VOA慢速英语2019 海龙在加州"兴风作浪"

Sea Dragons Making Waves in California

At first, it seems to be a plant floating in the water. But look closer. What appear to be leaves on the plant are really parts of a sea creature.

乍一看，它形似一株漂浮在水中的植物。但是仔细观察后，形似植物叶子的物体实际上是海洋生物的一部分。

With very small fins² you can almost see through, the creature begins to move slowly through the water.

这种生物的鳍很小，几乎肉眼可见，它开始在水中缓慢移动。

Little is known about sea dragons because there are only small numbers of them where they live off the coast of Australia. The sea dragon is related to the better-known sea horse.

人们对海龙知之甚少，因为它们生活在澳大利亚海岸附近，数量稀少。海龙与人们熟悉的海马有亲缘关系。

Warming oceans and pollution are threatening the world’s sea dragons. So are people taking the creatures illegally for use in medicine or to keep around the home as pets.

海洋变暖和污染威胁着全球的海龙。因此，人们非法捕捞这些动物用于医药或作为宠物饲养。

An aquarium³ in the United States has built what is believed to be one of the world’s largest habitats for sea dragons. The Birch Aquarium at Scripps is part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego.

美国一家水族馆建造了全球最大的海龙栖息地之一。位于斯克里普斯的伯奇水族馆是加州大学圣地亚哥分校斯克里普斯海洋学研究所的一部分。

Aquarium officials opened a sea dragon exhibit earlier this month. They hope the show will lead to the leafy sea dragon reproducing⁴ for the first time in captivity⁵.

本月初，水族馆官员举办了一场海龙展览。他们希望这次展览能让叶海龙首次在养殖环境下繁殖。

Leslee Matsushige works for the aquarium. She says the sea dragon “look like something out of this world.” The creatures have the ability to camouflage⁶ themselves. It is almost a trick because the sea dragon looks like a plant.

Leslee Matsushige在水族馆工作。她说，海龙“看起来不像这个世界的生物。”这些生物有伪装自己的能力。因为海龙形似一株植物，几乎能够做到“以假乱真”。

“When people see them move,” she says, “you hear them say, ‘What? That’s alive? Wow! That’s crazy.”

她说，“当人们看到它们移动时，你会听到一阵惊呼，‘什么？这是动物？哇！太神奇了。’”

Scientists hope that when people come to see the captive⁷ sea dragons, they will read the signs next to the tanks where the creatures are kept. The signs give information about how to protect the sea dragons, and what can be done to make oceans healthier. This includes collecting wastes and stopping pollution from ending up in Earth’s waterways.

科学家们希望，当人们来观看这些被捕获的海龙时，能够阅读海龙水箱旁边的说明。这些说明提供了如何保护海龙的信息，以及做些什么能让海洋环境更加健康。其中包括收集垃圾以及防止污染最终进入地球水域中。

Few aquariums⁸ have sea dragons, and there are only two kinds of them: the leafy and the weedy. Both are found only in remote areas off the southern and western coasts of Australia. Little is known about them because their populations are so small. But they only eat meat, and they have no teeth.

拥有海龙的水族馆很少，并且只有两种：叶海龙和草海龙。它们都只存活于澳大利亚南部和西部海岸的偏远地区。因为数量稀少，人们对这种生物知之甚少。不过，虽然没有牙齿，但它们却是肉食动物。

So far, only the weedy sea dragon, a bony fish that looks like a seaweed plant when floating, has given birth in captivity. And only a small number of times.

到目前为止，只有草海龙在圈养状态下成功繁殖，它是一种漂浮时类似海藻的硬骨鱼。而且只能少量多次地进行繁殖。

The Birch Aquarium’s 5.5-meter-long tank has three leafy sea dragons — two males and one female — and 11 weedy sea dragons. The 20,062-liter tank is large, especially for the smaller leafy sea dragon. It grows to a length of only about 36 centimeters.

伯奇水族馆5.5米长的内有三条叶海龙——两条雄性和一条雌性——以及11条草海龙。这个容积为20,062升的水箱很大，尤其是对身型较小的叶海龙而言。叶海龙的长度只有36厘米。

Scientists hope the large tanks will help the animals breed. Like seahorses, the male carries the young and gives birth. The aquarium is already seeing some mating behaviors, and they hope that eggs, and sea dragons, will follow soon.

科学家们希望巨型水箱能帮助这些生物繁殖。就像海马一样，雄海马会孕育并诞下幼崽。水族馆已经观察到一些交配行为，他们期待迎接海龙蛋卵和小海龙。

Words in This Story

fin¹ - n. a thin flat part that sticks out from the body of a fish and is used in moving or guiding the fish through water

pet – n. an animal (such as a dog, cat, bird, or fish) that people keep mainly for pleasure

aquarium – n. a glass or plastic container in which fish and other water animals and plants can live

habitat – n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

camouflage – v. to make something look like something else, sometimes to protect itself

weedy - adj. like a weed, a kind of plant

remote – adj. somewhere hard to get to

breed – v. to reproduce

1 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

2 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 reproducing   

复制( reproduce的现在分词 )； 重现； 再版； 生殖

参考例句：

• Mind has become self-reproducing through man's capacity to transmit experience and its products cumulatively. 通过传递生活经验和积累创造的产品，人类的智慧在不断地进行着自我丰富。
• Spores form a lipid membrane during the process of reproducing. 孢于在生殖过程中形成类脂膜。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器

5 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

6 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

7 captive   

adj.被俘虏的，不得自由行动的，被监禁的

参考例句：

• They led him captive.他们将他活捉。
• The rock star had a captive audience.那位摇滚歌星倾倒了许多观众。

8 aquariums   

n.养鱼缸，水族馆( aquarium的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Biotope aquariums represent the natural environments of ornamental fish. 生态鱼缸表现出观赏鱼的自然生活环境。 来自互联网
• There are aquariums in many cities in the world. 世界上好多城市有水族馆。 来自互联网