VOA慢速英语2016 夏威夷海岸发现巨型海绵动物（在线收听）

Minivan-sized Sponge Found off Hawaii Coast 夏威夷海岸发现巨型海绵动物

It might be hard to imagine, but scientists found a sponge the size of a minivan in deep waters near the Hawaiian Islands.

或许难以想象，科学家在夏威夷群岛附近的深水里发现了像一辆小型货车一样大的海绵。

The scientists said this sponge is the largest one ever found by researchers. A U.S. government research ship called the Okeanos Explorer found the record-setting sponge last year. A report on the discovery was published recently in the journal Marine Biodiversity.

科学家们说这个海绵是研究人员发现的海绵中最大的一个。美国政府的调查船——Okeanos探险家在去年发现了这个创纪录的海绵。报告发表在近期的《海洋生物多样性》中。

The ship was in the Pacific Ocean, off the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, when the researchers first saw the sponge. They were surprised to find it about two kilometers below the water's surface. Because the sponge is so large, the researchers said it suggests that it is very, very old.

当研究人员第一次看到海绵时，船停在太平洋夏威夷群岛的西北方。他们惊奇地发现它处于水面下约两公里的地方。因为海绵是如此之大，研究人员说，这表明它是非常，非常的古老。

They captured pictures of the rare organism with video taken by an underwater vehicle, which was operated from the research ship. The sponge has a bluish-white color, and looks a little like a huge brain.

他们用调查船的水下航行器拍摄这个罕见的生物的照片与视频。海绵是青白色的，看上去有点像一个巨大的大脑。

Christopher Kelley is a biologist at the Hawaii Undersea Research Lab. He helped with the research project.

克里斯托弗·凯利是夏威夷海底实验室的一名生物学家。他参与这个项目的研究。

"Here's this animal that has presumably never been encountered before,” he told The Maui News. “And it's enormous and that kind of brings up a little intrigue for deep water and what else exists down there.”

“以前大概从未遇到过这种动物，”他告诉毛伊岛新闻社。“它很巨大，是那种把它从深水面提出一点后，下面还有其他很大部分的存在。”

The scientists said the sponge measured over 3.5 meters from one end to the other. They said it was from 1.5 to two meters wide. That would make it bigger than the largest sponge ever recorded.

科学家们说，海绵两端相距超过3.5米。他们说它有1.5到2米的宽度。这将使它比有记录的海绵都要大。

Scientists do not know how long sponges can live. But some of the large ones found in shallow water are thought to be over 2,300 years old. Some estimates say they could be thousands of years older.

科学家不知道海绵可以活多久。但是一些在浅水中发现的海绵被认为已经存活了2300多年。一些人估计它们可能能存活几千年。

“The largest portion of our planet lies in deep waters, the vast majority of which has never been explored,” said Daniel Wagner. He is the lead scientist for the project with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. NOAA is short for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“地球的最大的部分在于深水域，其中绝大多数从未被探索，”丹尼尔·瓦格纳说。他是美国国家海洋保护区的NOAA办公室项目的首席科学家。NOAA是美国国家海洋和大气管理局是的缩写。

Wagner said that finding such a large sponge shows “how much can be learned from studying deep and pristine environments,” like the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii.

瓦格纳说，找到这么大的海绵显示“在深度研究原生态环境中我们可以学到多少，”像夏威夷的Papahānaumokuākea海洋国家纪念碑。

Sponges are similar to coral reefs because they give other sea life a habitat or place to live. They also filter seawater. They remove unwanted material that other sea creatures do not eat.

海绵与珊瑚礁类似，因为他们给其他海洋生物提供栖息地或居住地。它们也过滤海水。它们移除其他海洋生物不食用的物质。

The report said very large and old sponges provide "key ecosystem services such as filtering large amounts of seawater.” According to the study, sponges also provide important homes for invertebrate and microbial species.

报告说非常大和老的海绵为关键生态系统提供像过滤大量的海水等服务。研究显示，海绵也为无脊椎动物和微生物物种提供重要的家园。

Sponges are actually sea creatures, but sometimes people think they are plants. A website called Shape of Life says ancient sponges were the first animals on Earth, showing up about 2.5 billion years ago.

事实上，海绵是海洋生物，但有时人们认为它们是植物。人生形状的网站说古代的海绵是在大约25亿年前第一个出现在地球上的生物。

Sponges are simple organisms. They come in many different shapes and sizes. They connect to rocks or other solid structures and get their food through the seawater.

海绵是简单的生物。他们有许多不同的形状和大小。他们粘附在到岩石或其他坚固物体上，通过海水获得他们的食物。

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument was founded in 2006. Its website says the monument area is the “largest contiguous fully protected conservation area under the U.S. flag, and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.” It protects 362,073 square kilometers of land. That makes it bigger than every U.S. national park combined.

Papahānaumokuākea海洋国家公园成立于2006年。其网站上说，纪念碑区是美国最大的连续得到充分保护的保护区和世界上最大的海洋保护区之一。这保护了362073平方公里的土地。这它比美国所有国家公园的总面积大。

The Okeanos Explorer made another discovery last February when it spotted a “ghost-like” octopus believed to be a new species.

去年2月，Okeanos探险家有另一个发现，它发现了一个“鬼”章鱼，这被认为是一个新的物种。

The octopus was found in water over 4,000 meters deep, off Hawaii's Neckler Island. Okeanos' remotely-operated vehicle, Deep Discoverer, spotted the creature on a flat rock.

章鱼在夏威夷Neckler岛边水下4000多米深的地方被发现。Okeanos的远程操作车辆，深处发现者，在平坦的岩石上发现了这个生物。

According to NOAA, “the appearance of this animal was unlike any published records and was the deepest observation ever for this type of cephalopod.”

据美国国家海洋和大气管理局介绍，“这种动物的外观不同于任何记录和发布的章鱼外观，它是这种头足类生物有史以来最深的观察。”

Words in This Story

presume - v. to think something is true without knowing it is true

intrigue - v. to make (someone) want to know more about something

shallow – adj. not deep

pristine – adj. clean and fresh as if new

invertebrate – n. an animal without a backbone

microbial – adj. having to do with microbes—tiny living things that can only be seen with a microscope

cephalopod – n. a kind of sea animal mollusk such as an octopus or squid.