万物简史 第403期:浩瀚的海洋(22)

In the 1970s, fishermen from Australia and, to a lesser¹ extent, New Zealand 20世纪70年代，澳大利亚渔民，在较小范围内还有新西兰渔民，

discovered shoals of a little-known fish living at a depth of about half a mile on their continental² shelves. 在他们大陆架的大约800米深处发现了大群大群的一种不大知名的鱼。

They were known as orange roughy, they were delicious, and they existed in huge numbers. 那种鱼叫做似蹲连鳍蛙，味道鲜美，大量存在。

In no time at all, fishing fleets were hauling in forty thousand metric tons of roughy a year. 捕鱼船队马上以每年4万吨的量开始捕捞。

Then marine³ biologists made some alarming discoveries. 接着，海洋生物学家们有了几项惊人的发现。

Roughy are extremely long lived and slow maturing. 连鳍蛙寿命极长，成熟极慢。

Some may be 150 years old; any roughy you have eaten may well have been born when Victoria was Queen. 有的能活150年，你餐桌上的任何连鳍蛙很可能都出生在维多利亚当女王的时候。

Roughy have adopted this exceedingly unhurried lifestyle because the waters they live in are so resource-poor. 连鳍蛙之所以过着这种不慌不忙的生活，是因为它们所生活的水域缺少营养，

In such waters, some fish spawn⁴ just once in a lifetime. 在那种水域里，有的鱼一辈子才产一次卵。

Clearly these are populations that cannot stand a great deal of disturbance⁵. 显而易见，这种鱼经不起太多干扰。

Unfortunately, by the time this was realized the stocks had been severely⁶ depleted⁷. 不幸的是，等到明白过来，储量已经太幅度减少。

Even with careful management it will be decades before the populations recover, if they ever do. 即使在管理良好情况下，连鳍蛙也要过几十年才能恢复原来的数量，如果能恢复的话。

Elsewhere, however, the misuse⁸ of the oceans has been more wanton than inadvertent. 然而，在别的地方，滥用海洋不能再说是粗心大意，而是达到了肆无忌惮的程度。

Many fishermen "fin⁹" sharks—that is, slice their fins¹⁰ off, then dump them back into the water to die. 许多渔民为鲨鱼“切”鳍——即割去鲨鱼的鳍，然后把鲨鱼扔回水里，任凭它们死去。

In 1998, shark fins sold in the Far East for over $250 a pound. A bowl of shark fin soup retailed¹¹ in Tokyo for $100. 1998年，鱼翅在远东卖到110多美元1千克，一碗鱼翅汤在东京的零售价是100美元。

The World Wildlife Fund estimated in 1994 that the number of sharks killed each year was between 40 million and 70 million. 世界野生动物基金会在1994年估计，每年被杀的鲨鱼数量在4000万—7000万条之间。

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

2 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

5 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

8 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

9 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

10 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句

11 retailed   

vt.零售（retail的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She retailed the neighbours' activities with relish. 她饶有兴趣地对邻居们的活动说三道四。
• The industrial secrets were retailed to a rival concern. 工业秘密被泄露给一家对立的公司。 来自《简明英汉词典》