雅思關於鯨魚的閱讀

爲了幫助大家攻克雅思閱讀，下面小編給大家帶來雅思關於鯨魚的閱讀文章，希望喜歡。

　雅思雙語閱讀——鯨魚是自然界“歌王” 能連續唱一天

“聞名遐邇”的音樂奇才嘎嘎小姐發行自己的又一張新專輯，再一次“輕而易舉”地將自己的音樂享譽全球的時候，科學家驚喜地發現同樣的音樂天才不僅僅侷限於人類這個物種，在海底的鯨魚也同樣有“發行音樂專輯”並“唱歌”的權利。今天聚培訓小編就給大家介紹一下雅思雙語閱讀——鯨魚是自然界“歌王” 能連續唱一天。

when lady gaga releases a catchy new single, it quickly goes around the world. now scientists have discovered the same thing happens with the songs of another exotic creature – the humpback whale. the mammals become fixated on new tunes just like people do, and the most popular original whale songs spread globally like hit singles. number one artist? humpback whales become fixated on new tunes. the most popular original whale songs spread around the world like hit singles

當“聞名遐邇”的音樂奇才嘎嘎小姐發行自己的又一張新專輯，再一次“輕而易舉”地將自己的音樂享譽全球的時候，科學家驚喜地發現同樣的音樂天才不僅僅侷限於人類這個物種，在海底的鯨魚也同樣有“發行音樂專輯”並“唱歌”的權利。科學家還證實，這一類哺乳動物(座頭鯨)可以像人類一樣“有音調” “帶感情”地唱歌，據悉，座頭鯨是鯨類中最大者，成體平均體長雄性爲12.9米，雌性爲13.7米，體重25～35噸。其前緣具不規則的瘤狀突如鋸齒狀，口大，進食時上下頜間特殊韌帶結構可使口張開90度的角度。

the discovery has stunned marine experts who say it is the first time such a large, ‘population wide cultural exchange’ has been seen in the animal kingdom. male humpback whales are famed for the loud, long and complex songs they make during the mating season. scientists are unsure why the males sing. some believe it is a way of advertising themselves to females, others that it allows migrating whales to stay in contact。

這一發現徹底震驚了很多海洋專家，讓他們“大開眼界”，對於鯨魚發行音樂專輯事宜，他們認爲這是在生物物種，不同生物之間最大的一次 “文化交流”活動。雄性座頭鯨以“嗓門大”“身型長”“擅長複雜歌曲”聞名於世界。專家稱，特別在交配季節的雄性座頭鯨們可以更能展現、展示他們的“歌唱才華”。然而，對於鯨魚爲什麼會唱歌的原因，科學家至今還未能總結出個什麼結論，有一些人是認爲這是雄性座頭鯨爲了吸引雌性座頭鯨做出的“雄性荷爾蒙舉動”，也有一些人認爲這是爲了與“遷徙”舉家搬遷的“移民鯨魚”聯繫感情的一種方式。

each song lasts for ten to 20 minutes and the males can sing continuously for 24 hours. at any one time, all the males in a population sing the same song. but a study, published in the journal current biology, shows that this song changes over time and spreads around the oceans. dr ellen garland, of queensland university, said: ‘our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale. songs move like cultural ripples from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version.’

據悉，鯨魚們唱歌課不輕鬆，一首曲子至少能維持20分鐘，而且雄性座頭鯨常常能唱歌長達24小時。科學家發現，在任何時間，雄性座頭鯨都會“演唱”同一首曲子。在一本期刊《當代生物學》發表的研究上指出，這首座頭鯨唱的曲子在全世界通用，在任何海域都能聽得到。可謂在鯨魚界“不分地域”“享譽全球”的曲子。有專家dr ellen 說：“我們的研究目的是表明一個道理，那就是文化交流是在任何一個物種之間都存在的。”

　　【雅思閱讀翻譯】C4T1P2——鯨的感官

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

What Do Whales Feel?

An examination of the functioning of the senses in cetaceans, the group of mammals comprising whales, dolphins and porpoises

鯨的感官

一項對於鯨目動物(包括鯨、海豚、鼠海豚等哺乳動物)的感官功能測試

Some of the senses that we and other terrestrial mammals take for granted are either reduced or absent in cetaceans or fail to function well in water. For example, it appears from their brain structure that toothed species are unable to smell. Baleen species, on the other hand, appear to have some related brain structures but it is not known whether these are functional. It has been speculated that, as the blowholes evolved and migrated to the top of the head, the neural pathways serving sense of smell may have been nearly all sacrificed. Similarly, although at least some cetaceans have taste buds, the nerves serving these have degenerated or are rudimentary.

對於我們和其他陸地哺乳動物來說，一些感官是理所應當的，但是對於鯨來說，這些感官要麼衰退或消失，要麼在水中無法正常地發揮作用。例如，齒鯨的大腦結構顯示，它們不具備嗅覺。然而，雖然鬚鯨具備與嗅覺相關的大腦結構，人們現在也不知道它們是否起作用。據推測，當它們的(呼吸)氣孔進化並移動到頭頂時，服務於嗅覺感官的神經通路就已經幾乎不見了。同樣，儘管還有一些鯨魚擁有味蕾，服務於它們的神經也已經退化或者變得遲鈍了。

The sense of touch has sometimes been described as weak too, but this view is probably mistaken. Trainers of captive dolphins and small whales often remark on their animals’ responsiveness to being touched or rubbed, and both captive and free ranging cetacean individuals of all species (particularly adults and calves, or members of the same subgroup) appear to make frequent contact. This contact may help to maintain order within a group, and stroking or touching are part of the courtship ritual in most species. The area around the blowhole is also particularly sensitive and captive animals often object strongly to being touched there.

有時，人們會認爲它們的觸覺也很弱，但是這種觀點可能是錯誤的。圈養海豚和小海豚的訓練員常常會談論到它們對於碰觸和摩擦的動物反應。而且無論是圈養海豚還是放養海豚，整個族羣中個體之間的接觸都更加頻繁(尤其是成年海豚和幼年海豚之間，或同一亞羣的成員之間)。這種接觸有利於維護羣體內部的秩序，而且對於大多數種類的鯨來說，輕撫和碰觸都是求偶行爲的一部分。氣孔周圍的區域是尤其敏感的，圈養鯨類非常反感被碰觸那裏。

The sense of vision is developed to different degrees in different species. Baleen species studied at close quarters underwater – specifically a grey whale calf in captivity for a year, and free-ranging right whales and humpback whales studied and filmed off Argentina and Hawaii – have obviously tracked objects with vision under- water, and they can apparently see moderately well both in water and in air. However, the position of the eyes so restricts the field of vision in baleen whales that they probably do not have stereoscopic vision.

不同種類的鯨，視覺感官的發達程度也不盡相同。人們在水下近距離研究表明，鬚鯨(具體來說就人工飼養一年的灰鯨幼崽和阿根廷、夏威夷沿海拍攝的放養露脊鯨和座頭鯨)明顯具有可以利用視覺在水中追蹤獵物，而且它們不論在水中還是在空中都能看得很清楚。然而，鬚鯨眼睛的位置限制了它們視線的區域，所以它們可能不具備立體視覺。

On the other hand, the position of the eyes in most dolphins and porpoises suggests that they have stereoscopic vision forward and downward. Eye position in freshwater dolphins, which often swim on their side or upside down while feeding, suggests that what vision they have is stereoscopic forward and upward. By comparison, the bottle-nose dolphin has extremely keen vision in water. Judging from the way it watches and tracks airborne flying fish, it can apparently see fairly well through the air–water interface as well. And although preliminary experimental evidence suggests that their in-air vision is poor, the accuracy with which dolphins leap high to take small fish out of a trainer’s hand provides anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

從另一方面看，大部分海豚和江豚的眼睛位置說明它們擁有向前和向下的立體視覺。淡水海豚經常測遊，或在進食時肚皮朝上，這說明它們擁有向前和向後的立體視覺。相反的是，寬吻海豚在水下有很好的視力。從它觀察和追蹤空中飛魚的方式看來，它穿過水麪向空中也可以看得很清楚。而且，儘管初步試驗結果表明海豚的空中視力並不好，但它們能從水中躍起很高，並準確地吃到馴獸師手裏的小魚。這就用事實證據表明上述結論是錯誤的。

Such variation can no doubt be explained with reference to the habitats in which individual species have developed. For example, vision is obviously more useful to species inhabiting clear open waters than to those living in turbid rivers and flooded plains. The South American boutu and Chinese beiji, for instance, appear to have very limited vision, and the Indian susus are blind, their eyes reduced to slits that probably allow them to sense only the direction and intensity of light.

當然，這些變異可以通過個別物種的生存環境來解釋。例如，相比居住於混住的河流和洪水氾濫平原上的鯨，對於居住在清澈寬廣水域中的鯨來說，視力無疑更加有用。比方說南美洲的亞馬遜河豚和中國的白鰭豚視力都很有限，印度恆河豚根本看不見，它們的視力減弱成了兩條縫，只能感知到方向和光的強度。

Although the senses of taste and smell appear to have deteriorated, and vision in water appears to be uncertain, such weaknesses are more than compensated for by cetaceans’ well-developed acoustic sense. Most species are highly vocal, although they vary in the range of sounds they produce, and many forage for food using echo- locationv①. Large baleen whales primarily use the lower frequencies and are often limited in their repertoire. Notable exceptions are the nearly song-like choruses of bow-head whales in summer and the complex, haunting utterances of the humpback whales. Toothed species in general employ more of the frequency spectrum, and produce a wider variety of sounds, than baleen species (though the sperm whale apparently produces a monotonous series of high-energy clicks and little else). Some of the more complicated sounds are clearly communicative, although what role they may play in the social life and ‘culture’ of cetaceans has been more the subject of wild speculation than of solid science.

儘管味覺和嗅覺嚴重退化，水下視力也不確定，這些缺陷卻完全可以被它們非常發達的聽覺系統所彌補。儘管音域不盡相同，但大部分種類的鯨魚都很會“唱歌”而且可以利用回聲定位來覓食。大鬚鯨主要使用低頻段的聲音，而且聲音種類很有限。值得一提的例外是夏天裏北極露脊鯨歌曲般的合唱和座頭鯨複雜又令人難忘的話語。相比鬚鯨，齒鯨一般可以使用更多的頻譜，並且發出更多種類的聲音(儘管抹香鯨只能發出一系列單調尖銳的咔噠聲)。儘管聲音在鯨魚的社交生活和“文化”中扮演什麼角色更是一種胡亂猜測而不是嚴謹的科學，但顯然，一些更復雜的聲音更具備交流能力。

①. Echolocation: the perception of objects by means of sound wave echoes.

　　雅思機經詞彙 - 鯨魚的起源

cetaceans /s??te??n/ n.鯨目動物

porpoise /?p?rp?s/ n.鼠海豚

gill /ɡ?l/ n. 腮

fluke /flu:k/ n.鯨魚的尾鰭

sea otter 海獺

pinniped /‘p?n?ped/ n.鰭足類動物

seal /si:l/n.海豹

walrus /w?lr?s/n.海象

archaeocyte /ɑ’ki?s?t/n.原始細胞

jawbone /d??:b??n/n.下頜骨

vestigial /v??st?d?i?l/adj. 殘留的，殘餘的

locomotion /lo?k??mo??n/n.運動，移動

重點句型講解

The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing.

解析：

show that賓語從句+even though讓步結構

理解：

不過，從 Ambulocetus 的脊椎結構上可以看出，即使缺少尾片，它們也能像現代鯨魚那通過身體背部的上下襬動來遊走。

　每日一練|雅思詞彙:各種鯨魚、鯊魚和啄木鳥

鯨魚whale;

藍鯨blue whale;

白鯨

white whale/beluga whale;

座頭鯨humpback whale;

長鬚鯨fin whale;

抹香鯨sperm whale;

殺人鯨killer whale;

鯊魚shark;

大白鯊great white shark;

雙髻/錘頭鯊hammerhead shark;

鋸鯊saw shark;

巨口鯊megamouth shark;

虎鯊tiger shark

啄木鳥woodpecker;

杜鵑/布穀cuckoo;

黃鸝golden oriole;

白鷺egret;

翠鳥kingfisher;

喜鵲magpie;

烏鴉crow/raven;

麻雀sparrow;

八哥myna;

百靈lark;

雲雀skylark;

鸚鵡parrot;

海鷗seagull;

鸕鶿/魚鷹cormorant;

鵜鶘pelican;

斑鳩turtle dove;

鴛鴦mandarin duck;

鵪鶉quail