英语听力：自然百科 神秘百慕大 bermuda triangle—8

 There's no doubt that a stream of giant bubbles could theoretically have sunk the U.S.S.'Cyclops'.

 

Whether the bubbles were there or not, that's not for us to say. But I'll leave that up to the oceanographers.

 

But could methane¹ gas also explain the disappearance² of planes?

 

There would be a change in conditions in the air above the sea surface if those methane gases escape. And it has been suggested by some that this would affect the lift of the aircraft.

 

After leaving the water, the methane would rise straight into the atmosphere. The gas is lighter³ than air so it would continue upward until dissipating but could still potentially disrupt planes at low altitudes.

 

Instructors⁴ at a flight school in Florida want to find out what happens when a plane flies into a cloud of methane.

 

Right now, we're flying in a 'Diamond' DA-42 flights simulator. It's an actual replica⁵ of the twin engine, small airplane. It simulates the controls, the fuel and all the instrumentation of an actual airplane.

 

Their simulator will replicate⁶ the change in air conditions when a plume⁷ of methane enters the surrounding atmosphere.

OK. We're flying the simulator towards Key West International. We're approximately thousand feet. We're a few miles out and here we're coming in on the approach path for the airport. And we're gonna simulate what happens if we watch the altimeter. On both these we will see immediate⁸ change as we fly into that cloud of methane.

 

The altimeter determines altitude by measuring outside air pressure. Methane is half as dense⁹ as air. So when the cloud envelopes the plane the effect on the instruments is shocking.

 

And all the sudden, that jumps up to approximately 2000 feet. Thomas's now responding to that by descending¹¹ the airplane 'cause he needs to maintain 1000 feet.

 

The altimeter shows the plane is climbing rapidly. The pilot trusts his instruments and tries to drop to an altitude of 1000 feet. But now he's dangerously close to the ocean's surface.

 

And as we descend¹⁰ we're getting closer and closer to the water, but looking outside without reference to land or ships on the water, it's very hard to judge our altitude. And he's trained this instrument power to trust his instruments and not look outside the plane.

 

The plane's instruments continue to confuse the pilot.

1 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

2 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

4 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

5 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。

6 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

7 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 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。

10 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

11 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。