VOA常速英语2019--研究显示鲸鱼鼻涕可体现健康状况

A water-proof drone is being used by Australian scientists to collect the highly-treasured nasal mucus of migrating whales. The snot is rich with fresh DNA¹, viruses and bacteria, and is collected by a drone that hovers² over the blowholes of humpback whales as they embark³ on their epic⁴ annual journey along Australia's east coast. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

澳大利亚科学家正在使用防水无人机来收集极为宝贵的鼻涕，这些鼻涕来源于迁徙中的鲸鱼。鼻涕里富含新鲜的DNA（脱氧核糖核酸）、病毒、细菌。鼻涕是由无人机收集的。无人机就盘旋在座头鲸上方的气孔处。收集期间正值鲸鱼们开启年度史诗级之旅——沿着澳大利亚东海岸迁徙。下面请听我台记者菲尔从悉尼发回的报道。

Whales, like all mammals need air, and come to the surface to breathe through a blowhole.

鲸鱼和所有哺乳动物一样，都需要空气。鲸鱼来到水面呼吸是通过气孔实现的。

Vanessa Pirotta, a marine⁵ biologist at Macquarie University, says that nasal mucus indicates the health of the whale.

瓦内萨是澳大利亚麦考瑞大学的一名海洋生物学家。她表示，鼻涕可以体现鲸鱼的健康状况。

It is the juicy biological mixture that you see as a whale takes a breath as they surface from the water, she said. You often see that plume⁶ and it sounds like this like sounds of sharp breaths as a whale breathes because, after all, they are mammals like you and I and they have two nostrils⁷, and it is the humpback whale that I am talking about. So as they take a breath it is a lot of lung bacteria coming out from their lungs, which we can collect to provide a snapshot of whale health.

鼻涕是一种液态的生物混合物。看到鼻涕一般是在鲸鱼浮上水面呼吸的时候，她如是说道。鼻涕在鲸鱼身上是很常见的，鲸鱼呼吸时发出的声音很像鲨鱼呼吸的声音，因为毕竟它们跟你我一样同属哺乳动物，都有两个鼻孔。不过，我这里特指座头鲸哦。它们呼吸的时候，肺部有很多细菌涌出，我们可以收集这些细菌来了解鲸鱼的健康概况。

Australian researchers have attached a petri dish that is used in scientific tests to a drone which flies through the whale’s nasal mist.

澳大利亚研究人员带了一个有盖培养皿，有盖培养皿用于有关无人机的科学试验中。而无人机可以收集鲸鱼的鼻涕。

Vanessa Pirotta again.

下面这段话依然是瓦内萨所说的。

As a whale comes to take a breath — you can actually see it coming to the surface on really good weather days that is — the drone then lowers, the petri dish is then opened and the drone is flown through the densest⁸ part of the whale snot, collecting the sample in the petri dish. Now once this happens the lid is shut and the drone is flown back to the research vessel⁹ and we collect the sample to later process it in the laboratory.

鲸鱼浮上水面呼吸时——一般好天气的时候，鲸鱼都会浮上水面来——无人机会降低高度，有盖培养皿会打开，然后无人机会飞过鲸鱼鼻涕最浓的地方，在有盖培养皿中收集鼻涕的样本。这些操作过后，有盖培养皿的盖子会合上，无人机会飞回考察船中。而我们收集的样品会用于实验室的处理。

The research could help to solve one of the mysteries of another magnificent creature of the deep — the Southern right whale. Its numbers have recovered on Australia’s west coast since hunting was outlawed¹⁰ but its population on the eastern seaboard remains¹¹ stubbornly low.

这样的研究可以助力解决深海中另一大型物种的一个谜题，这个物种就是南露脊鲸。澳大利亚西海岸的南露脊鲸数量已经有所恢复，这是因为狩猎南露脊鲸已经被列为非法行为。不过，南露脊鲸在东海岸的数量依然极低。

In the past studies into whale health had to rely on examining whales that were either killed or those whales that had been stranded¹² on a beach.

过去关于鲸鱼健康状况的研究只能依赖于检测鲸鱼，而且检测的对象一般不是遭到了杀害就是在海滩上搁浅了。

Drones allow scientists to collect samples from free-swimming whales to gather information in a safe and non-invasive way.

无人机的使用让科学家可以收集自由游动的鲸鱼鼻涕样本，这种收集信息的方式更安全，入侵性更弱。

1 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

2 hovers   

鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovers in the sky. 一只老鹰在天空盘旋。
• A hen hovers her chicks. 一只母鸡在孵小鸡。

3 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

4 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

5 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。

6 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

7 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

8 densest   

密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的

参考例句：

• Past Botoi some of the densest jungle forests on Anopopei grew virtually into the water. 过了坊远湾，岛上的莽莽丛林便几乎直长到水中。
• Earth is the densest of all of these remaining planets. 地球是所剩下行星中最致密的星球。

9 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

10 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。