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万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第396期:浩瀚的海洋(15)

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There are still no submersibles that can go anywhere near the depth of the Mariana Trench and only five, including Alvin, that can reach the depths of the "abyssal plain"—the deep ocean floor—that covers more than half the planet's surface. A typical submersible costs about $25,000 a day to operate, so they are hardly dropped into the water on a whim, still less put to sea in the hope that they will randomly stumble on something of interest. It's rather as if our firsthand experience of the surface world were based on the work of five guys exploring on garden tractors after dark. According to Robert Kunzig, humans may have scrutinized "perhaps a millionth or a billionth of the sea's darkness. Maybe less. Maybe much less."

现在假然没有能下沉到接近马里亚纳海沟深度的探海艇。只有5条,包括“阿尔文”号在内。能够抵达覆盖半个多地球表面的“深海平原”——深处的海床。一条普通的探海艇的运作费高达每天25000美元,因此几乎不会随便沉人海里,更不会到海里去瞎碰瞎撞,指望能碰上撞上什么有意思的东西。我们对于地球表面的第一手经验,就好像是建立在五个家伙夜间开着拖拉机进行的探索工作的基础上的。罗伯特·孔齐希说,人类也许只是察看了“大海暗处的百万分之一,或十亿分之一也许更少。也许少得多。”
the ocean

But oceanographers are nothing if not industrious, and they have made several important discoveries with their limited resources—including, in 1977, one of the most important and startling biological discoveries of the twentieth century. In that year Alvin found teeming colonies of large organisms living on and around deep-sea vents off the Galapagos Islands— tube worms over ten feet long, clams a foot wide, shrimps and mussels in profusion, wriggling spaghetti worms. They all owed their existence to vast colonies of bacteria that were deriving their energy and sustenance from hydrogen sulfides—compounds profoundly toxic to surface creatures—that were pouring steadily from the vents.

但是,海洋学家们兢兢业业,以有限的资源取得了几项重要的发现——包括20世纪一项最重大的生物学发现。1977年,“阿尔文”号发现大群大群的大生物生活在加拉帕戈斯群岛附近的深海喷气孔上和周围——3米长的多毛虫,30厘米宽的蛤蜊,大量的虾和蚌,蠕动的管状虫。他们都认为,这些生物的存在要归因于大群大群的细菌;这些细菌又从硫化氢——对地面生物毒性极大的化合物——获取它们所需要的能量和营养,而硫化氢正源源不断地从喷气孔里冒出来。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
vast [vɑ:st]

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adj. 巨大的,广阔的
n. 浩瀚的太

 
typical ['tipikəl]

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adj. 典型的,有代表性的,特有的,独特的

 
bacteria [bæk'tiəriə]

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n. (复数)细菌

 
sustenance ['sʌstinəns]

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n. 维持生计,食物

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stumble ['stʌmbl]

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n. 绊倒,失策
vi. 绊倒,失策,踌躇,无

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randomly ['rændəmli]

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adv. 任意地,随便地,胡乱地

 
plain [plein]

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n. 平原,草原
adj. 清楚的,坦白的,简

 
startling ['stɑ:tliŋ]

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adj. 惊人的 动词startle的现在分词

 
industrious [in'dʌstriəs]

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adj. 勤劳的,勤奋的

 
toxic ['tɔksik]

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adj. 有毒的
n. 有毒物质

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