佛罗里达珊瑚的绝地营救(上)

随着气候变化蹂躏着佛罗里达州人们所珍爱的珊瑚礁，一些以恢复海洋中的珊瑚为事业的人们正在迅速地将珊瑚从水中救出，并转移到陆地的水箱里。

双语精读

A Desperate Push to Save Florida's Coral: Get It Out of the Sea

佛罗里达珊瑚的绝地抢救：把珊瑚捞出海洋

When Bailey Thomasson first spotted the coral, she felt a jolt of relief.

当贝利·托马森一开始看到珊瑚时，她感到一阵释然。

She was diving for samples off the Florida Keys, and the thicket of elkhorn coral below looked brown, not the stark white that would indicate bleaching from the record-breaking sea temperatures in the area.

她正在佛罗里达礁岛群潜水采集样本，下面的一丛麋角珊瑚看起来是棕色而非惨白的颜色，白色表明该地区破纪录的海洋温度导致了珊瑚白化。

But as she swam closer, she realized the situation was far worse than she'd considered possible. "The coral didn't even have a chance to bleach, it just died," said Ms. Thomasson, who works for the Coral Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit group based in the Keys.

但等她游得更近了一些，她意识到情况比她想象的要糟糕许多。"珊瑚甚至还没来得及白化，就已经死了。"托马森说，她在珊瑚复育基金会工作，这是一个位于礁岛群的非营利性组织。

The brown color was not healthy coral but dead tissue sloughing off the skeleton, almost as if it had melted. "It just felt like, 'Oh my God, we're in the apocalypse,'" she said. "What's happening?"

棕色的东西不是健康的珊瑚，而是从珊瑚骨骼上脱落的死亡组织，这些组织就像融化了一样。"当时就感觉，‘哦，天哪，末日来了'，"她说，"到底发生了什么？"

With climate change ravaging Florida's beloved reef, people who've devoted their careers to restoring the coral in the sea are now racing to get it out of the water, to tanks on land.

随着气候变化蹂躏着佛罗里达州人们所珍爱的珊瑚礁，一些以恢复海洋中的珊瑚为事业的人们正在迅速地将珊瑚从水中救出，并转移到陆地的水箱里。

They're pushing through feelings of grief and fear over the future to save what genetic material and young corals they can. But in the background, an existential question looms: How can they restore reefs if the ocean is getting too hot for coral to live there?

他们强忍着悲痛情绪和对未来的恐惧，尽其所能地拯救珊瑚的遗传物质和幼年珊瑚。但在这背后，一个事关存亡的问题隐约浮现：如果海洋变得太热，让珊瑚无法生存，那么他们怎么能恢复珊瑚礁呢？

While marine heat waves occur naturally, the eye-popping sea temperatures recorded off the Keys this month (one reading hit 101 degrees Fahrenheit, or just over 38 Celsius) have been made worse by global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

虽然海洋热浪是自然发生的，但根据美国国家海洋和大气管理局的数据，本月在礁岛群附近记录到的令人瞠目结舌的海洋温度(其中一个读数高达101华氏度，即略高于38摄氏度)因全球变暖而变得更加严重。

The world's oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the additional heat unleashed by people burning fossil fuels and razing forests. Currently, about 44 percent of the global ocean is in a heat wave.

全世界的海洋吸收了90%的额外热量，这些热量因人类燃烧化石燃料和砍伐森林而产生。目前，全球约44%的海洋处于热浪之中。

The mass coral bleaching happening throughout the Keys is the most severe in the state's history, Derek Manzello, the coordinator of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program, said. Surveys over the next few months are needed to understand how much coral has died. "I fear for the worst," he said.

美国国家海洋和大气管理局珊瑚礁观察项目的协调员德里克·曼泽洛说，整个礁岛群发生的大规模珊瑚白化是佛罗里达州历史上最严重的一次。需要在接下来的几个月里进行调查，以了解珊瑚死亡数量。"我担心会出现最坏的情况。"他说。

Ms.Thomasson and her colleagues discovered that day, July 20, that all the coral at their acre-wide restoration plot at Sombrero Reef, about five nautical miles south of Marathon, Florida, was dead or so severely bleached that it was almost certain to die.

托马森和她的同事们在7月20日那天发现，在佛罗里达州马拉松以南约5海里的宽边帽礁岛，面积达数英亩的复育场的所有珊瑚都已经死亡，或严重白化而几近死亡。

The next day, she set out with her team to check on their Looe Key coral nursery, a site that they'd carefully built over the last two years off Big Pine Key. In May, they'd met a goal of installing 100 coral-nursery structures there.

第二天，她和她的团队出发去检查位于卢礁岛的复育场，这是他们在过去两年里在大松礁岛附近精心建造的一个场地。今年5月，他们实现了在那里安装100个珊瑚复育设施的目标。

Now, as they approached by boat, they could see the white of the bleached coral below. The team embraced in a group hug before jumping in. When they resurfaced, Ms. Thomasson called her boss, crying so hard that at first he couldn't understand her.

如今，当他们乘船靠近时，他们可以看到水下的珊瑚已白化。队员们拥抱在一起，然后才跳入水中。当他们重新浮出水面，托马森给她的老板打了个电话，她哭得很厉害，以至于老板一开始没听懂她在说什么。

"Everything at Looe Key is lost," she told him, some 5,400 pieces of elkhorn and staghorn coral.

"卢礁岛的所有珊瑚都没了。"她告诉老板，共有大约5400块麋角珊瑚和鹿角珊瑚。

词汇预习

• site [高考]

  美[saɪt] | 英[saɪt]

  n. 地点；位置；现场 vt. 使 ... 位于

• additional [高考]

  美[əˈdɪʃənl] | 英[əˈdɪʃənl]

  adj. 附加的；额外的

• restore [高考]

  美[rɪˈstɔːr] | 英[rɪˈstɔː(r)]

  vt. 恢复；归还；复原

• fossil [高考]

  美[ˈfɑːsl] | 英[ˈfɒsl]

  n. 化石；食古不化的人；守旧的事物

• marine [高考]

  美[məˈriːn] | 英[məˈriːn]

  adj. 海的；海事的；海生的；航海的 n. 海运业；船舶；水兵

• skeleton [高考]

  美[ˈskelɪtn] | 英[ˈskelɪtn]

  n. 骨架；纲要；骨骼；骨瘦如柴的人或动物；家丑 adj. 骨骼的

• coordinator [高考]

  美[koʊˈɔːrdɪneɪtər] | 英[kəʊˈɔːdɪneɪtə(r)]

  n. 协调者；同等的人或物；【自】协调器

• severely [高考]

  美[sɪ'vɪrli] | 英[sɪ'vɪə(r)li]

  adv. 严格地；严重地；严肃地；严厉地；朴实地

• occur [高考]

  美[əˈkɜːr] | 英[əˈkɜː(r)]

  vi. 发生；存在；出现；想到

• indicate [高考]

  美[ˈɪndɪkeɪt] | 英[ˈɪndɪkeɪt]

  v. 指示；象征；显示；暗示，预示 v. 表明；指明

• mass [高考]

  美[ mæs] | 英[mæs]

  n. 大量；块；众多 adj. 大规模的；群众的 v. 集中 n. 弥撒曲；弥撒

• relief [高考]

  美[rɪˈliːf] | 英[rɪˈliːf]

  n. 减轻；解除；轻松；浮雕；救济(品)；安慰；替代 adj. 提供救济的；文本的

• Ms. [高考]

  美[mɪz] | 英[mɪz]

  n. 女士，小姐

• severe [高考]

  美[sɪˈvɪr] | 英[sɪˈvɪə(r)]

  adj. 严厉的；严重的；剧烈的；严格的；严峻的

• tissue [高考]

  美[ˈtɪʃuː] | 英[ˈtɪʃuː]

  n. 纸巾；薄绢；(生物的)组织；织物

• plot [高考]

  美[plɑːt] | 英[plɒt]

  n. 情节；阴谋；图；(小块)土地 v. 密谋；绘图；计划；标示位置

• nursery [高考]

  美[ˈnɜːrsəri] | 英[ˈnɜːsəri]

  n. 托儿所；保育室；苗圃

• grief [高考]

  美[ɡriːf] | 英[ɡriːf]

  n. 悲痛；忧伤

• would [高考]

  美[wʊd , wəd] | 英[wʊd , wəd]

  aux. 将；可能；大概；总会；愿意；will的过去式

• beloved [四级]

  美[bɪˈlʌvd , bɪˈlʌvɪd] | 英[bɪˈlʌvd , bɪˈlʌvɪd]

  adj. 心爱的 n. 爱人

• Fahrenheit [四级]

  美[ˈfærənhaɪt] | 英[ˈfærənhaɪt]

  n. 华氏温标；华氏温度计 adj. 华氏的

• coral [四级]

  美[ˈkɔːrəl] | 英[ˈkɒrəl]

  n. 珊瑚 adj. 珊瑚的；珊瑚色的

• nonprofit [六级]

  美[nɑnˈprɑfɪt] | 英[ˌnɒn'prɒfɪt]

  adj. 非赢利的 n. 非赢利组织

• reef [六级]

  美[rif] | 英[ri:f]

  n. 暗礁；矿脉 n. 缩帆部 v. 缩帆；卷起

• bleach [六级]

  美[bliːtʃ] | 英[bliːtʃ]

  n. 漂白剂；漂白 v. 变白；漂白

• out of [六级]

  美[aʊt ʌv] | 英[aut ɔv]

  prep. 离…一段距离；从…里；离开 ...；出于

• or so [六级]

  美[ɔːr soʊ] | 英[ɔː(r) səʊ]

  大约;左右;把

• Celsius [六级]

  美[ˈselsiəs] | 英[ˈselsiəs]

  adj. 摄氏的 n. 摄氏

• according [专四]

  美[ə'kɔrdɪŋ] | 英[ə'kɔːdɪŋ]

  adj. 相符的；相应的；一致的 v. 给予；符合，一致；正式协议（accord的现在分词）

• felt [专八]

  美[fɛlt] | 英[felt]

  n. 毛毡；毡制品 vt. 制毡；使粘结 vi. 毡合

• existential [专八]

  美[ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəl, ˌɛksɪ-] | 英[ˌegzɪˈstenʃəl]

  adj. 有关存在的；存在判断的

• works [专八]

  美[wəks] | 英[wə:ks]

  n. 工厂；修建；机器部件；全套物品

• thicket [专八]

  美[ˈθɪkɪt] | 英[ˈθɪkɪt]

  n. 繁茂处；丛林；草丛

• nautical [专八]

  美[ˈnɔtɪkəl] | 英[ˈnɔ:tɪkl]

  adj. 海上的；航海的；船员的

• jolt [专八]

  美[dʒoʊlt] | 英[dʒəʊlt]

  n. 震摇；摇动；震惊；少量 vt. 颠簸；敲击；动摇；震动 vi. 颠簸而行

• stark [专八]

  美[stɑːrk] | 英[stɑːk]

  adj. 严酷的；荒凉的；光秃秃的；鲜明的 adv. 完全；实在；简直

• restoration [考研]

  美[ˌrestəˈreɪʃn] | 英[ˌrestəˈreɪʃn]

  n. 恢复；归还；复位

• God [考研]

  美[ɡɑːd] | 英[ɡɒd]

  n. 神；偶像；(复数)[英]剧院顶层楼座的观众；(大写)上帝 int. 天呐

• check on [考研]

  美[tʃɛk ɑn] | 英[tʃek ɔn]

  查对； 检查； 调查

• racing [托福]

  美[ ˈreɪsɪŋ] | 英[ˈreɪsɪŋ]

  n. 竞赛；赛马 adj. 竞赛用的；赛马用的

重点讲解

A Desperate Push to Save Florida's Coral: Get It Out of the Sea

佛罗里达珊瑚的绝地抢救：把珊瑚捞出海洋

desperate   adj. （因绝望而）拼命的，不惜冒险的

【例】a desperate struggle/a desperate criminal/make a desperate attempt

拼死挣扎/亡命之徒/孤注一掷

【辨析】hopeless/despairing  adj. 无可救药的/绝望的

When Bailey Thomasson first spotted the coral, she felt a jolt of relief.

当贝利·托马森一开始看到珊瑚时，她感到一阵释然。

desperate   adj. （因绝望而）拼命的，不惜冒险的

【例】a desperate struggle/a desperate criminal/make a desperate attempt

拼死挣扎/亡命之徒/孤注一掷

【辨析】hopeless/despairing  adj. 无可救药的/绝望的

She was diving for samples off the Florida Keys, and the thicket of elkhorn coral below looked brown, not the stark white that would indicate bleaching from the record-breaking sea temperatures in the area.

她正在佛罗里达礁岛群潜水采集样本，下面的一丛麋角珊瑚看起来是棕色而非惨白的颜色，白色表明该地区破纪录的海洋温度导致了珊瑚白化。

stark   adj. & adv.

1. 作形容词：

（1）无修饰的；荒凉的

【例】I think white would be too stark for the bedroom. 

我觉得卧室里用白色未免太素了。

（2）真实而无法回避的

【例】stark reality/in stark contrast   严酷的现实/鲜明的对比

2. 作副词：完全地；十足地

【例】stark naked/go stark mad   赤裸裸/完全疯了

restoration   n. 

1. 恢复（某种情况）

【例】the restoration of water and electricity to the area 恢复对该地区供水供电

2. 修复；复原

【例】the restoration of an antique desk 对一张古董书桌的修复

3. 归还；回归

【例】the restoration of the sculpture to Greece 将雕塑归还给希腊

【拓展】restore  v. 恢复；复原；归还

But as she swam closer, she realized the situation was far worse than she'd considered possible. "The coral didn't even have a chance to bleach, it just died," said Ms. Thomasson, who works for the Coral Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit group based in the Keys.

但等她游得更近了一些，她意识到情况比她想象的要糟糕许多。"珊瑚甚至还没来得及白化，就已经死了。"托马森说，她在珊瑚复育基金会工作，这是一个位于礁岛群的非营利性组织。

stark   adj. & adv.

1. 作形容词：

（1）无修饰的；荒凉的

【例】I think white would be too stark for the bedroom. 

我觉得卧室里用白色未免太素了。

（2）真实而无法回避的

【例】stark reality/in stark contrast   严酷的现实/鲜明的对比

2. 作副词：完全地；十足地

【例】stark naked/go stark mad   赤裸裸/完全疯了

restoration   n. 

1. 恢复（某种情况）

【例】the restoration of water and electricity to the area 恢复对该地区供水供电

2. 修复；复原

【例】the restoration of an antique desk 对一张古董书桌的修复

3. 归还；回归

【例】the restoration of the sculpture to Greece 将雕塑归还给希腊

【拓展】restore  v. 恢复；复原；归还

The brown color was not healthy coral but dead tissue sloughing off the skeleton, almost as if it had melted. "It just felt like, ‘Oh my God, we're in the apocalypse,'" she said. "What's happening?"

棕色的东西不是健康的珊瑚，而是从珊瑚骨骼上脱落的死亡组织，这些组织就像融化了一样。"当时就感觉，‘哦，天哪，末日来了'，"她说，"到底发生了什么？"

skeleton   n.

1. 骨架；骨骼

【例】a living skeleton  瘦得皮包骨头

【拓展】a skeleton in the cupboard/closet  橱柜里的骷髅；不可外扬的家丑

2. 梗概；提纲；最基本的部分

【例】the skeleton of a novel/skeleton staff 小说的梗概/维持运转所需的最少人员

With climate change ravaging Florida's beloved reef, people who've devoted their careers to restoring the coral in the sea are now racing to get it out of the water, to tanks on land.

随着气候变化蹂躏着佛罗里达州人们所珍爱的珊瑚礁，一些以恢复海洋中的珊瑚为事业的人们正在迅速地将珊瑚从水中救出，并转移到陆地的水箱里。

ravage   v. 毁坏；严重破坏

【例】The wind and sandstorms ravaged the crops.

风和沙暴毁坏了农作物。

【辨析】savage  adj./v. 凶狠的/凶残地攻击

【近义词】destroy  v. 毁坏；破坏

devote sth to...

1. 把某物奉献给……；致力于……

【例】Mary devoted her life to caring for the sick. 

玛丽将一生奉献给医护事业。

【近义词】dedicate sth to...  把某物奉献给……

2. 把某物用于……

【例】I devote my evenings to learning English.

我把每个晚上的时间用于学习英语。 

【拓展】devoted/dedicated  adj. 挚爱的；忠诚的/敬业的；奉献的

【例】a devoted son/a dedicated teacher  孝子/敬业的老师

existential   adj. 关于存在的；存在主义的

【例】The biggest existential threat to humans is probably still nuclear war.

人类最大的生存威胁可能还是核战争。

【拓展】exist  v. 存在

【辨析】existent  adj. 存在的；现有的

【例】I think we should improve existent parks rather than create new ones.

我认为我们应该修缮现有的公园，而不是建造新的公园。

loom  v. 令人惊恐地显现；逼近

【例】A crisis is looming.

一场危机正逐渐逼近。

They're pushing through feelings of grief and fear over the future to save what genetic material and young corals they can. But in the background, an existential question looms: How can they restore reefs if the ocean is getting too hot for coral to live there?

他们强忍着悲痛情绪和对未来的恐惧，尽其所能地拯救珊瑚的遗传物质和幼年珊瑚。但在这背后，一个事关存亡的问题隐约浮现：如果海洋变得太热，让珊瑚无法生存，那么他们怎么能恢复珊瑚礁呢？

ravage   v. 毁坏；严重破坏

【例】The wind and sandstorms ravaged the crops.

风和沙暴毁坏了农作物。

【辨析】savage  adj./v. 凶狠的/凶残地攻击

【近义词】destroy  v. 毁坏；破坏

devote sth to...

1. 把某物奉献给……；致力于……

【例】Mary devoted her life to caring for the sick. 

玛丽将一生奉献给医护事业。

【近义词】dedicate sth to...  把某物奉献给……

2. 把某物用于……

【例】I devote my evenings to learning English.

我把每个晚上的时间用于学习英语。 

【拓展】devoted/dedicated  adj. 挚爱的；忠诚的/敬业的；奉献的

【例】a devoted son/a dedicated teacher  孝子/敬业的老师

existential   adj. 关于存在的；存在主义的

【例】The biggest existential threat to humans is probably still nuclear war.

人类最大的生存威胁可能还是核战争。

【拓展】exist  v. 存在

【辨析】existent  adj. 存在的；现有的

【例】I think we should improve existent parks rather than create new ones.

我认为我们应该修缮现有的公园，而不是建造新的公园。

loom  v. 令人惊恐地显现；逼近

【例】A crisis is looming.

一场危机正逐渐逼近。

While marine heat waves occur naturally, the eye-popping sea temperatures recorded off the Keys this month (one reading hit 101 degrees Fahrenheit, or just over 38 Celsius) have been made worse by global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

虽然海洋热浪是自然发生的，但根据美国国家海洋和大气管理局的数据，本月在礁岛群附近记录到的令人瞠目结舌的海洋温度(其中一个读数高达101华氏度，即略高于38摄氏度)因全球变暖而变得更加严重。

marine   adj. 海洋的；海生的

【例】marine life/biologist  海洋生物/海洋生物学家

【反义词】terrestrial  adj. 陆地的；陆生的

【辨析】maritime  adj. 海运的

【例】maritime powers/routes  海上强国；航海路线

unleash   v. 发泄；释放；使爆发

【例】unleash a storm of protest/one’s anger/creativity

引发抗议浪潮/发泄怒火/释放创意

raze   v. 彻底摧毁；夷为平地

【例】The village was razed to the ground. 

这座村庄被夷为平地。

【拓展】razor  n. 剃须刀

The world's oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the additional heat unleashed by people burning fossil fuels and razing forests. Currently, about 44 percent of the global ocean is in a heat wave.

全世界的海洋吸收了90%的额外热量，这些热量因人类燃烧化石燃料和砍伐森林而产生。目前，全球约44%的海洋处于热浪之中。

marine   adj. 海洋的；海生的

【例】marine life/biologist  海洋生物/海洋生物学家

【反义词】terrestrial  adj. 陆地的；陆生的

【辨析】maritime  adj. 海运的

【例】maritime powers/routes  海上强国；航海路线

unleash   v. 发泄；释放；使爆发

【例】unleash a storm of protest/one’s anger/creativity

引发抗议浪潮/发泄怒火/释放创意

raze   v. 彻底摧毁；夷为平地

【例】The village was razed to the ground. 

这座村庄被夷为平地。

【拓展】razor  n. 剃须刀

The mass coral bleaching happening throughout the Keys is the most severe in the state's history, Derek Manzello, the coordinator of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program, said. Surveys over the next few months are needed to understand how much coral has died. "I fear for the worst," he said.

美国国家海洋和大气管理局珊瑚礁观察项目的协调员德里克·曼泽洛说，整个礁岛群发生的大规模珊瑚白化是佛罗里达州历史上最严重的一次。需要在接下来的几个月里进行调查，以了解珊瑚死亡数量。"我担心会出现最坏的情况。"他说。

plot   n.

1. 故事情节

【例】How does the plot run? 

情节如何发展？

2. （专用的）小块土地

【例】a vegetable plot  一块蔬菜地

Ms.Thomasson and her colleagues discovered that day, July 20, that all the coral at their acre-wide restoration plot at Sombrero Reef, about five nautical miles south of Marathon, Florida, was dead or so severely bleached that it was almost certain to die.

托马森和她的同事们在7月20日那天发现，在佛罗里达州马拉松以南约5海里的宽边帽礁岛，面积达数英亩的复育场的所有珊瑚都已经死亡，或严重白化而几近死亡。

plot   n.

1. 故事情节

【例】How does the plot run? 

情节如何发展？

2. （专用的）小块土地

【例】a vegetable plot  一块蔬菜地

The next day, she set out with her team to check on their Looe Key coral nursery, a site that they'd carefully built over the last two years off Big Pine Key. In May, they'd met a goal of installing 100 coral-nursery structures there.

第二天，她和她的团队出发去检查位于卢礁岛的复育场，这是他们在过去两年里在大松礁岛附近精心建造的一个场地。今年5月，他们实现了在那里安装100个珊瑚复育设施的目标。

structure   n. & v.

1. 作名词：结构；结构体；建筑物

【例】the economic structure of a society/a wooden structure

社会的经济结构/木结构建筑

2. 作动词：使形成结构；组织安排

【例】The exhibition is structured around the themes of work and leisure. 

展览是围绕工作与休闲的主题来布置的。

Now, as they approached by boat, they could see the white of the bleached coral below. The team embraced in a group hug before jumping in. When they resurfaced, Ms. Thomasson called her boss, crying so hard that at first he couldn't understand her.

如今，当他们乘船靠近时，他们可以看到水下的珊瑚已白化。队员们拥抱在一起，然后才跳入水中。当他们重新浮出水面，托马森给她的老板打了个电话，她哭得很厉害，以至于老板一开始没听懂她在说什么。

structure   n. & v.

1. 作名词：结构；结构体；建筑物

【例】the economic structure of a society/a wooden structure

社会的经济结构/木结构建筑

2. 作动词：使形成结构；组织安排

【例】The exhibition is structured around the themes of work and leisure. 

展览是围绕工作与休闲的主题来布置的。

"Everything at Looe Key is lost," she told him, some 5,400 pieces of elkhorn and staghorn coral.

"卢礁岛的所有珊瑚都没了。"她告诉老板，共有大约5400块麋角珊瑚和鹿角珊瑚。

structure   n. & v.

1. 作名词：结构；结构体；建筑物

【例】the economic structure of a society/a wooden structure

社会的经济结构/木结构建筑

2. 作动词：使形成结构；组织安排

【例】The exhibition is structured around the themes of work and leisure. 

展览是围绕工作与休闲的主题来布置的。

课后练习

• What can be learned about the coral off the Florida Keys?

  A. It survived the high temperatures of the sea.

  B. It suffered from a disease and turned brown.

  C. It bleached due to the warm sea water.

  D. It died due to the heat wave in the sea.

• What are people doing to save the coral?

  A. They are planting new coral in the area.

  B. They are transferring the coral out of the sea.

  C. They are studying the genetic material of the coral.

  D. They are dealing with the water pollution in the sea.

• The existence of the coral is threatened by ____.

  A. natural disasters

  B. global warming

  C. a lack of genetic diversity

  D. air pollution

• Which of the following is true about the situation of Florida’s coral?

  A. The scale of the coral bleaching is smaller than expected.

  B. The coral at the restoration plot remains safe and healthy.

  C. The restoration plots have suffered heavy losses of coral.

  D. The coral-nursery structures have been destroyed by tides.