶就是我们堆放在加油站后面或在工厂外面生锈的那种桶，根本没有任何保护性内衬。

When they failed to sink, which was usually, Navy gunners riddled⁶ them with bullets to let water in (and, of course, plutonium, uranium, and strontium out). 要是桶没有沉下去（而情况通常就是那样），海军枪手的子弹会打得它们千疮百孔，把海水放进去（当然还会把钚，铀和锶放出来）。

Before it was halted in the 1990s, 到20世纪90年代这佯的倾倒停止以前，

the United States had dumped many hundreds of thousands of drums into about fifty ocean sites—almost fifty thousand of them in the Farallons alone. 美国已经在海洋上大约50个地点倾倒了几千几万桶这类垃圾——光在硅拉龙群岛海域就倾倒了大约5万桶。

But the U.S. was by no means alone. 但是，干这种事的绝不止美国一个国家。

Among the other enthusiastic dumpers were Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and nearly all the nations of Europe. 干得起劲的国家当中还有俄罗斯、中国、日本、新西兰和几乎所有的欧洲国家。

And what effect might all this have had on life beneath the seas? 这一切对海洋里的生物会有什么影响？

Well, little, we hope, but we actually have no idea. 哎呀，但愿很小，但我们真的不清楚。

We are astoundingly, sumptuously⁷, radiantly ignorant of life beneath the seas. 我们派头很大，盲目乐观，对海洋里的生物全然无知，这是令人吃惊的。

Even the most substantial ocean creatures are often remarkably⁸ little known to us—including the most mighty⁹ of them all, the great blue whale, 我们连对海洋里最大的生物也往往不可思议地了解甚少——其中包括最最巨大的蓝鲸。

a creature of such leviathan proportions that (to quote David Attenborough) its "tongue weighs as much as an elephant, 这种庞然大物如此之大，（引用戴维·阿登堡禄的话来说）它的“舌头重如大象，

its heart is the size of a car and some of its blood vessels¹⁰ are so wide that you could swim down them." 心脏大似汽车，有的血管大得你可以在里面游泳”。

It is the most gargantuan¹¹ beast that Earth has yet produced, bigger even than the most cumbrous dinosaurs¹². 它是地球上有过的最大的动物，比最大的恐龙还要大。

Yet the lives of blue whales are largely a mystery to us. 然而，蓝鲸的生活对我们来说在很大程度上是个谜。

Much of the time we have no idea where they are—where they go to breed, for instance, or what routes they follow to get there. 在许多时间里我们不知道它们的去向——比如，它们是去哪里产崽的，它们是从哪条路线去那里的。

1 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

2 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

3 rusting   

n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There was an old rusting bolt on the door. 门上有一个生锈的旧门闩。 来自辞典例句
• Zinc can be used to cover other metals to stop them rusting. 锌可用来涂在其他金属表面以防锈。 来自辞典例句

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 linings   

n.衬里( lining的名词复数 )；里子；衬料；组织

参考例句：

• a pair of leather gloves with fur linings 一双毛皮衬里的皮手套
• Many of the garments have the customers' name tags sewn into the linings. 这些衣服有很多内衬上缝有顾客的姓名签。 来自辞典例句

6 riddled   

adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式)

参考例句：

• The beams are riddled with woodworm. 这些木梁被蛀虫蛀得都是洞。
• The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 sumptuously   

奢侈地，豪华地

参考例句：

• The hall was sumptuously decorated. 大厅装饰得富丽堂皇。
• This government building is sumptuously appointed. 这座政府办公大楼布置得极为豪华。

8 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

9 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

10 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

12 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》