墨尔本PTE素材库——Deep sea exploration

墨尔本PTE素材库——Deep sea exploration

中文批注

你知不知道，人类对于海底的了解非常有限。甚至，对于金星表面的了解都远胜对于海底的了解。这段视频，简单介绍了海底的情况和OET成立的原因和其主要职责~

这段视频，内容虽然没有特别难，但细节却不少。是比较理想的PTE练习材料。澳大利亚语言学院更新墨尔本PTE素材库，让大家在做题之余，复习之余，还能有不少听力和口语的素材可以练习、学习，不同的话题，不同的相关词汇，不同的英语表达，这样才能真正的提升大家的英语水平哦！

听完今天的视频，大家可以试着回答下面这些问题：

• 海底分为几部分呢？分别叫什么？有什么特点？
• 最深的海底是什么？大概有多深？
• Ocean Exploration Trust的职责是什么？

回答不出来的小伙伴可要加油啦~赶快check一下transcript 吧~

【key vocabulary】

Aliens 外星人

Unravel 解决，

Shipwreck 海难

Artefact 工艺品

Scoop up 用铲子铲

Sunken 沉默的

Stack 叠，堆

Glimpse 一撇，看见

Vessel n. 船，舰

Full Transcript

Seaweek is a time when researchers try to highlight some of the biggest issues affecting our oceans. But did you know that we’re actually more familiar with the surface of Venus than the deepest parts of our oceans? There is one group trying to change that though.

NIC MAHER, REPORTING: Being an explorer these days sure isn’t what it used to be.

Nic: Okay so what do you think is past those trees over there?
Matt: I don’t think anyone’s ever been there before.

Amelia: Guys, you realise we can just check Maps. Yep, just more trees.

Nic: Oh. Do you want to grab lunch?

Amelia: So is there anywhere we can actually explore?

Nic: Well, there is one place. It’s deep, dark and full of alien life.

It’s the ocean! And while there aren’t any aliens down there, some of the stuff sure does look weird. Although the ocean covers around 70% of our planet, a whopping 95% of the ocean floor is still unexplored. In fact, we’ve got a better idea of what’s on the surface of the Moon, Mars and even Venus.

It’s something the Ocean Exploration Trust wants to change. The organisation was set up in 2008 to explore previously uncharted territory underwater, discovering new species and unravelling the secrets of the deep. And there are definitely a lot of them.

Aside from being home to more than half of all life on earth, the ocean is also the world’s biggest museum. It’s estimated around 3 million shipwrecks are down there, as well as more historical artefacts than every museum on earth put together!

Some experts reckon if you scooped up all the sunken treasure you’d pocket about $80 billion dollars. So, why aren’t more people scoping out the ocean floor for some of that sweet treasure? Well, it’s incredibly difficult to get to.

The Ocean is actually split up into 3 zones. The first is the Sunlight Zone. That’s where a lot of the most well-known fish live and is about as far down as most humans can go. At 200 metres, you reach the Twilight Zone, where light starts to disappear. At more than 1000 metres down, sunlight disappears completely. This is the Midnight Zone. It’s a cold, dark place that we still don’t know much about. It’s also where huge, freaky sea life starts appearing, like the giant squid. But it’s still not even close to the bottom in most places on earth. The lowest point is a whopping 11,000 metres down. That’s about the same depth as stacking 36 Eiffel towers on top of each other. That place is called Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.

To get a glimpse of this weird undersea world, the Ocean Exploration Trust, or OET, has to use special deep sea exploration vessels that are strong enough to deal with the enormous pressure that comes from having kilometres of water on top of you. With those special subs, the OET has discovered some amazing things. Everything from shipwrecks to breathtaking sea life.

The organisation hopes their work will inspire a new generation of budding researchers, all while helping unravel some of the final mysteries still hiding right here on planet earth.

Nic: Alright we ready to go exploring?

Amelia: Yep, OK. Wait, does anyone have a million dollar submarine?

Nic: Ah nuts, I think we blew all our money on the sushi.

(SOURCE: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4530706.htm)