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This is scientific Americans, 60 second science, I'm Sarah Fecht. Got a minute

That’s not a bird whistling. This sound was recorded 2000 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Scientists postulated¹ decades ago that deep-sea animals

might use sound to navigate² and communicate. But until now, no one had really tried to listen in.

That’s why marine³ ecologist Rodney Rountree, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, decided⁴ to turn a few mp3 players into waterproof⁵, deep-sea recording⁶ devices. He and his colleagues attached one device to each of 100 crab⁷ traps, and sent them to the sea floor for 24 hours.

After dredging up the traps and listening to the recordings⁸, the team discovered a multitude of deep-sea sounds, including 12 they could not identify and which had probably never been heard before.

Rountree wants to send down video cameras along with the recording devices, in order to identify which species are making these strange sounds. Just like a birder uses his eyes and his ears to study bird species, Rountree hopes that eventually ecologists will be able to use sound to locate and learn more about marine species.

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收听单词发音

1 postulated
v.假定，假设( postulate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
They postulated a 500-year lifespan for a plastic container. 他们假定塑料容器的寿命为500年。 Freud postulated that we all have a death instinct as well as a life instinct. 弗洛伊德曾假定我们所有人都有生存本能和死亡本能。来自辞典例句

2 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。

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 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
参考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 waterproof
n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水
参考例句：
My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。 All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

6 recording
n.录音，记录
参考例句：
How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？ I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 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。

8 recordings
n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片
参考例句：
a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带 old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐