albatross托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

albatross托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、albatross托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Now usually when we talk about birds flying long distances,we're discussing seasonal migration.But there're some species that fly long distances not as part of a migration,but as a part of their regular foraging for food.A great example's the albatross.

Albatross are seabirds that nest on islands,and uh,and forage for food out in the open sea.And you have one species that forages an average of a thousand miles from its nest.And I read in another study where one albatross left a chick in its nest and went out in search of food,and by the time it got back to the nest,it had flown nine thousand miles.Yes,Bob.

MALE STUDENT:Um.…but why don’t they just build their nests closer to their food supply?I mean,for one thing,they must burn up a lot of energy flying back and forth,and also,if the parents’re gonna have to be away from the nest that much,aren't the chicks going to be pretty hungry most of the time?

FEMALE PROFESSOR:OK,good question.The chicks are capable of going for long periods of time without food,which works out nicely since,as you point out,they may not get to eat that often.

As far as the parents go,well,um,first,they typically can't get enough food in a single location.So they have to visit several places on the same foraging trip,and the locations of good foraging grounds tend to be very far apart.

Uh second,they can't always nest on an island that's closest to the best feeding ground because some of those islands have too many predators on them—predators that would just love some little chicks to snack on.So I don't think they have much choice.

But it still works out,because albatross fly using a technique called“dynamic soaring,”which enables them to cover very long distances while expending very little energy.If it weren’t for that,you'd be right—they would probably burn up all their energy just flying back and forth.

Another factor is,albatross lay only one egg at a time,so when the parent returns with the food,that one chick doesn’t have to share it with a lot of other chicks.Yes,Nancy.

FEMALE STUDENT:So you're saying that they might easily fly a thousand miles over the open ocean when they’re looking for food.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:That's right.

FEMALE STUDENT:Then how do they know how to get to the food—I mean,which direction to take to get to the food—and how do they find their way back home?

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Good point.And the truth is,we’re not sure.It's very difficult to keep seabirds in captivity,where you can study them,and it’s very difficult to study them in the wild,you know.But we think that a lot of what we’ve learned about songbirds probably applies to seabirds as well.So we're thinking that albatross could make use of two different kinds of“compasses,”if you will:a magnetic compass and a celestial compass.

The magnetic compass somehow makes use of Earth's magnetic field,much the way a standard compass does.But to prove this,we would have to find some kind of magnetic sensory organ in birds.And we're not sure that we have.We…we have found in birds a mineral called magnetite,which we think might be somehow related to this,because magnetite is a natural magnet.But the problem is that we’ve also found magnetite in nonmigratory birds,which suggests that it may in fact serve a completely different function,not related to navigation at all.

Um,and the other“compass,”the celestial compass,makes use of the stars,more or less the same way humans have historically used the stars to navigate in the open sea…So that’s the way we think albatross navigate…

So anyway…You know,think about it,how about if you had to go a thousand miles every time you wanted to get a bite to eat?

FEMALE STUDENT:Yeah,and we complain about having to walk all the way across campus to get to the cafeteria.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Yeah.

二、albatross托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听生物课上的一节课。

女教授：现在，当我们谈论鸟类长距离飞行时，我们通常讨论的是季节性迁徙。但有些物种长途飞行不是作为迁徙的一部分，而是作为它们定期觅食的一部分。信天翁就是一个很好的例子。

信天翁是在岛屿上筑巢的海鸟，呃，在公海觅食。有一个物种平均在离巢穴一千英里的地方觅食。我在另一项研究中读到，一只信天翁把一只小鸡留在巢里，出去寻找食物，当它回到巢里时，已经飞了九千英里。是的，鲍勃。

男学生：嗯。…但它们为什么不在食物供应附近筑巢呢？我的意思是，首先，它们必须在来回飞行时消耗大量能量，而且，如果父母不得不离开巢穴那么久，小鸡们大部分时间不会很饿吗？

女教授：好的，好问题。小鸡能够长时间不进食，这很好，因为正如你所指出的，它们可能不会经常进食。

就父母而言，首先，他们通常无法在一个地方获得足够的食物。因此，它们必须在同一次觅食旅行中访问几个地方，而好的觅食场所往往相距很远。

其次，它们不可能总是在离最好的觅食地最近的岛上筑巢，因为这些岛上有太多的食肉动物。食肉动物只喜欢吃一些小鸡。所以我认为它们没有太多选择。

但它仍然有效，因为信天翁使用一种称为“动态飞翔”的技术飞行，这种技术使信天翁能够在花费很少能量的情况下飞行很长的距离。如果不是这样的话，你是对的，它们可能会在来回飞行时耗尽所有能量。

另一个因素是，信天翁一次只产一个蛋，所以当父母带着食物回来时，一只小鸡不必与其他许多小鸡分享。是的，南希。

女学生：那么你是说它们在寻找食物的时候可能很容易在公海上空飞行一千英里。

女教授：没错。

女学生：那他们怎么知道怎么去吃——我的意思是，去吃的方向是什么，他们怎么回家？

女教授：很好。事实是，我们不确定。圈养海鸟是很困难的，在那里你可以研究它们，在野外研究它们也是很困难的。但我们认为，我们对鸣禽的许多了解可能也适用于海鸟。所以我们认为信天翁可以使用两种不同的“罗盘”，如果你愿意的话：磁罗盘和天体罗盘。

磁罗盘以某种方式利用了地球的磁场，就像标准罗盘一样。但为了证明这一点，我们必须在鸟类中找到某种磁性感觉器官。我们不确定我们有。我们…我们在鸟类中发现了一种叫做磁铁矿的矿物，我们认为这可能与此有关，因为磁铁矿是一种天然磁铁。但问题是我们在非迁徙鸟类中也发现了磁铁矿，这表明它实际上可能具有完全不同的功能，与导航无关。

嗯，另一个“指南针”，天体指南针，利用恒星，或多或少与人类历史上利用恒星在公海中导航的方式相同…所以我们认为信天翁就是这样导航的…

所以不管怎么说…你知道，想想看，如果每次你想吃东西的时候都要走一千英里，怎么样？

女学生：是的，我们抱怨要走一路穿过校园才能到达自助餐厅。

女教授：是的。

三、albatross托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What does the professor mainly discuss?

A.Long-distance seasonal migration of seabirds

B.Two major ways that seabirds navigate

C.A seabird that flies far in search of food

D.Reasons why seabirds often live on islands

Q2:2.According to the professor,what influences an albatross's choice of an island for nesting?

A.Air currents near the island

B.Availability of food on the island

C.Predators inhabiting the island

D.The number of albatross already nesting on the island

Q3:3.According to the professor,what helps albatross chicks survive despite the fact that their parents have to fly such long distances to find food?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.Albatross raise only one chick at a time.

B.Albatross forage only for foods that are exceptionally rich in nutrients.

C.Albatross store large quantities of food in the nest.

D.Albatross chicks are adapted to tolerate long intervals without food.

Q4:4.What does the professor imply about theories that explain how albatross navigate?

A.They are based on studies of seabirds in captivity.

B.They are based on observation of albatross in the wild.

C.They are guesses that are not based on any evidence about birds.

D.They have not been confirmed by studies of albatross themselves.

Q5:5.According to the professor,why do some biologists doubt that magnetite helps birds navigate?

A.Its magnetic properties are quite weak.

B.It is found in young birds that cannot fly yet.

C.It is found in all albatross species.

D.It is in birds that do not migrate.

Q6:6.Why does the professor say this:(Professor)You know,think about it,how about if you had to go a thousand miles every time you wanted to get a bite to eat?

A.To emphasize how wasteful the albatross behavior is

B.To encourage students to reflect on how impressive the albatross behavior is

C.To signal that she is about to introduce a new topic

D.To find out whether the students have understood her explanations

四、albatross托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：C

A2:正确答案：C

A3:正确答案：AD

A4:正确答案：D

A5:正确答案：D

A6:正确答案：B