When Dolphins Hunt for Fish

⊙ By Martha Holmes翻譯：T Boy

聽力難度英式發(fā)音 適合背誦語速：130詞/分鐘

Our planet may be home to 30 million different kinds of animals and plants, each individual locked in its own life-long fight for survival. Everywhere you look, on land or in the ocean, there are extraordinary examples of the lengths living things go to to stay alive.

This is the coast of Florida. Here, strange1)scarson the seabed2)hintat one animal’s remarkable strategy.

These are bottlenose dolphins, one of the most intelligent animals on Earth. Their3)preyis very4)elusive, fast-swimming fish.But the dolphins have invented a completely new way of hunting. By beating its tail down hard, this dolphin stirs up the shallow5)silt.And by swimming in a tight circle, it creates a ring of6)mushroomingmud around a7)shoal of fish. The8)contractingring traps the fish just like a net.

Panicked, the fish jump to escape, right into the open mouths of the waiting dolphins.Again and again, the lead dolphin creates a circle, before they all line up with perfect timing.

These dolphins are the only ones known to have developed this hunting behaviour and it gives them an9)edge. This sort of advantage may mean the difference between life and death in the survival of the10)fittest.

1) scar [skɑ?（r）] n. 疤，痕；印記

2) hint [h?nt] v. 暗示，提示

3) prey [pre?] n. 被捕食的動(dòng)物

4) elusive [??lu?s?v] adj. 難以捕獲的

5) silt [s?lt] n. 淤泥，淤沙

6) mushroom [?m??r?m] v. 迅速成長(zhǎng)，呈蘑菇狀擴(kuò)散

7) shoal [???l] n. 魚群

8) contracting [k?n?tr?kt??] adj. 收縮的，縮小的

9) edge [ed?] n. 優(yōu)勢(shì)

10) fittest [f?ti?st] adj. 適當(dāng)?shù)模瑒偃蔚?/p>

提起聰明的海豚，你會(huì)想起它們?cè)诤Ｑ笫澜缋锉硌莸母唠y度動(dòng)作，還是多次挺身相救溺水者的故事呢？其實(shí)，與許多動(dòng)物一樣，海豚的聰明才智首先體現(xiàn)在生存技能上，而海里的魚自然是食物中的不二之選。一起來看看它們的捕魚技巧吧。

見招拆招

這篇講述海豚捕魚技巧的文章并不長(zhǎng)，只有206個(gè)字，但有引子、主體內(nèi)容、總結(jié)與升華，結(jié)構(gòu)完整，內(nèi)容充實(shí)，引人入勝。文章雖短，但句子結(jié)構(gòu)豐富多樣，信息量大。作者善于通過運(yùn)用不同的句型結(jié)構(gòu)增強(qiáng)文章的層次感，呈現(xiàn)生動(dòng)的場(chǎng)面感。短文既有概括敘述，又有細(xì)節(jié)描寫，是一篇優(yōu)秀的記敘短文。建議同學(xué)們反復(fù)細(xì)讀、聽錄音，爭(zhēng)取把它背下來，為自己日后的造句、作文做積累。

參考譯文

大約有三千多萬種動(dòng)植物以我們生活的地球?yàn)榧?，每個(gè)物種終其一生都要為存亡而戰(zhàn)。無論你將目光投向何處，陸地還是海洋，總會(huì)看到各物種為生存而竭盡全力的奇妙例子。

這里是美國(guó)佛羅里達(dá)州的一處海岸，海床上的奇怪印記暗示著一種動(dòng)物采取的精明戰(zhàn)術(shù)。

它們是寬吻海豚，是地球上高智商動(dòng)物中的佼佼者。它們要獵食的魚速度很快，很難逮住，但是海豚發(fā)明了一種全新的獵食技巧。它們通過用力拍打尾巴，攪起淺海床上的淤泥，再繞小圈游動(dòng)，用渾濁的泥水將一群魚包圍起來，漸漸縮小的包圍圈像漁網(wǎng)一樣把魚困在里面。

魚群慌不擇路，躍起逃命，直接躍入了旁邊海豚張開的大嘴里。領(lǐng)頭的海豚一而再地劃出新圈子，然后全體把握時(shí)機(jī)，擺好陣勢(shì)，等待獵物。

現(xiàn)知只有寬吻海豚用這種方法獵食，由此占盡優(yōu)勢(shì)。在適者生存的世界里，這種優(yōu)勢(shì)也許就能決定著生死。