VOA标准英语2011--Undersea Cable Could Revolutionize Ocean

Undersea Cable Could Revolutionize Oceanography

This past April, there was a big volcanic¹ eruption² in America’s Pacific Northwest. If you missed it, you're not alone.
It happened under the ocean off the northern Oregon coast. Since then, several research ships have sent unmanned submersibles down into the undersea crater³ to videotape lava⁴ flows and spewing vents⁵.
In a few years, you should be able to watch such events live on the Internet 24/7. Thanks to a new underwater fiber⁶ optic cable, a new worldwide ocean observatory⁷ now under construction that could revolutionize our understanding of the deep sea environment.
Bringing the ocean to you
"This is a big deal. Suddenly the ocean is going to be accessible to people. We can't take them all out there deep in the ocean, but we can bring the ocean to them," says University of Washington oceanography John Delaney of his very expensive and ambitious high-tech⁸ baby.
Delaney a driving force behind an effort to wire the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon and Washington coasts for science. Delaney says the vision for this cable and instrument array dates back 20 years.
Delaney recalls bemoaning⁹ the expense and difficulty of gathering¹⁰ data in the deep ocean. Then the conversation turned to new undersea fiber optic cables.
"Bingo! We said, 'Let's do something about this,'" he says. "That was a long time ago."
Undersea network
Now the vision is becoming a reality. A commercial cable-laying ship has just finished spooling¹¹ out 900 kilometers of fiber optic cable. One strand¹² starts from Pacific City, Oregon, goes out to the edge of the continental¹³ shelf and then loops down toward Newport, Oregon.
Another line heads far out to sea to an underwater volcano. Separately, scientists on the U.S. East Coast are anchoring test buoys¹⁵ for another advanced instrument network. This array off New England, south of Cape¹⁶ Cod¹⁷, will be connected to shore by satellite and wireless¹⁸ links.
Scientists plan to attach dozens of instruments to the cables and buoys. Seismometers could give us a better idea about the offshore¹⁹ earthquake threat. Other sensors²¹ will track fish migration²², ocean acidification, weather trends, and dissolved oxygen, just to name a few. Underwater microphones could capture whale calls, like these hard-to-find blue whales recorded earlier.
Real-time Internet data
Delaney says the undersea network is designed to funnel²³ a fire hose of open source, real-time data to the Internet, 24/7.
"So people that are interested - and I'm hoping it will be a growing number of people - will have the ability to tap into what we're doing. They'll be able to watch over our shoulders electronically as we discover things, as we make mistakes," he says with a laugh.
One of the cool things to eavesdrop²⁴ on might be an undersea volcano called the Axial Seamount. It is 480 kilometers out in the ocean due west of Astoria, Oregon. In August, Delaney steamed out there with co-chief scientist Debbie Kelley. They scouted²⁵ hydrothermal vents to wire up.
"Many people now think the volcanoes on the seafloor are where life originated on the planet," says Kelley. "One of the things we're going to see later on the dive are these vents called snowblower vents, which is where there is warm water issuing out of the seafloor at about 30 degrees Centigrade. With it, it is entraining novel microorganisms."
Monitoring ocean trends
This summer, Oregon State University scientists and engineers are also on the water. They’re testing instrument packages and buoys that will connect in part to the fiber optic network. OSU's Bob Collier says it's fair to say the data array will revolutionize oceanography.
"With this cable we really are able to provide a whole new way of looking at the ocean," says Collier, "which we honestly have never had before."
The West Coast instrument network falls under the umbrella of a larger project with locations in other oceans. It's called the Ocean Observatories²⁶ Initiative. In addition to the buoy¹⁴ network under development along the U.S. East Coast, four additional sensor²⁰ packages will be set up on moorings in the far northern and southern oceans.
They'll be in the Gulf²⁷ of Alaska, near Greenland, in the Argentine basin in the south Atlantic, and southwest of Chile in the Pacific. Those remote, high-latitude instruments are designed to monitor ocean trends on a planetary scale.
U.S. taxpayers²⁸ are footing the entire $400 million construction bill on the project through the National Science Foundation. The global network is supposed to be in full service in 2014.

1 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

2 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

3 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

4 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

5 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

6 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

7 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

8 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

9 bemoaning   

v.为（某人或某事）抱怨( bemoan的现在分词 )；悲悼；为…恸哭；哀叹

参考例句：

• They sat bemoaning the fact that no one would give them a chance. 他们坐着埋怨别人不肯给他们一个机会。
• The rest were disappointed, miserable creatures in unwarm beds, tearfully bemoaning their fate. 剩下那些不幸的人，失望的人在不温暖的被窝里悲泣自己的命运。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 spooling   

n.络纱，络筒v.把…绕到线轴上（或从线轴上绕下来）( spool的现在分词 )；假脱机（输出或输入）

参考例句：

• Experimental equipment management system with Spooling technology and sharing of virtual equipment. 操作系统实验四设备管理用Spooling技术实现设备的虚拟与共享。 来自互联网
• Current number of spooling jobs in a print queue. 在打印列队中当前有多少个后台打印作业。 来自互联网

12 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

13 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

14 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

15 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

16 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

17 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

18 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

19 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

20 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

21 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

22 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

23 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

24 eavesdrop   

v.偷听，倾听

参考例句：

• He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.他藏在壁橱里，以便偷听。
• It is not polite to eavesdrop on the conversation of other people.偷听他人说话是很不礼貌的。

25 scouted   

寻找，侦察( scout的过去式和过去分词 )； 物色（优秀运动员、演员、音乐家等）

参考例句：

• They scouted around for a shop that was open late. 他们四处寻找，看看还有没有夜间营业的商店。
• They scouted around for a beauty parlour. 他们四处寻找美容院。

26 observatories   

n.天文台，气象台( observatory的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• John Heilbron, The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories, 3-23. 约翰．海耳布隆，《教会里的太阳：教堂即太阳观测台》，第3-23页。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists use satellites, land observatories and historical data to provide information about the weather. 气象学家使用卫星、上天文台和历史资料来提供有关天气的信息。 来自互联网

27 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

28 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。