字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：Historic Abundance of Blue Whales Returns in California
藍鯨重新在美國加州崛起

 洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
 康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2014/20140921sa_earth.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
The largest animal on Earth is thriving anew, at least off of California. And all it took was for people to stop hunting blue whales.
地球上最大的動物正在重新崛起，至少在美國加州正在崛起。使得其可以再次迅速繁衍的原因是，人們停止獵捕藍鯨。

That's according to a new study in Marine Mammal Science. [ Cole C. Monnahan et al:Do ship strikes threaten the recovery of endangered eastern North Pacific blue whales?]
這是根據發表在《海洋哺乳動物科學》雜誌上的一項新的研究而來。

Today, the California group of the mighty blue whales numbers roughly 2,200, according to conservationists and based on distinctive singing. That compares with the more than 3,000 killed over the first seven decades of the 20th century. The blue whale can grow up to 30 meters in length and weigh more than 180 metric tons—and requires for food each day roughly 40 million tiny sea creatures called krill.
根據從環保主義者那裡所瞭解的和藍鯨獨特的叫聲可知，現在加州強大的藍鯨種群數量約為2200只。相比之下，在20世紀的前70年中，有3000多只藍鯨被捕殺。藍鯨可長達30米，重量超過180多公噸，每天需要進食4000萬隻被叫做磷蝦的微小海洋生物。

This may explain why the number of whales off California has stopped growing. Some conservationists had argued that individuals being hit and killed by ship traffic held back population growth. But the new research suggests it's more likely that California blue whales have reached the limits to growth in that region of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
這或許可以解釋為什麼加州以外的藍鯨的數量已經不再增加。一些環保人士曾稱：是因為捕鯨者的捕殺和海上船隻的撞擊獵殺阻礙其數量的增長。但是新的研究表明，更有可能的原因是加州藍鯨的數量已經達到東太平洋地區海洋環境容納量的增長極限。

Of course, more than 350,000 blue whales were killed in other parts of the world in the 20th century. So the species has hardly recovered to its historical abundance. But, at least in California, the blue whale is back.
—David Biello
當然，在20世紀，加州以外的地區有35萬多只藍鯨被殺。因此，藍鯨數量幾乎不可能恢復到原來的豐富的數量。但是至少在加州，藍鯨數量又開始增加了。——戴維‧別洛。

同場加映：Why are blue whales so enormous?