VOA慢速英语2010年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Thousands of Dis

BOB DOUGHTY¹: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, we will tell about a ten-year study of the world’s oceans. We will also tell about four American women who are being honored for their work in science.
(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: A project called the “Census² of Marine³ Life” tells its story in big numbers. Two thousand seven hundred researchers from eighty countries and territories took part in the Census. They attempted to estimate all the creatures in the world’s oceans. More than five hundred scientific expeditions were needed to complete the study. In all, the project cost six hundred fifty million dollars.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Hundreds of the researchers gathered in London last month as the Census results were announced. The scientists said they have identified two hundred fifty thousand new species. Among them are one thousand two hundred new kinds of animals.
The scientists collected another five thousand species from the oceans during the ten years. But those creatures have yet to be identified. The researchers said as many as seven hundred fifty thousand other species have yet to be discovered.
Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation helped organize the study. He said the researchers have established a baseline of what lives in the ocean. This standard, or measure, of comparison can be used in the future to note and document changes.
The Antarctic ice fish has no red blood pigments⁴ and no red blood cells. This is an adaptation to cold temperatures. BOB DOUGHTY: Many of the project’s discoveries were of microbes. The scientists said extremely small life forms make up ninety percent of the ocean’s total living material, also known as biomass.
In two thousand six, scientific census-takers found a hairy new species of crab⁵ near Easter Island. They call it the “Yeti crab.” The creature got its name from a hairy, ape-like creature that supposedly lives in Tibet.
Another unexpected discovery was a squid almost six and one half meters long. The researchers also found an ancient shrimp⁶. It is a small shellfish thought to have disappeared centuries ago.
Three species of small creatures that were documented do not require oxygen to live. Researchers found them on the floor of the Mediterranean⁷ Sea. Also in the Mediterranean, a team of census-takers discovered a living fossil. The animal represents the last species of a kind of deep-water clam⁸. The shellfish is believed to have lived around the world for more than one hundred million years.
Great white shark FAITH LAPIDUS: The researchers learned that Pacific bluefin tuna crossed the Pacific Ocean three times in six hundred days. But puffins recorded the longest travel. These birds circle the earth every year, flying more than sixty four thousand kilometers.
Other discoveries showed reduced numbers of creatures valuable to the ocean environment. In some areas, for example, sharks have almost completely disappeared. Sharks provide a number of services for underwater life. And, about forty percent of plankton⁹ has disappeared in the past thirty years. Many fish depend on this small life-form for food.
BOB DOUGHTY: The Census of Marine Life began in two thousand. It started with seventy-five million dollars from the Sloan Foundation. Over the years, governments, laboratories, universities and other centers paid for the rest.
As one Project planning committee official said, the Census of Marine Life has enlarged the known world.
(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: Three women are among ten winners of the National Medals of Science. Marye Anne Fox, Esther Conwell and Susan Lindquist will receive America’s highest honor for science.
Another woman, Helen Free, is among winners of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. That award is America’s highest honor for engineering and invention.
Over the years, each woman has won other honors and awards. Each belonged to influential¹⁰ professional organizations. Each has helped other women rise in traditionally male careers.
A committee appointed by President Obama made the nominations¹¹. The president will present the medals next Tuesday, November sixteenth. The National Science Foundation supervises the awards for the White House.
Marye Anne Fox BOB DOUGHTY: Medal winner Marye Anne Fox is chancellor¹² of the University of California at San Diego. Professor Fox has served as the university’s administrative¹³ head since two thousand four. She is being honored in part for her research in renewable energy sources.
Marye Anne Fox was born in nineteen forty-seven. She became a chemist when few women held such positions. She has worked to create partnerships¹⁴ between universities and industry. She also has helped get the federal government to provide billions of dollars for scientific research.
Professor Fox has provided information about scientific subjects to the United States Congress.
(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: Medal winner Esther Conwell is a chemistry and atomic physics expert at the University of Rochester in New York. Her work helped lead to the modern computer. The awards committee noted¹⁵ the help she has given other women to become scientists.
Professor Conwell received a doctor’s degree in atomic physics in the late nineteen forties. That was extremely unusual at the time for a woman. By then, she already had worked on a project she calls her proudest work. She was studying at the University of Rochester when a professor suggested a research problem for her. Victor Weisskopf’s suggestion resulted in an explanation of how electrons travel through semiconductors¹⁶. Some experts say the work caused a revolution in computers.
ESTHER CONWELL: “I was a graduate student at the University of Rochester. And it was proposed by my thesis advisor¹⁷ Professor Weisskopf that we work on this problem to understand the effect of the impurities¹⁸ in scattering¹⁹ electrons and interfering²⁰ with their motion.
“And that work was completed and turned out to be an important thing, an important feature, something that you have to understand if you want to make the best use of electrons in transistors²¹ and other devices.”
Esther Conwell was born in nineteen twenty-two. She still works every day.
(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: Medal winner Professor Susan Lindquist is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She belongs to the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and is an investigator²² with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Professor Lindquist was born in nineteen forty-nine. She is being recognized for showing the importance of changes in the action of proteins. The actions, known as folding, can influence areas from human disease to nanotechnology, the technology of extremely small mechanisms²⁴.
Professor Lindquist’s laboratory studies how prions form. Prions are proteins. They can change into a form that is able to continue their own existence. The laboratory also studies the diseases they cause. She and her team also discovered a possible mechanism²³ for speeding up evolution. Their discovery offers the possibility for creating better plant crops. It could lead to ending the need for genetic²⁵ engineering of crops.
(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: Another scientist has made life much easier for people with the disease diabetes²⁶. Helen Murray Free invented self-testing equipment that lets diabetics measure their own blood levels of glucose²⁷ at home.
Helen Free developed dry reagents for urine testing. Reagents produce a chemical reaction – or lack of reaction – important in medical testing. She said she is proudest of having property rights to Clinistix Reagent Strips. When placed in a person’s liquid wastes, they can provide information about conditions like diabetes, infections and liver and kidney damage.
Helen Free was born in nineteen twenty-three in Pennsylvania. She spent her early career at Miles Laboratories in Indiana, where she still lives. Later the drug company Bayer, Incorporated bought Miles Laboratories. She became a professional relations consultant²⁸ to Bayer. She also taught at Indiana University and wrote books with her husband, Alfred Free.
Helen Murray Free is known for helping²⁹ to launch organizations that help increase public interest in science. For example, she helped start “Kids & Chemistry.” In the program, scientists teach schoolchildren to perform hands-on experiments. (MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. June Simms was our producer. I’m Bob Doughty.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in VOA Special English.

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 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 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。

4 pigments   

n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls. 古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。 来自辞典例句
• The original white lead pigments have oxidized and turned black. 最初的白色铅质颜料氧化后变成了黑色。 来自辞典例句

5 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

6 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 clam   

n.蛤，蛤肉

参考例句：

• Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀！我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
• The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。

9 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。

10 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

11 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

12 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

13 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

14 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

16 semiconductors   

n.半导体( semiconductor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Crystals may be insulators, semiconductors, or conductors. 晶体可以是绝缘体，半导体，或导体。 来自辞典例句
• Semiconductors containing such impurities are called p-type semiconductors. 含有这类杂质的半导体叫做P型半导体。 来自辞典例句

17 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

18 impurities   

不纯( impurity的名词复数 )； 不洁； 淫秽； 杂质

参考例句：

• A filter will remove most impurities found in water. 过滤器会滤掉水中的大部分杂质。
• Oil is refined to remove naturally occurring impurities. 油经过提炼去除天然存在的杂质。

19 scattering   

n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散

参考例句：

• The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒，把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

21 transistors   

晶体管( transistor的名词复数 )； 晶体管收音机，半导体收音机

参考例句：

• In semiconductor receivers transistors take the place of vacuum tubes. 在半导体收音机中晶体管代替了真空管。
• We often turn to this handbook for information on transistors. 我们常从这本手册查阅有关晶体管的资料。

22 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

23 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

24 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

26 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

27 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

28 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

29 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。