英语听力：自然百科 保护马蹄蟹（三）

 Oddly enough, it was the Red Knot decline that made us pay attention to another species in decline. In the past decade, it's been estimated that horseshoe crabs² in the Delaware Bay have dropped by 75 percent.

 

It all began in the 90s, when the growing fishery discovered that horseshoe crabs made good bait. They were easy to collect and free. With no regulations, anyone could scoop³ crabs right off the beach. At the height of the rush, 2 million crabs were harvested in one year. No one seemed concerned, until Red Knot numbers began to drop. By the time we saw the connection, the Red Knot was in serious trouble.

 

Getting a handle on horseshoe crab¹ populations has been tricky⁴. One method is to tag crabs and ask the public to report sightings. Dave Smith from the US Geological Survey has been a key player in tracking crab numbers.

 

There is a lot of demands on this animal and right now it's up to us to find out if there is room for all of those demands, if there is room for using horseshoe crabs for bait as well as biomedical and, and still meet the needs of Red Knots.

 

Today, efforts are underway to restore a balance that has been lost. To build up crab numbers, there is now a two-year moratorium⁵ on harvesting horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay.

 

The regulations that have been put in place for horseshoe crab seem to be working. There is gonna to be a lag and whether this success has occurred in time for Red Knots, we just don't know.

 

A recovery of the crabs in the Bay will take time. Horseshoe crabs don't mature till they are nine or ten, that's nearly a decade before the next generation is ready to spawn⁶. In the short season, females lay over 80,000 eggs. Out of 80,000 only 10 might survive to adulthood⁷. The odds⁸ might seem low, but it's been a successful breeding strategy for eons.

 

Protected beneath the sand, the eggs are nurtured⁹ by the warmth of the sun and moisture from the tides. By the fifth day, tiny legs become visible inside their watery¹⁰ nurseries. The next day they will move for the first time. They will shed their shells four times while still inside the egg. But their tails won't grow until after they've hatched. It's a remarkable¹¹ process the horseshoe crab has carried out for 350 million years. But will the population recover in time for the Red Knot? No one knows.

 

1 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。

2 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

4 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

5 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

6 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

7 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

8 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

9 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

10 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

11 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。