新奇事件簿 俄罗斯草原鹰欠下巨额话费

Scientists in Russia got a shock when their phone bill arrived. The bill was a lot bigger than they expected it to be. The reason was because the steppe eagle they were following in their research flew too far from Russia. The scientists were tracking the eagle as it migrated¹ across the European and Asian continents. The bird had SMS transmitters fitted to its body. This meant that when it flew outside Russia, the transmitters used the Internet services of other countries. The scientists thus had to pay data roaming² charges. These are the charges you pay to use your mobile³ phone in other countries. The research team ran out of money after the eagle flew to Iran and Pakistan.

俄罗斯科学家收到电话费账单时大吃一惊。账单比他们预期的要多得多。原因是他们在研究追踪的草原鹰飞得离俄罗斯太远了。科学家们一直在追踪这只迁徙去欧洲和亚洲大陆的鹰。这只鸟身上装了短信信号传送器。这意味着当它飞离俄罗斯时，信号传送器使用的就是其他国家的网络服务。因此科学家们不得不支付数据漫游费，这些是你在其他国家使用手机所支付的费用。这只鹰飞到伊朗和巴基斯坦后，研究团队的钱就花光了。

The team started a page on a crowdfunding site to help raise money to pay the bill. The page was called "Top up the eagle's mobile". Bird lovers⁴ from around the world contributed money to the page. The scientists raised $1,600 to pay the bill. Russia's mobile phone operator⁵ Megafon then heard of the scientists' problems and offered to cancel the debt. It also moved the team's phone package to one at a cheaper rate. The problem for the team started when the eagle flew outside of Russia and Kazakhstan. An SMS in Kazakhstan cost 30 US cents, but one from Iran cost 50 cents. A scientist said he wanted the eagle to continue sending SMS data to help his project, which will help protect all steppe eagles.

该团队在一个众筹网站上创建了一个页面，帮助筹集资金支付账单。该页面叫做“Top up the eagle's mobile”。来自世界各地的鸟类爱好者都为这个网页捐款。科学家们筹集了1600美元支付账单。随后俄罗斯移动手机运营商Megafon听说了这些科学家的问题，并提出取消所欠费用。该公司还以更便宜的价格变更了该团队的手机套餐。当这只鹰飞出俄罗斯和哈萨克斯坦时，这个团队的问题就开始了。在哈萨克斯坦发一条短信30美分，但接收来自伊朗的短信则需50美分。一名科学家表示他希望这只老鹰继续发送短信数据以为他的项目提供帮助，该项目将帮助保护所有草原鹰。

1 migrated   

v.迁移，移往( migrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Pioneers from New England migrated to all parts of the United States. 来自新英格兰的拓荒者移居到美国各地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Great herds of buffalo migrated across the plains. 大群野牛迁徙过平原。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 roaming   

随便走( roam的现在分词 )； 漫步； 眼睛或手 （缓慢地）扫遍； 摸遍

参考例句：

• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Canada. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在加拿大定居了下来。
• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Quebec. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在魁北克定居了下来。

3 mobile   

adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体

参考例句：

• The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
• She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后，活动量就大多了。

4 lovers   

爱好者( lover的名词复数 )； 情人； 情夫； 情侣

参考例句：

• They were off-screen lovers. 他们是真实生活中的情侣。
• Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧和朱丽叶这一对莎士比亚笔下命运多舛的恋人

5 operator   

n.（机器、设备等的）操作员；电话接线员

参考例句：

• He is a computer operator.他是个电脑操作员。
• The telephone operator connected us.话务员给我们接通了电话。