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英语听力—环球英语 643 Counting Ocean Life, Part One

时间:2011-11-23 08:18来源:互联网 提供网友:fei   字体: [ ]
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  Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight1. I'm Ryan Geertsma.
Voice 2
And I'm Robin2 Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
"Take me out to sea, I want to go deep as can be
We have been looking up to stars and now the time has come
To Look to the Sea"
Voice 1
A singer named Maryann Camilleri wrote a song about the sea. In particular, she wrote it about human knowledge of the sea. We humans know more about the sky and the stars above than we know about the deep seas on our own planet. So Maryann sings,
Voice 3
"Take me out to sea, I want to go deep as can be
We have been looking up to stars and now the time has come
To Look to the Sea"
Voice 2
Maryann wrote her song because she really liked a particular global science project. This project is called the Census3 of Marine4 Life. It is a huge project. It took ten years and 650 million dollars to complete. However, the results have been amazing. Today's Spotlight is the first of two programs about the Census of Marine Life.
Voice 4
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
Voice 1
A census is simply a count. Normally, a 'census' is an official count of the people who live in a country. It is when a government counts its citizens and gathers information about them.
Voice 2
In a similar way, the Census of Marine Life aims to count the creatures that live in the sea - that is, the marine life. Oceans cover 70% of the world. And most of the oceans are very deep - averaging four thousand meters below the surface.
Voice 1
People have fished, sailed and explored the world's oceans for thousands of years. However, until recently, we have had little knowledge about what lies below the ocean's surface. Before the Census, experts estimated that only 5% of ocean life had been explored.
Voice 2
The world's oceans are very important to human life. They provide food, work and on a very basic level, life. Half of the all the oxygen we breathe is provided by plants that grow in the oceans. In the 1990's, many of the world's ocean scientists became concerned. They worried that our knowledge about ocean life was lacking. They believed we needed to know much more. So, they began asking three big questions about ocean life.
Voice 5
"What lives in the oceans?"
Voice 6
"What lives where in the oceans?"
Voice 7
"How much of each kind of life lives?"
Voice 1
These basic questions are about the diversity, distribution and abundance5 of ocean life. The questions were the beginning of the Census of Marine Life. In 2000, marine scientists worldwide joined together to begin this major project. They agreed to spend ten years working together on research. In autumn 2010, they published their results. 2700 scientists from more than 80 nations had completed 540 explorations of the world's oceans.
Voice 2
Some of these trips explored the coasts. Others travelled deep into the unknown areas of the ocean floor. Together they tested millions of pieces of evidence and reported millions of results. All this information has begun to answer the basic questions asked by the world's marine scientists. The first question was about diversity -
Voice 5
"What lives in the oceans?"
Voice 1
The Census uncovered about six thousand marine species6 new to science. These species are different kinds of complex ocean life - plants, animals and fungi7. The Census also created a central list - a database8 of all known ocean life. There were nearly 200,000 species on the list in autumn 2010, but the scientists say there will be many more.
Voice 2
One discovery in the Mediterranean9 Sea was particularly amazing. Italian scientists indentified three new species. These organisms were very, very small - but they were also very special. They are the only known animals to live without oxygen! Paul Snelgrove is a marine Census scientist from Canada. He told National Public Radio about the importance of this discovery.
Voice 8
"Basic things we think are true about life in the ocean are not always correct. This is an example. We now know that there are animals that can live without oxygen."
Voice 1
The ocean is also full of hundreds of millions of single cell micro-organisms – microbes. Scientists have found that there are many more kinds of microbes in the ocean than they thought before the Census - a hundred times more! The Census has increased our knowledge of different kinds of life in the ocean - both big and small. But marine scientists know that they still have a lot to learn. In fact, they now believe that the ocean may have over one million species and even a thousand million kinds of microbes!
Voice 2
Diversity is one sign of a healthy ocean - but there are others. That is why scientists also asked:
Voice 6
"What lives where in the oceans?"
Voice 7
"And how much of each kind of life lives?"
Voice 1
Some kinds of life live almost everywhere in the world's oceans. However, other species live in very particular areas. So, the Census divided the world's oceans into 30 areas or regions. Scientists used their information to create 'maps' of ocean life in these regions. Not only did they map where different organisms lived, they also mapped where the organisms travelled.
Voice 2
The Census also measured how much of each kind of life lives in the ocean - its abundance. For larger organisms, scientists can count abundance by number. However, for many smaller organisms, scientists record abundance by weight. They found that microbes form 90% of all the ocean's biomass or 'living weight'. Microbes are extremely small organisms that live all through the oceans. In many places they cover the ocean floors. Together, the ocean's microbes weigh about the same as 16,000,000,000,000 people - that is sixteen million million!
Voice 1
All this information may seem unimportant10 for our everyday life. However, a recent accident showed just how important it can be. In April 2010, there was an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the ocean in the Gulf11 of Mexico. The explosion caused the largest oil spill in history. Many fishers in the area could no longer work. People could no longer eat sea food from this area. The spill not only affected12 the ocean life, it also affected local and even global economies.
Voice 2
Just a few months before the oil spill, the Census had finished its research on the Gulf of Mexico. The research recorded over 8000 species in that area. It also recorded where these species lived and how they travelled. After the spill, this basic information became very important. It has been key to understanding how the oil affected ocean life. Over the next few years, scientists can use this information to study the long-term effects of the oil spill. We will learn more about how human activity affects marine life, and how we can improve and repair ocean health.
 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 spotlight 6hBzmk     
n.公众注意的中心,聚光灯,探照灯,视听,注意,醒目
参考例句:
  • This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
  • The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。
2 robin Oj7zme     
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟
参考例句:
  • The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
  • We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟,知道春天要到了。
3 census arnz5     
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查
参考例句:
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
4 marine 77Izo     
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。
5 abundance wybz1     
n.大量,丰富,充足
参考例句:
  • At the feast there was food and drink in abundance.宴会上有丰富的饮食。
  • There is an abundance of commodity supplies on the markets.商品供应充足。
6 species FTizN     
n.物种,种群
参考例句:
  • Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗?
  • This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。
7 fungi 6hRx6     
n.真菌,霉菌
参考例句:
  • Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
  • The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。
8 database mvWzUj     
n.数据库 (=databank)
参考例句:
  • I discovered some new information in the database.我在资料库里发现了一些新信息。
  • We planned to build an online database.我们计划建一个联机数据库。
9 Mediterranean ezuzT     
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
10 unimportant OfHz34     
adj.不重要的,无意义的
参考例句:
  • Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
  • Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比,金钱显得微不足道。
11 gulf 1e0xp     
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
参考例句:
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
12 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
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