與海牛暢游

山東 李全忠

題材：個人故事 體裁：記敘文 文章詞數：342 建議用時：6分鐘

The water is clear as glass and the sun is just starting to rise as I cruise with a group of sightseers down Florida's Crystal River in a small boat.We can touch the green seagrass swaying on the river bed and see small grouper fish hiding in the fronds.In wetsuits and masks,we float downstream towards Three Sisters Spring.

Then,out of nowhere,a manatee calf (崽；幼獸) swims towards me.I practice the“freeze and float”technique and stay perfectly still.The baby brushes my wetsuit with his nose.A metre and a half long and weighing about 180 kilograms,he is one of the friendli?est and most curious creatures I have ever encountered.His eyes are cloudy blue;his skin is thick,grayish brown,wrinkled and covered in hundreds of coarse body hairs.

I've come to Crystal River hoping for just such an encounter with these gentle giants of the sea,whose closest relatives are not seals or dolphins as one might expect,but el?ephants.

After a few minutes of poking(戳),the calf loses interest in me,turns around and goes deeper into the spring,propelled by his powerful tail.He soon finds his mother,resting on the spring's shallow bottom.

Curiously,they are fast swimmers when they need to be,yet have no natural preda?tors;even crocodiles give them the right of way.

The manatee population on Florida's Atlantic coast,along the Indian River Lagoon near Orlando is reducing.The fall of 2021 saw a severe reduction in manatee numbers due to algal blooms from polluted waters that destroyed seagrass beds.State and federal wild?life officials announced a special operation to hand?feed manatees—an unusual move by conservationists who usually advise that wild animals search for food on their own so they don't become dependent on humans.

It serves as a reminder of the precarious (不穩定的) state of these wonderful crea?tures and makes me feel more grateful that I had a rare opportunity to have floated,if not swum,with two of them.

Reading Check

1.Which of the following animals are manatees'closest relatives?

A.Cows. B.Seals.

C.Dolphins. D.Elephants.

2.What does the underlined word“predators”in paragraph 5 mean?

A.Skills. B.Enemies.

C.Burdens. D.Pressures.

3.Why did the manatee population on Florida's Atlantic coast reduce greatly in 2021?

A.People couldn't find enough food to feed them.

B.People advised manatees to search for food by themselves.

C.Their food was badly affected because of polluted waters.

D.Their habitats were occupied by more polluted seagrass.

4.Which of the following words can best describe the author's journey?

A.Costly but worthwhile. B.Tiring and dangerous.

C.Exciting and significant. D.Challenging but entertaining.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

The water is clear as glass and the sun is just starting to rise as I cruise with a group of sightseers down Florida's Crystal River in a small boat.河水像玻璃一樣清澈，太陽剛剛升起，我和一群觀光客乘坐小船沿著佛羅里達州的水晶河航行。

【點石成金】本句是一個并列復合句，句中的第二個as引導時間狀語從句。