TED演讲：揭露海底惊奇(2)

 　　But I want to jump up to shallow water now and look at some creatures that are positively¹ amazing.  不过我现在还是想说说浅水里的世界，来看看那些神奇的生物。

　　Cephalopods -- head-foots. As a kid I knew them as calamari, mostly. 头足类动物，有头有角。小时候我把他们当作是枪乌贼。

　　This is an octopus². This is the work of Dr. Roger Hanlon at the Marine³ Biological Lab,  这是一条章鱼。这是来自Roger Hanlon博士海洋生物实验室的成果。

　　and it's just fascinating how cephalopods can, with their incredible eyes, sense their surroundings, look at light, look at patterns.  这些头足类动物真令人着迷，它用它们的眼睛，它们那难以置信的眼睛来观察周围的环境，看光，看图案。

　　Here's an octopus moving across the reef, finds a spot to settle down, curls up and then disappears into the background. Tough thing to do. 这有只章鱼正在穿过礁石。找到一个位置，停下来，卷起，然后马上消失在背景之中。这很难做到。

　　In the next bit, we're going to see a couple squid.  接下来，再来一起看一对鱿鱼。

　　Now males, when they fight, if they're really aggressive, they turn white. 当雄性鱿鱼搏斗时，如果它们想要显示出自己的侵略性，它们就变为白色了。

　　And these two males are fighting. They do it by bouncing their butts⁴ together, which is an interesting concept.  这有两条雄鱿鱼在搏斗。它们用撞屁股的方式来搏斗，真是挺有意思的方法。

　　Now, here's a male on the left and a female on the right,  这里有一条雄性在左边，雌性在右边。

　　and the male has managed to split his coloration so the female only always sees the kinder, gentler squid in him. 看，这条雄性能有办法利用颜色把自己分为两半，所以雌性只能看到它温顺，优雅的一边。

　　Let's take a look at it again. Watch the coloration: white on the right, brown on the left.  再来看一次。让我们再看一次。注意它的颜色：白色在右边，棕色在左边。

　　He takes a step back, he's keeping off the other males by splitting his body, and comes up on the other side -- Bingo!  它后退一步，让其它的雄性无法靠近，来到另外一边，并且马上转换颜色。瞧！

　　Now, I'm told that's not not just a squid phenomenon with males, but I don't know. 以前有人告诉我这个雄性特征不仅仅是在鱿鱼身上，不过我也不太确定。

1 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

2 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

3 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。

4 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。