大众英语80篇背诵阅读带翻译(十七)
"33 Plankton
Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.
Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, the sea's plankton generates more than twice as much. Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population. No one yet has seriously suggested that "planktonburgers" may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the great blue whale, the largest animal ever inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow to100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.浮游生物数十亿吨的被称为"浮游生物"的小动物、动物散布在世界的陆地中。这些小的动、动物年夜多太小而难以被人眼看到。它们趁波逐浪，为良多较年夜的动物供给了根基的食物。浮游生物曾被描绘为发展在年夜陆陆地上的各种草类的陆地对应物。这种比方是得当的。但是就匿伏的食物代价而言，浮游生物远胜于草类。一位迷信家已经估计，世界上的草类每年临盆年夜约 490亿吨有效的碳水化合物，而陆地里的浮游生物每年临盆的碳水化合物多于此数的两倍。虽然浮游生物具有庞年夜的食物潜能，但直到近来人们还很少象莳植草类那样支付勉力养殖浮游生物。现在，陆地迷信家们至少已开始钻研这种年夜概性。全球生齿赓续扩张，陆地本钱作为食物的重要性日益凸起。现在还没有人担当说过"浮游生物汉堡"会很快在世界下流行起来。但是，作为一种年夜概养殖的弥补性食物本钱，浮游生物正惹起了陆地迷信家们相称年夜的快乐喜爱。一种好像具有很年夜收成年夜概性的巨大的虾状浮游生物被称为鳞虾。鳞虾长至 2～3英寸永劫即成为地球上曾栖身过的最年夜动物--蓝鲸的重要食物。成熟的蓝鲸可以到达 100英尺长，150吨重，所以每头鲸每天吞食 1吨多的鳞虾一点也不让人受惊。