精美英文欣赏:浮游生物

Plankton¹

Scattered² through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.

Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs³ that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates⁴ each year, the sea's plankton generates more than twice as much.

Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land.Now marine⁵ scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources loom⁶ even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.

No one yet has seriously suggested that "planktonburgers" may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary⁷ food source,however,plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.

One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the great blue whale, the largest animal ever inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow to 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity⁸, it is not surprising that each one devours⁹ more than one ton of krill daily.

浮游生物

数十亿吨的被称为"浮游生物"的小动物、植物散布在世界的海洋中。 这些小的动、植物大多太小而难以被人眼看到。 它们随波逐流，为许多较大的动物提供了基本的食物。 浮游生物曾被描述为生长在大陆陆地上的各种草类的海洋对应物。 这种比喻是恰当的。 然而就潜在的食物价值而言，浮游生物远胜于草类。 一位科学家曾经估计，世界上的草类每年生产大约490 亿吨有用的碳水化合物，而海洋里的浮游生物每年生产的碳水化合物

多于此数的两倍。 尽管浮游生物具备巨大的食物潜能，但直到最近人们还很少象种植草类那样付出努力养殖浮游生物。 现在，海洋科学家们至少已开始研究这种可能性。 全球人口不断扩张，海洋资源作为食品的重要性日益突出。 现在还没有人认真说过"浮游生物汉堡" 会很快在世界上流行起来。 然而，作为一种可能养殖的补充性食物资源，浮游生物正引起了海洋科学家们相当大的兴趣。 一种似乎具有很大收获可能性的微小的虾状浮游生物被称为鳞虾。鳞虾长至2～3 英寸长时即成为地球上曾居住过的最大动物--蓝鲸的主要食物。

成熟的蓝鲸可以达到 100 英尺长，150 吨重，所以每头鲸每天吞食 1 吨多的鳞虾一点也不让人吃惊。

1 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

2 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

3 outweighs   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• Her need to save money outweighs her desire to spend it on fun. 她省钱的需要比她花钱娱乐的愿望更重要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Its clarity in algebraic and analytical operations far outweighs any drawbacks. 文化代数和解析运算中的清晰性远远胜过任何缺点。 来自辞典例句

4 carbohydrates   

n.碳水化合物，糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 )；淀粉质或糖类食物

参考例句：

• The plant uses the carbohydrates to make cellulose. 植物用碳水化合物制造纤维素。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All carbohydrates originate from plants. 所有的碳水化合物均来自植物。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

7 supplementary   

adj.补充的，附加的

参考例句：

• There is a supplementary water supply in case the rain supply fails.万一主水源断了，我们另外有供水的地方。
• A supplementary volume has been published containing the index.附有索引的增补卷已经出版。

8 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

9 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。