【英语时差8,16】鱼，鱼，音乐鱼

 

 

Don: Today on "A Moment of Science," herring make sounds when passing gas...

 

Yaël: Don, be serious!

 

D: I am serious, Yaël! The Atlantic herring is one of the most abundant fish on Earth!The silvery foot-long fish live in huge schools of thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals.

 

Fishermen have long known that herring schools can release large clouds of bubbles that are visible from the surface. The bubbles are released through the anal opening, connected to the fish's swim bladder.

 

Y: What's a swim bladder?

 

D: It's a special, gas-filled organ that helps regulate buoyancy. Herring gulp¹ air at the surface and store it in their swim bladders. It's also long been known that herring make chirp-like sounds, especially when startled or in danger, but biologists didn't know how these chirps² were produced.

 

Y: I think I know where this is heading!

 

D: Yep! A pair of Danish biologists recorded herring housed in special pressurized tanks 

that replicated³ conditions at the ocean depths where herring are found. They discovered that the chirping⁴ sounds were actually produced by air release from the  swim bladder during the bubble production -- the first report of sound production by gas release in fishes.

 

Y: So the chirps are just a by-product⁵ of passing gas?

 

D: That is what's intriguing⁶ scientists, since the bubbles are released by the fish in response to stress, and occur whether the fish are ascending⁷ or descending⁸, they don't think that it's simply part of controlling buoyancy.

 

Some scientists speculate that the sound and bubbles might work as a visual and  acoustic screen to confuse predators⁹, but more studies are needed to determine if the  chirping bubbles have a behavioral function or not.   

 

1 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

2 chirps   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的第三人称单数 )； 啾； 啾啾

参考例句：

• The linnet chirps her vernal song. 红雀吱喳鸣叫着她春天的歌。
• She heard nothing but the chirps and whirrs of insects. 除了虫的鸣叫声外，她什么也没听见。

3 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

4 chirping   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫，把我们吵醒了。
• The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。

5 by-product   

n.副产品，附带产生的结果

参考例句：

• Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.自由是经济盈余的副产品。
• The raw material for the tyre is a by-product of petrol refining.制造轮胎的原材料是提炼汽油时产生的一种副产品。

6 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ascending   

adj.上升的，向上的

参考例句：

• Now draw or trace ten dinosaurs in ascending order of size.现在按照体型由小到大的顺序画出或是临摹出10只恐龙。

8 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

9 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》