新奇事件簿 世界最丑生物

Most people do not know what a blobfish is. It is the world's ugliest animal. It is also the new mascot¹ of the Ugly Animal Preservation² Society (UAPS). The UAPS asked 11 celebrities³ and comedians⁴ to make a short video on what they thought was the ugliest creature on Earth. Thousands of people voted to decide the winner. UAPS president Simon Watt⁵ said he didn't want to use a cute animal as the society's mascot. He wanted people to know that not-so-cute animals are also in danger. Mr Watt said: "We've needed an ugly face for endangered animals for a long time…For too long the cute and fluffy⁶ animals have taken the limelight." He thinks the blobfish will make people remember the uglier animals.

绝大多数人对水滴鱼并不了解。它是世界上最丑的动物。它还是“丑陋动物保护协会”的吉祥物。该协会还邀请了11位名人和喜剧演员就“谁是最丑陋生物”制作了简短录像。数千名民众进行了投票。“丑陋动物保护协会”主席西蒙·瓦特称作为协会吉祥物，它不应该是可爱美丽的。他想让大家了解的是许多濒危动物不怎么好看。瓦特先生称：“我们需要一种丑陋动物来为濒危动物代言，那些软绵绵的可爱动物总是备受人们关注。”他认为水滴鱼将让人们记住那些丑陋的动物。

Blobfish live in the seas and oceans near Australia and New Zealand. They stay largely on the seabed or ocean floor between 600 to 1,200 metres deep. They can grow up to 30 centimetres long. They have very large heads, small bodies and thin tails. Their name comes from the fact that they look like a large blob of jelly. This is because they have no muscles. They float in the water and swallow things that swim past them, like small crabs⁷ and shellfish. Even though humans do not eat blobfish (they are inedible), fishermen accidentally kill thousands each year. They are caught in the nets of fishing boats. Scientists are worried that this will put the blobfish on the list of endangered animals.

水滴鱼生活在澳大利亚和新西兰海域。绝大多数栖息在河床或是600-1200深的海底。它们能够长到30厘米长。水滴鱼的头很大，身形很小，尾巴纤细。由于它们看上去像是一团果冻，所以起名为水滴鱼。还因为它们没有肌肉。它们会吃掉从它们身边游过的生物，例如小螃蟹以及贝壳类生物。尽管人们不食用水滴鱼（无法食用），但是每年渔夫还是会在不经意间杀害上千条水滴鱼。它们被捕鱼船所捕捞。让科学家担心的是，水滴鱼将被纳入濒危动物名单之中。

1 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

2 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

3 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

4 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

5 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

6 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

7 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》