VOA慢速英语2009年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Could Typhoons Help

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty¹.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell how some storms might help to prevent large earthquakes. We will tell about the winner of the two thousand nine World Food Prize. We will also tell about a study of one of the world's most unusual-looking animals.

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VOICE ONE:
　
A satellite image of Typhoon Longwang near Taiwan in 2005

New research suggests that ocean storms could be helping² to prevent powerful earthquakes -- at least on the island of Taiwan. Typhoons often strike the island during the second half of the year. Typhoon is the name used for major storms in the western Pacific Ocean. Scientists call them cyclones³ when they develop over the Indian Ocean.

Recently, scientists reported that typhoons striking⁴ Taiwan can cause slow earthquakes. Slow earthquakes are different from violent earthquakes, which happen suddenly and can be extremely destructive⁵. Instead, slow earthquakes release their energy over a period of hours or even days.

People cannot feel slow earthquakes on the ground, and instruments like seismometers cannot measure them. However, scientists say a slow earthquake could be helping to release pressure, and possibly preventing more powerful quakes.

VOICE TWO:

In the study, scientists placed highly sensitive measuring equipment two hundred to two hundred seventy meters under the ocean's surface. These devices were placed in holes near eastern Taiwan.

This same area is also where two major tectonic plates meet. As many as twenty tectonic plates cover the Earth's surface. The plates can cause earthquakes as they move.

The scientists collected measurements from two thousand two until two thousand seven. The information they gathered suggests typhoons and slow earthquakes near Taiwan are linked. The equipment measured twenty slow earthquakes during the five-year observation period. Of those twenty, eleven took place at the same time as typhoons.

VOICE ONE:

Typhoons cause atmospheric⁶ pressure to drop. The scientists suggest that this causes a reduction in pressure on the land where the plates meet. As a result, one side of the fault area lifts, causing the pressure that has been building up inside to be released. This could explain why Taiwan has a large number of small earthquakes, but rarely a major one.

The findings were published last month in the British journal Nature. The lead researcher was Chiching Liu of the Institute for Earth Sciences at Academia Sinica in Taipei. The findings help to show how and why different kinds of earthquakes take place. This, scientists believe, could lead to better earthquake predictions.

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VOICE TWO:

You are listening to the VOA Special English program SCIENCE IN THE NEWS. With Bob Doughty, I'm Faith Lapidus in Washington.

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Gebisa Ejeta

Sorghum⁷ is an important grain for Africa. Millions of Africans have more to eat because of Gebisa Ejeta. The Ethiopian scientist developed sorghum seeds that can resist long dry periods. The seeds can also resist the Striga weed, a big cause of crop failures in Africa.

Now his work has earned him the World Food Prize from the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the announcement last month in Washington, D.C. She said Professor Ejeta did not just develop the seeds. He also worked to get them to farmers.

He will receive the two hundred fifty thousand dollar award at a ceremony in October. He is only the second African to win the prize since it was established in nineteen eighty-six. Monty Jones, a rice expert from Sierra Leone, was the winner in two thousand four.

VOICE ONE:

Gebisa Ejeta is a professor at Purdue University in Indiana. Over the years, he has worked with farmers and seed companies and developed more than eighty seed types for Africa.

In the early nineteen eighties, Professor Ejeta developed the first sorghum hybrid⁸ seeds. These resisted drought and led to a major increase in production.

Drought is not the only enemy. Striga is a parasitic⁹ plant that Africans commonly call witchweed. The weed attacks sorghum and other crops and steals water and nutrients¹⁰ from the roots.

In the nineteen nineties, Gebisa Ejeta and another Purdue researcher identified the complex relationships between Striga and sorghum plants. That finding led to the development of seeds resistant¹¹ to both Striga and drought.

VOICE TWO:

Gebisa Ejeta was raised in a one-room hut in a rural village in west-central Ethiopia. His mother wanted him to get an education. He walked twenty kilometers to school in a neighboring town. He left home on Sunday nights and returned on Fridays.

For secondary school, he attended an agricultural and technical school. It was established by Oklahoma State University under an American government program. From there he received an invitation to study at Purdue, where he continued his education.

But Professor Ejeta has never forgotten his African roots. Today he urges other scientists to turn their attention to Africa's needs.

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VOICE ONE:
　
An echidna

The long-beaked echidna is one of the oldest and rarest mammals on Earth. It is also one of the most unusual-looking animals. About the size of a small dog, echidnas look like a mixture of a porcupine¹², an anteater, a pig and a mole¹³.

Echidnas are part of a group of egg-laying mammals called monotremes. The only other kind of monotreme alive today is the platypus¹⁴. There are four kinds of echidnas: three species¹⁵ are long-nosed, while another has a short nose.

Echidnas are like birds and reptiles¹⁶ because they lay eggs. And, like birds they have a single opening with which they produce eggs, have sex and expel¹⁷ waste. But echidnas are mammals, so they feed their young, called puggles, with milk.

VOICE TWO:

The long-beaked echidna is an endangered animal that only lives north of Australia, on New Guinea and nearby islands. Until recently, almost nothing had been written about echidnas living in the wild. This is partly because they are very private, live in areas without human beings, and only come out to feed at night. It takes great patience to study this secretive creature.

Biologist Muse¹⁸ Opiang became interested in the echidna while working as a researcher in the rain forests of New Guinea. The Journal of Mammology recently published his report about the echidna. It was one of the first reports published on the biology of the animal.

Mister Opiang spent years searching for echidnas. Over twenty months, he spent almost six thousand hours searching in a protected area in the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea. His research was carried out between two thousand and two thousand three. During this period, he only found twelve echidnas, five of which he captured twice. In total, he found twenty-two echidnas over five years.

VOICE ONE:

Muse Opiang studied how echidnas eat, by digging in the earth with their long noses to find worms. And, he captured them temporarily to record their mass, length and estimated age. He studied more than two hundred echidna shelters to understand where they like to hide and how often they change homes.

Mister Opiang also placed a computer chip into the skin of the animals for identification¹⁹ purposes. Some echidnas received a radio transmitter so he could follow their movement. These devices were not always helpful since they easily became disconnected.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Opiang's study gives new information about the echidna and its behavior. And, it provides examples of how to search for and study this animal. But many questions remain. For example, experts are still not sure what kind of animals hunt echidnas.

Other researchers praised Muse Opiang's report. They say it will help scientists better understand how to protect long-beaked echidnas and the areas where they live.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Dana Demange, Jerilyn Watson and Brianna Blake. Mario Ritter was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. We would like to hear from you. Write to us at Special English, Voice of America, Washington, D-C, two-zero-two-three-seven, U-S-A. Or send your e-mails to [email protected]. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

4 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

5 destructive   

adj.破坏（性）的，毁灭（性）的

参考例句：

• In the end,it will be destructive of our whole society.它最终会毁灭我们整个社会。
• It is the most destructive storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的一次风暴。

6 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

7 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

8 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

9 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

10 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

12 porcupine   

n.豪猪， 箭猪

参考例句：

• A porcupine is covered with prickles.箭猪身上长满了刺。
• There is a philosophy parable,call philosophy of porcupine.有一个哲学寓言，叫豪猪的哲学。

13 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

14 platypus   

n.鸭嘴兽

参考例句：

• The platypus spends a great deal of its time looking for food. 鸭嘴兽要用大量的时间去觅食。
• One of the mascots was the platypus.吉祥物之一是鸭嘴兽。

15 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

16 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 expel   

vt.把...开除，驱逐，放逐，排出，喷出

参考例句：

• They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees.一开始有人告诉他们应该直接将那些难民驱逐出境。
• The headmaster may expel the boy from the school.校长可能要把那个男孩从学校开除。

18 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

19 identification   

n.视为同一，证明同一，确认

参考例句：

• He's made a formal identification of the body.他正式确认了死者身份。
• We should have identification card on the person when we go out.我们外出时应随身携带身份证。