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VOA慢速英语--美国西部河流变暖导致鱼类死亡损害渔业

时间:2021-08-03 02:30:49

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(单词翻译)

Warming Rivers in US West Killing1 Fish, Hurting Fishing Industry

Salmon2 fishermen on the West Coast of the United States are expressing increasing concern about threats to the fish population. Heat waves and drought, a long period without rain, are raising water temperatures and lowering water levels. The extreme conditions are killing wild fish from Idaho to California.

Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in Northern California's Klamath River. The low water levels fuel the spread of parasites4 that kill the fish.

A collapse5 of one year's group of young salmon can have lasting6 effects on the total population. It can also shorten or stop the fishing season.

Climate change is making the American West hotter and drier. and endangering the salmon fishing industry. The industry is worth about $1.4 billion dollars in California alone.

The falling numbers of wild salmon catches has caused a sharp rise in price for the fish. Fisherman Mike Hudson says people are not able to spend $35 for a pound, about 450 grams, of the fish. Hudson has been catching7 and selling salmon at farmers markets in Berkeley for 25 years.

Hudson has considered retiring and selling his 12-meter boat because business, in his words, is "going to get worse from here."

Winter-run Chinook salmon are born in the Sacramento River and travel hundreds of miles to the Pacific Ocean. There, they normally spend three years before returning to their birthplace to mate and lay their eggs between April and August. Unlike the autumn-run Chinook that survives almost entirely8 from hatchery breeding programs, the winter-run is still largely wild.

Federal fisheries officials predicted in May that more than 80 percent of baby salmon could die because of warmer water in the Sacramento River. Now, state officials say that number could be higher because of a quickly drying cool water in Lake Shasta. The lake is California's largest reservoir. It is filled to only about 35 percent capacity, federal water managers said this week.

"The pain we're going to feel is a few years from now," said John McManus. The executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, which represents the fishing industry, said that soon there will be no wild, naturally bred salmon in the ocean.

When Lake Shasta was formed in the 1940s, it blocked access to the cool mountain rivers where fish traditionally reproduced.

To ensure the survival of salmon in Lake Shasta, the U.S. government is required to keep river temperatures below 13 Celsius9 because salmon eggs cannot live in anything warmer.

The warming water is starting to affect older fish, too. Scientists have seen some adult fish dying before they can lay their eggs.

"An extreme set of cascading10 climate events is pushing us into this crisis situation," said Jordan Traverso, an official with the California Department of Wildlife and Fish.

The West has been struggling with a historic drought and recent heat waves worsened by climate change. Waterways and reservoirs that are used by millions of people and wildlife are affected11.

As a result, the state has been moving millions of salmon raised at hatcheries directly to the ocean each year. That way, the fish do not travel through unhealthy waterways. State and federal owned hatcheries take other measures to save the salmon. For example, they keep a genetic12 bank to stop inbreeding at hatcheries

Fishermen and environmental groups blame water agencies for using too much water for farms.

"We know that climate change is going to make years like this more common," said Sam Mace13, a director of Save Our Wild Salmon. The group is working to increase populations of wild salmon and other fish in the Pacific Northwest. She said federal and state agencies should be better prepared to deal with a problem they know is coming.

On the Klamath River near the Oregon border, California wildlife officials decided14 not to release more than 1 million young Chinook salmon into the wild. Instead, it drove them to hatcheries that could hold them until river conditions improve.

Scientists say the salmon population in California historically has lived through droughts in the past. But the continuing drought could destroy some runs of salmon.

"We're at the point where I'm not sure drought is appropriate term to describe what's happening," said Andrew Rypel, a fish ecologist at the University of California, Davis. He said the West is becoming a low-water environment.

Words in this Story

parasite3 – n. an animal or plant that lives in or on another animal or plant and gets food or protection from it

hatchery - n. a place where people raise young chicken, fish, etc., from eggs

evaporate – v. to change from a liquid into a gas

reservoir – n. a usually artificial lake that is used to store a large supply of water for use in people's homes

cascade15 – v. a large amount of something that flows

evolve – v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state

appropriate – adj. right or suited for some purpose or situation

extinction16 – n. the state or situation that results when something (such as a plant or animal species) has died out completely


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1 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
2 salmon pClzB     
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的
参考例句:
  • We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
  • Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗?
3 parasite U4lzN     
n.寄生虫;寄生菌;食客
参考例句:
  • The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
  • I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫,我要自己养活自己。
4 parasites a8076647ef34cfbbf9d3cb418df78a08     
寄生物( parasite的名词复数 ); 靠他人为生的人; 诸虫
参考例句:
  • These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的,而与寄生虫无关。
  • Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。
5 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
6 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
7 catching cwVztY     
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
参考例句:
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
8 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
9 Celsius AXRzl     
adj.摄氏温度计的,摄氏的
参考例句:
  • The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
  • The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。
10 cascading 45d94545b0f0e2da398740dd24a26bfe     
流注( cascade的现在分词 ); 大量落下; 大量垂悬; 梯流
参考例句:
  • First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先,无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。
11 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
12 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
13 mace BAsxd     
n.狼牙棒,豆蔻干皮
参考例句:
  • The sword and mace were favourite weapons for hand-to-hand fighting.剑和狼牙棒是肉搏战的最佳武器。
  • She put some mace into the meat.她往肉里加了一些肉豆蔻干皮。
14 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
15 cascade Erazm     
n.小瀑布,喷流;层叠;vi.成瀑布落下
参考例句:
  • She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
  • Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。
16 extinction sPwzP     
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种
参考例句:
  • The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
  • The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

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