Level 2 Reading 6B

Ch.12 Reading 6B

第12章 阅读6B

THE TRUTH ABOUT GREAT WHITES In sunny California, Craig Rogers was sitting on his surfboard, scanning the distance for his next wave. Suddenly, his board stopped moving. He looked down and was terrified to see a great white shark biting the front of his board. "I could have touched its eye with my elbow," says Rogers. The shark had surfaced so quietly that he didn't hear a thing. In his horror and confusion, he waved his arms and accidentally cut two of his fingers on the shark's teeth. He got off the opposite side of his surfboard, into the water. Then, despite Rogers being in the water with blood flowing from his fingers, the five-meter-long shark simply swam away. Over a hundred shark attacks happen worldwide each year. Of these, one-third are said to be great white attacks. Great whites are often described as "man-eaters"—creatures that hunt and kill humans—but this is factually inaccurate. Great whites rarely kill their human victims. In fact, a person has a greater chance of being killed by lightning than by a great white. With frightening jaws that hold around 300 teeth in several rows, a great white can kill very easily. Surprisingly though, most great white victims live to tell the tale. Shark researchers are trying to understand the reasons great whites attack people, and why most of those people manage to escape a horrible death. One of the most common explanations for great white attacks is that great whites don't see well. It is thought that they often mistake a person for a seal or sea lion—a very tempting snack. However, there is reason to doubt this. Some research now shows that great whites can actually see—and identify seals—very well. When attacking seals, great whites shoot up to the surface and bite with great force. However, when they approach humans, they often move in slowly and bite with less force. "They take a bite, feel them over, then move on," says Peter Klimley, author of The Secret Lives of Sharks. Shark experts like Klimley believe that great whites "attack" because they are actually curious animals that like to investigate things. They believe that it's possible great whites use their bite not just to kill and eat, but also to gather information. According to this idea, once a great white identifies what it is biting, it simply lets go. Even though such experiences are unlucky for people like Craig Rogers, perhaps when sharks bite surfboards, other objects, or even people, they are just trying to learn what they are.

大白人的真相 在阳光明媚的加利福尼亚州，克雷格·罗杰斯坐在冲浪板上，扫视着距离，寻找下一波冲浪。 突然，他的板停止了移动。 他低头一看，惊恐地发现一条大白鲨正在咬他的木板。 罗杰斯说：“我本可以用胳膊肘碰它的眼睛。”。 鲨鱼悄悄地浮出水面，什么也没听见。 在恐惧和困惑中，他挥舞着双臂，不小心把两根手指割到了鲨鱼的牙齿上。 他从冲浪板的另一边跳下，跳进了水里。 然后，尽管罗杰斯在水中，手指上流着血，但这条五米长的鲨鱼还是游走了。 全球每年发生100多起鲨鱼袭击事件。 其中，三分之一被认为是白人的大攻击。 大白鲨通常被描述为“食人者”——猎杀人类的生物——但这实际上是不准确的。 大白鲨很少杀死人类受害者。 事实上，一个人被闪电杀死的几率比被大白鲨杀死的几率更大。 一只大白鲨有着可怕的下颚，可以几排容纳大约300颗牙齿，很容易杀死。 然而，令人惊讶的是，大多数伟大的白人受害者都活着讲述这个故事。 鲨鱼研究人员正试图了解大白鲨攻击人类的原因， 以及为什么这些人中的大多数人设法逃脱了可怕的死亡。 对大白鲨攻击最常见的解释之一是大白鲨视力不佳。 人们认为，他们经常把一个人误认为是海豹或海狮——这是一种非常诱人的零食。 然而，我们有理由对此表示怀疑。 现在的一些研究表明，大白鲨实际上可以很好地看到和识别海豹。 当攻击海豹时，大白鲨会飞到水面，用力撕咬。 然而，当它们接近人类时，它们通常会缓慢移动，咬的力度较小。 《鲨鱼的秘密生活》一书的作者彼得·克利姆利说：“它们咬了一口，感觉一下，然后继续前进。”。 像Klimley这样的鲨鱼专家认为，大白鲨“攻击”是因为它们实际上是喜欢研究事物的好奇动物。 他们认为，大白鲨可能不仅会用它们的咬来杀人和进食，还会收集信息。 根据这个想法，一旦大白鲨识别出它在咬什么，它就会放手。 尽管这样的经历对克雷格·罗杰斯这样的人来说是不幸的， 也许当鲨鱼咬冲浪板、其他物体甚至人时，它们只是想了解自己是什么。

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