英语听力：自然百科 百慕大三角

Intensely blue, the waters around Bermuda are warmed by the Gulf¹ Stream—one of the world's largest and swiftest oceanic currents. Humpback whales pass through these waters each year, migrating from polar feeding grounds.

 

These waters are also known to legions of luminous² deep-sea creatures and intrepid³ undersea explorers. In the 1930s, zoologist⁴ William Beebe and engineer Otis Barton descended⁵ a thousand meters into the depths around Bermuda for a first view of life in a place the sunlight never reaches. Beebe compared what he saw to naked space itself, out far beyond atmosphere, between the stars, where the blackness of space, the shining planets, comets, suns, and stars must really be closely akin⁶ to the world of life as it appears to the eyes of an awed⁷ human being in the open ocean one half mile down.

 

For Beebe and Barton, the comets, suns and stars were living creatures reflecting rainbows of iridescence⁸, were flashing, sparkling, and glowing with their own living light. Fireflies and glowworms are famous light-makers on the land.  But in the deep sea, about 90% of the creatures—jellies, fish, bacteria, shrimp⁹, squids and many others—have some form of bioluminescence to signal one another. Scientists say these bursts of starry¹⁰ light may be the most common form of communication on the planet.

 

In the open sea, jellies are also among the most abundant forms of life. The Gulf Stream current can carry these oddly beautiful drifters along at about 160 kilometers a day.

 

Buffered¹¹ by the Gulf Stream is a magically quiet, gently rotating mass of sargassum weed that expands over more than 5 million square kilometers of open waters. Isolated¹² by walls of fast-moving currents between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, the Sargasso Sea holds a liquid jungle of creatures, which have evolved over the ages to exist in floating forests of golden brown sargassum. Within its leafy, sunlit masses are camouflaged¹³ such creatures as loggerhead turtles, file fish, sea hares and the speckled brown Sargasso crab¹⁴.

 

For scientists, it's a living laboratory strategically located in the open sea. For creatures living in the undersea caves, among the reefs, and in the great depth below, Bermuda is simply home.

1 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。

2 luminous   

adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。

3 intrepid   

adj.无畏的，刚毅的

参考例句：

• He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
• John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。

4 zoologist   

n.动物学家

参考例句：

• Charles darwin was a famous zoologist.查尔斯达尔文是一位著名的动物学家。
• The zoologist had spent a long time living with monkeys.这位动物学家与猴子一起生活了很长时间。

5 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

6 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

7 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 iridescence   

n.彩虹色；放光彩；晕色；晕彩

参考例句：

• You can see the iridescence on their faces. 你可以看到他们脸上的彩虹色。 来自辞典例句
• The huge pool of blood in front of her was already assuming the iridescence of coagulation. 她面前那一滩血，已经凝结了起来，显出五光十色。 来自辞典例句

9 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

10 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

11 buffered   

[医]缓冲的

参考例句：

• The drug buffered his pain. 药物减轻了他的病痛。
• The reaction should be buffered to a pH of between 6 and 11. 应使反应缓冲到pH值为6～11。

12 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

13 camouflaged   

v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰

参考例句：

• We camouflaged in the bushes and no one saw us. 我们隐藏在灌木丛中没有被人发现。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They camouflaged in bushes. 他们隐蔽在灌木丛中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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。