2006 T-3
文章¶
第一段¶
When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals: they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.
第二段¶
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.
- fisheries → n. 渔业；渔场（fishery 的复数）；捕鱼术；渔业公司
- biomass → n. 生物量；生物质能燃料
- matter → n. 物质；事件 v. 有关系，要紧
- predator → n. 捕食性动物； 掠夺者，掠夺成性的人（或组织）
- by
- 被动语态 + by 表示动作的发出者
- 表示方式方法 → by bus
- 在旁边 → You are standing by me.
- by + 时间 → 截止到 ... 时间
- 前面接变化的动作表示差额/变化的幅度
- exploitation → n. 剥削，压榨；开发，开采；（出于私利、不公正的）利用
- halved → v. （使）减半；对半分（halve 的过去式和过去分词）
第三段¶
Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.
- prey → n. 猎物，捕获物；受害者，受骗者；<古>掠夺品 v. 捕食；欺凌，坑害（尤指弱者）；不断困扰，折磨
- ago → adv. 以前，从前 adj. 以前的
- catch size → 捕获量
- longline → n. 多钩长线
- saturated → adj. 充满的，饱和的
- be saturated with ... → 被 ... 充满（处于饱和状态）
- bait → v. 放饵于某物之上或之内（以捕鱼、兽等） n.（钓鱼等用的）饵，诱饵
- Furthermore → adv. 此外，而且
第四段¶
Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the "shifting baseline". The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.
- baseline → n. 基线，基准
- take ... into account → 将 ... 考虑在内
- marine → adj. 海洋的，海产的
- shifting → adj. 不断移动的，不断变化的；动态的
- massive → adj. 巨大的；大而重的
- relatively → adv. 相当地；相对地，比较地
题目¶
31¶
The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that .
[A] large animal were vulnerable to the changing environment
[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared → as 实在两个事情之间有关联才会使用的，但是文章并没有说这两件事有关联，所以不对，强加关联。
[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today
[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones → 无中生有
- outlive → v. 比……活得长，比……活得久；比……经久
32¶
We can infer from Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that .
[A] the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90% → 分清楚减少了，和剩余的量
[B] there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago → 比较对象比对，原文比较的是生物量，不是渔场
[C] the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount → 比较对象不同，偷换概念
[D] the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old → 无中生有
- stock → 库存，存量
- catch sizes 在这里表示的是捕捞量
33¶
By saying "these figures are conservative" (Line 1, paragraph 3), Dr. Worm means that
[A] fishing technology has improved rapidly → 答非所问
[B] the catch-sizes are actually smaller than recorded → 反向干扰
[C] the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss
[D] the data collected so far are out of date
34¶
Dr. Myers and other researchers hold that .
[A] people should look for a baseline that can work for a longer time → 原文的 time 不是用来修饰基准线的
[B] fisheries should keep their yields below 50% of the biomass → 偷换概念
[C] the ocean biomass should be restored to its original level
[D] people should adjust the fishing baseline to the changing situation
35¶
The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’ .
[A] management efficiency
[B] biomass level
[C] catch-size limits
[D] technological application
- application → 应用
单词记忆¶
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