英语听力精选进阶版 6455（在线收听）

Here's a hotel worth writing home about: a company in Poland plans to build tourist accommodation under the sea. The structure can be towed to a suitable location and placed on supports on the sea bed.

The 'Water Discus' will be made up of an underwater disc containing 22 bedrooms with sea views, connected by lift and stairs to a disc above the surface containing other hotel facilities.

Robert Bursiewicz, a project manager at Deep Ocean Technology, says: "Nowadays it's possible to build submarines which go deeper than 500m below the sea surface, so building an underwater hotel is not a problem."

In fact, they don't plan to have the hotel very deep. Water acts like a filter for sunlight, and below 15m most colours, apart from blue, are washed out. And we all want to see colourful marine life, don't we?

But this isn't the first hotel to offer underwater views from the bedrooms. The two-bedroom Jules' Undersea Lodge, off the coast of Florida, has been taking in guests 10m beneath the surface since 1986.

The company that operates the hotel also runs a course on scuba diving for beginners to help get guests down and into the hotel. It is accessible only through an opening at the bottom.

And you'll find all the usual amenities in the room, according to Teresa McKinna, Jules's chief financial officer. It has a television, air conditioning and wi-fi. But for the staff, simple things like cleaning and changing bed linen can be challenging, since the lodge is submerged in sea water.

"It actually takes quite a lot of work to get anything down there," she says. "We have to put everything in waterproof boxes and attach weights to them to counter their buoyancy."

The hotel has suitably sized waterproof boxes so that pizzas can be delivered by divers to guests who order them for their evening meal.

And after a meal, if you can't sleep because of the excitement of the experience, you don't have to count sheep. You'll fall asleep quicker if you count fish.

Quiz 测验

1. How many bedrooms will the new hotel have?

Twenty two.

2. Why won't the hotel be very deep in the water?

Because most colours look washed out below 15m underwater and guests would miss out on colourful marine life.

3. How are the meals taken to guests in Jules' Undersea Lodge?

Divers take the meals in waterproof boxes.

4. What four expressions refer to a place in the water?

Underwater, below the sea surface, beneath the surface, submerged.

5. Which expression refers to the tendency of objects to sit on the surface of water?

Buoyancy.

Glossary 词汇表

to tow （用车或船）拖拉

the sea bed 海床，海底

underwater 水下的

a submarine 一艘潜水艇

a filter 一个过滤器

washed out 被水冲走

marine life 海洋生物

scuba diving 潜水

accessible 可进入的

wi-fi 无线局域网

submerged 在水中的，水下的

waterproof 防水的

buoyancy 浮力

a diver 潜水员

to count sheep 数羊（以帮助入睡）