英语听力：自然百科 白鲸

 Meet Tiqa, the newest member of the beluga family at Vancouver Aquarium¹! The calf² was born in June of last year. Tiqa spends her days training with the aquarium staff and swimming close to her mother Qila. In the wild, belugas live in Arctic and sub-arctic waters along the coasts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. Biologists estimate there are about 100,000 Belugas in the wild. But although the number is greater than that of other whale species, beluga numbers have taken a battering³ after decades of over-hunting. As of the 2008, the beluga is listed as “near-threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This is because of uncertainty⁴ about the actual number of Belugas across its range, especially in the Russian Arctic. The IUCN claims that if current conservation efforts stopped, especially management of hunting, beluga population would likely qualify for “threatened” status within 5 years. 

 

Vancouver Aquarium research associate, Valeria Vergara, watches and listens closely to the beluga whale family. She is studying how Tiqa , the beluga calf, is learning to communicate with her mother Qila and grandmother Aurora⁵. What she discovers could offer important clues about how belugas live in the wild. Using sophisticated underwater listening devices, Vergara has classified 29 types of Beluga calls. Belugas rely on echolocation--their own built-in sonar systems and dozens of vocalization patterns to navigate⁶ and communicate.

 

"The echolocation system of these animals, belugas in particular, is incredibly complex or sophisticated. They navigate through sound. They map their entire surroundings. Through sonar they are able to navigate very, very precisely⁷."

 

Trainers at the Vancouver Aquarium lead baby Tiqa , her mother Qila and grandmother Aurora through a daily training regiment⁸. The belugas are never too shy to vocalize with the trainers and impress visitors with their movements and sounds. Global warming is creating unprecedented⁹ pressures for beluga whales in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters.

 

"Right now, especially with the ice float , and all that are changing up there, that's basically saying okay, a boat traffic, come on and up, it's gonna be a lot easier to move back and forth¹⁰. We start throwing a lot more noise up there and a lot more things that may impact how those animals are able to communicate with each other. We can see some big changes."

1 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

2 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

3 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

5 aurora   

n.极光

参考例句：

• The aurora is one of nature's most awesome spectacles.极光是自然界最可畏的奇观之一。
• Over the polar regions we should see aurora.在极地高空,我们会看到极光。

6 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

9 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。