英语听力精选进阶版 7188

Background: 生物学家多年来一直通过给企鹅做标记的方法来监视企鹅的行踪。法国科学家近日指出，此举动不仅会给企鹅的健康带来危害，而且还对已收集到的有关气候变化的数据产生质疑。

For decades scientists have been following penguins² by putting bands around their flippers.

This allows individual birds to be identified at a distance.

But there have been concerns that flipper³ bands might harm the birds by slowing them down as they swim.

The latest study, reported in the journal Nature, confirms it. Scientists from Strasbourg University followed a colony of king penguins for ten years.

Birds fitted with bands died younger, started breeding later in the year, took longer to forage⁴ for food and over all raised about 40 per cent fewer chicks.

The researchers suggest that using flipper bands would now be unethical in most situations.

Scientists in the field would now have to find other tagging methods but in the meantime there are also concerns that some data gathered on penguins down the years, in this ecological⁵ crucial part of the planet, may now be worthless.

Glossary⁶ 词汇表

band （用来做标记的）细带子 

flipper 鳍状肢 

concerns 担忧，担心 

to harm 危害，伤害 

colony 群体 

to breed 生育，繁殖 

chick 小企鹅 

unethical 不道德的 

tagging 标记 

worthless 无价值的

Questions and Answers

1. Why do scientists put bands on penguins’ flippers? 

Because they want to identify the birds even from far away.

2. What sort of problems were observed in birds with bands? 

They died younger, bred later, took longer to forage for food and had fewer chicks.

3. True or false? According to the report, it is of no value to use penguins to gather data. 

False. It says that it might be worthless if the penguin¹ was suffering the effects of tagging.

4. True or false? The scientists want biologists to stop using rubber bands as a method to identify penguins. 

True. They think that it is unethical to cause harm to the birds.

1 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

2 penguins   

n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why can penguins live in cold environment? 为什么企鹅能生活在寒冷的环境中？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whales, seals, penguins, and turtles have flippers. 鲸、海豹，企鹅和海龟均有鳍形肢。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 flipper   

n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢

参考例句：

• The seal's flipper is homologous with the human arm. 海豹的鳍肢与人类的手臂同源。
• It's almost like a flipper action as she kicks down. 她向下踢腿时有鱼鳍的效果。

4 forage   

n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻

参考例句：

• They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
• Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。

5 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

6 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。