Fish and chips has always been a favourite dish in Britain, but as the oceans have been overfished, fish has become more and more expensive. So it comes as a surprise to learn that giant fish are terrifying the divers on North Sea oil rigs. Oil rigs have to be repaired frequently and divers, who often have to work in darkness a hundred feet under water, have been frightened out of their wits by giant fish bumping into them as they work. Now they have had special cages made to protect them from these monsters. The fish are not sharks or killer whales, but favourite eating varieties like cod and skate which grow to unnatural sizes, sometimes as much as twelve feet in length. Three factors have caused these fish to grow so large: the warm water round the hot oil pipes under the sea; the plentiful supply of food thrown overboard by the crews on the rigs; the total absence of fishing boats around the oil rigs. As a result, the fish just eat and eat and grow and grow in the lovely warm water. Who eats who?
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
chip n. 油煎土豆片
overfish v. 過(guò)度捕撈
giant adj. 巨大的
terrify v. 嚇,使恐怖
diver n. 潛小員
oil rig 石油鉆塔
wit n. (復(fù)數(shù))理智,頭腦
cage n. 籠
shark n. 鯊魚
whale n. 鯨
variety n. 品種
cod n. 鱈
skate n. 鰩
factor n. 因素
crew n. 全體工作人員
油煎魚加炸土豆片一直是英國(guó)人喜愛的一道菜,但是隨著海洋里的濫捕濫撈,魚已經(jīng)變得越來(lái)越昂貴。因此,聽說(shuō)北海石油鉆井平臺(tái)上的潛水員受到巨型魚類的恐嚇,確實(shí)很讓人吃驚。鉆井平臺(tái)需要經(jīng)常修理,潛水員常常要在水面100英尺以下摸黑工作,他們?cè)诠ぷ鲿r(shí)被撞到他們身上的大魚嚇得驚惶失措?,F(xiàn)在他們有了特制的籠子,用來(lái)保護(hù)他們免受大魚的侵襲。這些魚并不是鯊魚或逆戟鯨,而是深受人們喜愛的食用魚品種,如鱈魚和鰩魚,只不過(guò)它們長(zhǎng)得出奇地大,有時(shí)長(zhǎng)達(dá)12英尺。這些魚能長(zhǎng)得這么大是由3個(gè)因素造成的:海底熱的輸油管道附近的溫暖的海水;鉆井平臺(tái)工作人員拋到海里充足的食物;鉆井平臺(tái)周圍根本沒(méi)有捕魚船只。結(jié)果是,這些魚就在可愛的溫暖的水流中吃呀吃,長(zhǎng)呀長(zhǎng)。究竟誰(shuí)吃誰(shuí)呢?