万物简史 第401期:浩瀚的海洋(20)

 According to one estimate, there could be as many as thirty million species of animals living in the sea, most still undiscovered. 据一项估计，海洋里可能生活着多达3000万种动物，大多数尚未被发现。

The first hint of how abundant life is in the deep seas didn't come until as recently as the 1960s with the invention of the epibenthic sled, 直到20世纪60年代，由于发明了拖网，我们才第一次意识到深海的生物确实丰富。

a dredging device that captures organisms not just on and near the seafloor but also buried in the sediments¹ beneath. 那是一种挖掘装置，能捕捉到的不光是海底和海底附近的生物，而且是埋在沉淀物下面的生物。

In a single one-hour trawl along the continental² shelf, at a depth of just under a mile, 在大约1.5公里的深处，

Woods Hole oceanographers Howard Sandler and Robert Hessler netted over 25,000 creatures—worms, starfish, sea cucumbers, and the like—representing 365 species. 伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的海洋学家霍华德·桑德勒和罗伯特·赫斯勒在带着大陆架的一个小时的拖捞中就捕捉到25000个动物——其中有软体虫、海星、海参等等，代表了365个生物种类。

Even at a depth of three miles, they found some 3,700 creatures representing almost 200 species of organism. 即使在深达将近5公里的地方，他们也发现了大约3700个动物，代表差不多200个生物种类。

But the dredge could only capture things that were too slow or stupid to get out of the way. 但是，拖捞只能抓到那些太慢或太笨而来不及让路的家伙。

In the late 1960s a marine³ biologist named John Isaacs got the idea to lower a camera with bait attached to it, 20世纪60年代末，海洋生物学家约翰·艾萨克斯想出个办法，把带有饵食的照相机放到海里，

and found still more, in particular dense⁴ swarms⁵ of writhing⁶ hagfish, a primitive⁷ eel-like creature, as well as darting⁸ shoals of grenadier fish. 发现了更多的动物，尤其是大群大群不停蠕动的盲鳗，那是一种鳗似的原始动物，以及大群大群来回穿梭的长尾鳗，

Where a good food source is suddenly available—for instance, when a whale dies and sinks to the bottom, 据发现，只要哪里突然出现丰富的食料——比如一头沉到海底的死鲸，

as many as 390 species of marine creature have been found dining off it. 便会事多达390种海洋动物前来进食。

Interestingly, many of these creatures were found to have come from vents⁹ up to a thousand miles distant. 有意思的是，据发现，这些动物啦许多，来自1600公里以外的喷气口。

These included such types as mussels and clams¹⁰, which are hardly known as great travelers. 其中包括蚌和蛤蜊，而据知它们很少出远门。

1 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

2 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。

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 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

5 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

6 writhing   

（因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was writhing around on the floor in agony. 她痛得在地板上直打滚。
• He was writhing on the ground in agony. 他痛苦地在地上打滚。

7 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

8 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 clams   

n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The restaurant's specialities are fried clams. 这个餐厅的特色菜是炸蚌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We dug clams in the flats et low tide. 退潮时我们在浅滩挖蛤蜊。 来自辞典例句