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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Dusty: Yes.
Mike: You're kind of a marine biologist.
Dusty: Mm-hm.
Mike: You've mentioned before yesterday, we're at the aquarium2, you mentioned that you've done work with sea turtles in helping3 sea turtles. Can you tell me what you were doing there?
Dusty: Yeah. Well, when I was in university, during the first two summers of my university, I would go to Greece, and I worked at a sea turtle rehabilitation4 center.
Mike: Wow.
Dusty: Basically, I kind of worked like a sea turtle nurse. So I went out, give injections to turtles that were sick, and help sew up wounds, and basically, just do first aid for sea turtles.
Dusty: All the time. Actually, I found that helpful a lot.
Mike: What kind of care do sea turtles require?
Dusty: Well basically, what happens is when a sea turtle gets sick, their defense6 mechanism7 is that they just float, you know. They're not fish; they can't breathe water.
Mike: Right.
Dusty: So for them, it's better to be on the surface.
Mike: Okay.
Dusty: Sometimes, kind fishermen find them, or people on the beach find them, and they bring it to us. The first thing we do is we give them a freshwater bath, because, you know, sea turtles live in saltwater, so all their parasites8 are things that are used to being in saltwater. So when you give them the freshwater, that kills most of them. We get some of the barnacles, clean up their shells a bit, and try and see what the injury was.
After that, we put them usually on - give them vitamin injections to kind of get their systems up a bit. And then, we take them to a professional vet9 if they're really badly injured. The most common things we found were fish hooks stuck in throats.
Mike: Wow!
Dusty: Or sometimes, they'd swallow things. Sea turtles will eat anything.
Mike: Really?
Dusty: Yeah. The amount of cigarette butts10 you'll find coming out of one sea turtle is incredible. You'd think they were chain smokers12.
Mike: Holy smoke! Holy smoke is right, I guess. What was the worst sea turtle kind of situation that you found?
Dusty: You know, one of the things, apparently13, in Greece - and I don't know if it still goes on; it's just almost ten years ago - but apparently, it's bad luck to catch a sea turtle in your nets, and so they try to kill the turtles. Not all fishermen, but many fishermen would try to injure the turtles. It's really hard to kill one. They only use what they had on the boat, which meant their boots or their fish hooks or their knives, or what not. They're tough creatures.
So we had one turtle came in, who's head had just been split open. You know, it looked like someone had opened a book all the way, and you could see its skull14 and even a section of its brain. And they've gouged15 out, I think, one of its eyes. It was not in a good shape. The kind of sad thing is that, you know, the best thing to do would be to euthanize the turtle, but we're not allowed to do that because they're threatened or endangered species. So you have to get permission from the government first to do it, and they have to - yeah.
Mike: Wow! Sounds like a process. I'm assuming that the turtle didn't make it out too well.
Dusty: No. Yeah, that one's been set down. It's really a hard choice, you know.
Mike: Yeah. I got to understand that. Any happy turtle stories?
Dusty: Yup, lots of happy turtle stories, too. A lot of times, we get turtles that come in with a flipper16 that's missing, and that's actually not a big deal.
Mike: Really?
Dusty: Yeah. They can survive with missing a flipper.
Mike: Really?
Dusty: Sometimes even two flippers, depending on which ones.
Mike: Really?
Dusty: It's kind of nice to rehabilitate17 them and see them go from when it's not eating and is very weak, within just a few months, be much stronger and ready to swim off.
Dusty: Actually, some scientists are looking to do that.
Mike: Really?
Dusty: Yeah. In Japan, there are scientists now that are working on making fake limbs for sea turtles. And that's one of the possibilities.
Mike: Fascinating stuff! Wow!
Dusty: Yeah. In one of the islands, the veterinarians there were using actual bird wings, like the bones inside them -
Mike: Really? Wow!
Dusty: --to help rebuild the sea turtle shells. Sea turtle shells will grow back, as well, if they're injured. We had one turtle that was missing about 15% of its shell from the back down. And we just watched in less than two months, a good chunk19 of that had grown back. Actually, it was really surprising.
Mike: How did it lose its shell?
Dusty: Probably a propeller20. Sea turtles - they're not very fast, and they're not very smart. And they tend to get hit by boats a lot, as well. So you'll see these big gashes21 in their shells sometimes.
Mike: Okay. So you won't see too many sea turtle mathematicians22.
Dusty: No. Sea turtle politicians, perhaps.
Mike: We got plenty of those, yes.
重点词汇：
Learn Vocabulary from the lesson
sew up wounds
We help sew up wounds.
To sew up a wound means to treat it by stitching the skin closed. Notice the following:
The doctor sewed up the wound and sent me home.
The wound is small so it won't be necessary to sew it up.
defense mechanism
It's a defense mechanism.
A defense mechanism is our brain and body's way of naturally protecting us in dangerous situations. Notice the following:
Don't mind my barking dog. That's just his defense mechanism.
When the quake hit, his defense mechanism told to him to run outside.
They're chain smokers.
A chain smoker is someone who smokes many cigarettes a day, one after another. Notice the following:
My boss is a chain smoker.
I was a chain smoker before I quit.
not in good shape
Tne turtle was not in a good shape.
When we are not in good shape, that means we are in poor health. Notice the following:
After years of junk food, and no exercise, he was not in good shape.
They survived the accident, but they're not in good shape.
euthanize
The best thing would be to euthanize it.
To euthanize a person or animal means to help them die so they will not suffer anymore. Notice the following:
Euthanasia is illegal in my country.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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2
aquarium
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| n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸 | |
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3
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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4
rehabilitation
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| n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位 | |
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5
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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6
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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7
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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8
parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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9
vet
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| n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查 | |
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10
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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11
smoker
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| n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室 | |
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12
smokers
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| 吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 ) | |
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13
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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14
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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15
gouged
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| v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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16
flipper
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| n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢 | |
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17
rehabilitate
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| vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造 | |
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18
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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19
chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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20
propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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21
gashes
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| n.深长的切口（或伤口）( gash的名词复数 )v.划伤，割破( gash的第三人称单数 ) | |
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22
mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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23
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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