VOA慢速英语2016 大眼乌贼惊呆一众科学家

AS IT IS 2016-08-18 Scientists Go Crazy About a Big-Eyed Squid 大眼乌贼惊呆一众科学家

This is What’s Trending Today.

这里是《正在发生》节目。

Have you ever heard of a “googly-eyed, stubby squid?”Well, you have now.

你听说过“瞪着眼睛的矮胖乌贼”吗？嗯，你现在听说过了。

Scientists working to map the Pacific Ocean floor off the coast of North America found a purple squid with big eyes.The squid is called the Rossia Pacifica.

在北美沿海的太平洋海底进行测绘工作的科学家们发现了一只有着大眼睛的紫色乌贼。这是一只太平洋僧头乌贼。

It is only about six centimeters long.

它只有大约六厘米长。

The small sea creature was found at a depth of about 900 meters, off the coast of southern California.

这个小小的海洋生物是在加利福尼亚州南部海域水下约900米的地方被发现的。

Money for the mapping project comes the Ocean Exploration Trust.The trust was the idea of Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreckage¹ of the ship Titanic² in 1985.

测绘工程的钱来自于海洋探索信托基金机构。建立信托基金的想法是由罗伯特·巴拉德提出的，他在1985年发现了泰坦尼克号的残骸。

The scientists making the map are working on a large boat called the Nautilus.The Nautilus has remote-controlled roving vehicles that can explore the ocean floor.

进行测绘作业的科学家们在一条名为“鹦鹉螺号”的大船上工作。“鹦鹉螺号”拥有远程控制的探险车，可以在海底进行探测。

The researchers have a number of cameras, all of which are connected to the boat with fiber-optic cables⁴.When researchers found the brightly colored squid, they were very excited.

研究人员们有很多摄像机，每一部摄像机都用光纤电缆与船相连。当他们看到那只亮色的乌贼时，他们都非常兴奋。

You can see the excitement in a video posted to YouTube.It has more than one million views.You can hear the scientists saying "Whoa!What is that?He has weird⁵ eyes.”

他们兴奋的视频被上传到了YouTube视频网上。点击量已经超过了100万。你可以听到科学家们兴奋地喊道：“哇！那是什么？好奇怪的眼睛啊。”

The scientists are laughing.One of them jokingly suggests that the squid is actually a child’s toy dropped into the ocean by accident.

科学家们开始笑了起来。其中一个人开玩笑道：该乌贼实际上是被一个小孩不小心掉进海里的玩具。

It turns out the Rossia Pacifica uses its big eyes to look for shrimp⁶ that it can catch for food.

原来，太平洋僧头乌贼是用它的大眼睛寻找和捕捉海虾作为食物。

The Nautilus left from Canada in May and will complete its trip in September.

“鹦鹉螺号”于五月份在加拿大启程，将于九月份完成航程。

Words in This Story

squid – n. a sea creature that has a long, thin, soft body and 10 long arms

stubby – adj. short and thick

googly-eyed – adj. having eyes that stick out

remote-controlled – adj. a process or system that makes it possible to control something from a distance by using electronic signals

rover – n. a vehicle used for exploring the surface of a moon, planet⁷, etc.

fiber-optic cable³ – n. a rope of wires made from thin threads of glass or plastic to carry very large amounts of information in the form of light signals

weird – adj. unusual or strange

shrimp – n. a small shellfish that has a long body and legs and that is eaten as food

1 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

2 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

3 cable   

n.缆绳，索；电缆；电报；vt.电汇，打电报

参考例句：

• Don't forget to cable us as soon as you arrive.别忘了一到就给我发个电报。
• The worker attached a cable.工人连接电缆。

4 cables   

n.电报( cable的名词复数 )；电缆；（系船用的）缆绳；（船只、桥梁等上的）巨缆

参考例句：

• Use the crocodile clips to attach the cables to the battery. 用鳄鱼嘴夹把电缆接到蓄电池上。
• Please don't touch these metal cables inside a plastic sleeve. 请不要碰那些套着塑料管的金属电缆。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

7 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。