英语听力：自然百科 澳大利亚大堡礁 Great Barrier Reef—1

 Where the forces of nature meet? In a hidden world, a tropical miracle. At this moment, evolution is building a living colossus, a giant built by nature's tiniest creature, a model of reincarnation, a survivor¹ born from disaster—the Great Barrier Reef.

 

The world's largest structure isn't man-made, nature built it: a coral reef half the size of Texas, a living jewel off the coast of Australia, so large it can be seen from space; and within it, a vast aquarium² like none on earth. No other waters are more diverse—of fish alone, experts have identified 1,500 species and counting.

 

The Great Barrier Reef is a gallery for beauty, a showcase of the unique, a refuge for the endangered, one of the planet's last paradises. To understand it takes a new breed of scientist, one willing to go to extremes to get answers. The reef is a mystery that can't be solved in the lab. To crack it, you have to live it.

 

Beauty swims with violence. Fish here have the shortest life expectancy³ on the planet, yet the reef is an orchestra of the living.

1 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

2 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

3 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。