历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(06-3)

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[00:05.82]2006 Text3
[00:08.14]When prehistoric¹ man arrived in new parts of the world,
[00:12.17]something strange happened to the large animals:
[00:15.51]they suddenly became extinct.
[00:18.03]Smaller species survived.
[00:20.54]The large, slow-growing animals were easy game,
[00:24.07]and were quickly hunted to extinction².
[00:27.09]Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.
[00:31.42]That the seas are being overfished
[00:33.96]has been known for years.
[00:36.18]What researchers such as Ransom³ Myers
[00:38.95]and Boris Worm have shown
[00:40.86]is just how fast things are changing.
[00:43.79]They have looked at half a century of data
[00:46.92]from fisheries around the world.
[00:49.46]Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass
[00:53.68](the amount of living biological matter)
[00:56.48]of fish species in particular parts of the ocean,
[00:59.86]but rather changes in that biomass over time.
[01:03.98]According to their latest paper published in Nature,
[01:07.50]the biomass of large predators
[01:10.04](animals that kill and eat other animals)
[01:12.96]in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80%
[01:17.37]within 15 years of the start of exploitation.
[01:21.42]In some long-fished areas,
[01:23.52]it has halved⁴ again since then.
[01:26.55]Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative.
[01:31.20]One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved.
[01:35.83]Today's vessels⁵ can find their prey⁶ using satellites and sonar,
[01:41.07]which were not available 50 years ago.
[01:44.91]That means a higher proportion of
[01:47.23]what is in the sea is being caught,
[01:49.86]so the real difference between present and past
[01:52.88]is likely to be worse than the one recorded
[01:55.14]by changes in catch sizes.
[01:58.68]In the early days, too, longlines would have been
[02:01.68]more saturated⁷ with fish.
[02:03.88]Some individuals would therefore not have been caught,
[02:07.21]since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them,
[02:10.93]leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past.
[02:15.28]Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing,
[02:18.90]a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked.
[02:23.05]That is no longer a problem,
[02:25.36]because there are fewer sharks around now.
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[02:28.78]Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue
[02:31.33]that their work gives a correct baseline,
[02:34.13]which future management efforts must take into account.
[02:38.47]They believe the data support an idea current
[02:41.70]among marine⁸ biologists,
[02:43.71]that of the "shifting baseline".
[02:46.13]The notion is that people have failed to detect
[02:48.26]the massive changes which have happened in the ocean
[02:51.69]because they have been looking back
[02:53.14]only a relatively⁹ short time into the past.
[02:57.07]That matters because theory suggests
[02:59.49]that the maximum sustainable yield
[03:01.61]that can be cropped from a fishery comes
[03:04.13]when the biomass of a target species
[03:06.77]is about 50% of its original levels.
[03:10.36]Most fisheries are well below that,
[03:13.00]which is a bad way to do business.

1 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

2 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

3 ransom   

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。

4 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

7 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

8 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。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。