【轻松英文阅读】水母入侵

 These jellyfish have a comparatively harmless sting, but they have shut down a nuclear power plant in Sweden.

 

The power plant, located on the Baltic coast, had to be shut down to prevent overheating after an onslaught of jellyfish. The jellyfish clogged¹ up the intake² pipes for the cooling system. The pipes collect water from the Baltic Sea to cool the reactor³.

 

This is not the first invasion of jellyfish to shut down a reactor at this power plant. In an onslaught of jellyfish in 2005, another reactor had to be shut down.

 

These moon jellyfish, as they are known, are currently experiencing a bloom cycle—a surge in population. In large numbers they can cause a lot of damage. In this case, they have knocked out five percent of Sweden's power.

1 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

2 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。