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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:
 
A shark swims above a diver during a feeding demonstration1 at the Two Oceans Aquarium2 in Cape3 Town, South Africa, in 2006

And I’m Shirley Griffith. This week, we tell about sharks. They are among the world's most feared animals. But studies show that sharks are in far more danger from people than people are from sharks.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

An Austrian man was diving in the Bahamas Islands two months ago when he was bitten by a shark. Markus Groh was taking part in a sport known as shark diving. He died in a hospital a day after the attack.

Many people fear sharks. But others put on underwater diving equipment and swim in search of the big fish. They want to observe the shark in its own environment.

VOICE TWO:

You may have seen shark diving on television. If so, you know that some divers4 observe the animals from the safety of a steel cage or container. Or they wear special equipment made of metal.

But some divers have no extra protection when they watch sharks. A few swim in waters containing food. People drop it in the water to bring fish close to them.

Reports say Markus Groh was in the water with food when he was bitten. His death is the first deadly attack during shark feeding recorded by the International Shark Attack File. But the group has reported many injuries in the sport.

VOICE ONE:

Many shark divers say it is exciting to swim near the animals. They are likely to dismiss any danger. Those who like shark diving say it increases people’s interest in sharks.

Such persons say it helps the public understand how important the animals are to the environment. They say it makes people want to protect sharks at a time when some kinds of shark are dying out.

Some ocean experts criticize shark diving that involves feeding the animals. They say the fish can become aggressive after having contact with the people feeding them. They say feeding sharks is bad for both animals and human beings. The American state of Florida seemingly agrees. Florida banned the feeding of all sea life, including sharks, in two thousand one.

VOICE TWO:

Several companies offer diving trips near the Bahamas Islands. That is where Markus Groh died. Jim Abernethy’s Scuba5 Adventures organized the diving trip taken by the Austrian man. The company has provided passenger boat trips for divers in the Bahamas for several years.

Last year, the Bahamas Diving Association criticized such trips. The group wrote to Mister Abernethy’s company and others like it. The Association asked that they stop taking people to shark dives without protective cages. It also proposed an end to cageless dives in open waters with possibly dangerous sharks.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Markus Groh’s death brought criticism of this kind of shark diving. But a group called Shark Savers has praised Jim Abernethy and his company.

The group says Mister Abernethy is an ambassador of protection of sharks in the Bahamas. Shark Savers says he brings public attention to sharks’ importance in the environment. It says Mister Abernethy’s work helps warn people of the danger that some sharks could disappear from Earth.

Shark Savers operates a Web site called Sharksavers.org. It has asked people to add their names in support of cageless shark diving in the Bahamas. The Web site also contains a list of supporters of shark diving in general.

VOICE TWO:

But an activist6 organization opposes the feeding of sharks. The Marine7 Safety Group led the movement for the Florida ban on feeding sharks and other water creatures.

The head of the group, Bob Dimond, says sharks normally do not want to be with people. But their excellent sense of smell leads them to food. The smell also causes more sharks than normal to enter the same waters. Mister Dimond says the presence of many sharks increases risk to humans.

He adds that shark feeders do not face the most danger from the animals. Instead, people who come near a shark later face the greater threat. By then, he says the fish has linked people with food.

VOICE ONE:

George Burgess heads the International Shark Attack File and the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. He also opposes the feeding of sharks. He supports watching them doing normal activities in their natural surroundings.
 

A Florida beach closed in 2005 after a boy was attacked by a shark

Professor Burgess notes that hundreds of millions of people use the world’s oceans. He says this has caused shark attacks to increase during the past century. Still, the Shark Attack File reported only one deadly shark attack last year. The victim was skin-diving off Tonga.

Professor Burgess says the total number of shark attack deaths through two thousand seven was the lowest in twenty years. He says people have more to fear from some snakes, insects and lightning than from sharks. Taken together, shark attacks are far from the most dangerous threats to humans.

VOICE TWO:

The International Shark Attack File describes shark attacks as either provoked or unprovoked. An unprovoked attack means the person is alive when bitten. The person is in the shark's environment. Also, the person must not have interfered8 with the shark. Professor Burgess says the death of Markus Groh will surely be recorded as provoked.

Surprisingly, the International Shark Attack File has records of attacks back to the sixteenth century. How does the group know about attacks hundreds of years ago? With some difficulty, says the professor. His volunteer team of researchers investigates reports. They study old newspapers, books and historic documents. He also says the media provide stories about shark bites. And people who have observed attacks communicate with his team.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Many people think of sharks as a deadly enemy. But these fish help the environment. They perform activities that help people. They eat injured and diseased fish. Their hunting means that the many other fish in ocean waters do not become too great. This protects other creatures and plants in the oceans. Sharks also may someday be valuable for treatment of human diseases.

During a recent year, business and sport fishing killed an estimated one million or more sharks. Most sharks reproduce only every two years and give birth to fewer than ten young. For this reason, over-fishing of sharks is a danger to the future of the animal.

Julia Baum of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography worries that some sharks may disappear from Earth. She has noted9 major decreases in sharks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

VOICE TWO:

Miz Baum and scientist Ransom10 Meyers carried out studies for Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Their work showed special danger to large coastal11 sharks. Populations of tiger, scalloped hammerhead, bull and dusky sharks all had dropped by ninety five percent over five years. The two researchers placed most blame on intensive fishing. This overfishing included catching12 sharks by mistake.

Some scientists say about half of the thousands of sharks caught each year were not the target of the fishing. But no one really knows whether these sharks would survive if they returned to the water.

VOICE ONE:

People hunt sharks for sport, food, medicine and shark skin. Collectors pay thousands of dollars for the jawbones of a shark. Shark liver oil is a popular source of Vitamin A. Sharkskin can be used like the skin of other animals.

Some people enjoy a soup made from shark meat. The popularity of the soup has grown greatly over the years. Today, fishing companies can earn a lot of money for even one kilogram of shark fins14. Some restaurants serve shark fin13 soup for one hundred dollars a bowl.

Finning15, as it is called, means cutting the fins off a live shark. Some areas ban finning. But illegal shark-fishing is big business.

Fishermen often cut off the shark’s fins and throw the animal back into the water. The shark is left to bleed to death to save space on the boat.

In two thousand four, sixty-three nations approved laws to protect sharks. Some rules are effective near land. But, as George Burgess notes, laws are difficult to enforce on the international waters of the high seas.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Mario Ritter. I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Internet users can read our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
2 aquarium Gvszl     
n.水族馆,养鱼池,玻璃缸
参考例句:
  • The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
  • I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天,我要和父母一起到水族馆去。
3 cape ITEy6     
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
参考例句:
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
4 divers hu9z23     
adj.不同的;种种的
参考例句:
  • He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人,要他们和他作伴。
  • Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作,同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。
5 scuba YjDzRf     
n.水中呼吸器
参考例句:
  • I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
  • While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
6 activist gyAzO     
n.活动分子,积极分子
参考例句:
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
7 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。
8 interfered 71b7e795becf1adbddfab2cd6c5f0cff     
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
参考例句:
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
10 ransom tTYx9     
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救
参考例句:
  • We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
  • The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。
11 coastal WWiyh     
adj.海岸的,沿海的,沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
  • This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
12 catching cwVztY     
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
参考例句:
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
13 fin qkexO     
n.鳍;(飞机的)安定翼
参考例句:
  • They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
  • The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。
14 fins 6a19adaf8b48d5db4b49aef2b7e46ade     
[医]散热片;鱼鳍;飞边;鸭掌
参考例句:
  • The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关,与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
  • Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句
15 finning 46406f087517b35b6fea96d176f35d98     
n.鱼鳍式划水(仰卧水面,两脚并拢,两手放身旁上下拍水使身体向头的方向移动)
参考例句:
  • Fish could be sighted finning near the surface. 我们可以看到鱼把鳍露出水面。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • A shark was finning around the surface of the ocean. 一条鲨鱼把鳍露出海面游动。 来自互联网

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