考研英語時(shí)文賞讀（141）：尼斯湖水怪之謎終揭曉

　　Loch Ness monster might be giant eel, scientists say

　　科學(xué)家稱，尼斯湖水怪可能是巨型鰻魚

　　The most famous photo of the Loch Ness monster has long been discredited as a hoax, but scientists have come up with a new explanation for other sightings of the elusive beast -- it could be just a giant eel.

　　長久以來，人們一直認(rèn)為尼斯湖水怪最著名的照片不過是一個(gè)騙局，但科學(xué)家們對尼斯湖水怪的其他目擊事件提出了新的解釋——它可能只是一條巨型鰻魚。

　　A team of researchers used DNA samples from taken from the lake in Scotland where "Nessie" is believed to dwell and concluded that a more familiar creature was behind the legend.

　　一組研究人員檢測了來自蘇格蘭湖泊的DNA樣本后得出了結(jié)論，尼斯湖水怪傳說的背后可能是一種更熟悉的生物。

　　There are large amounts of eel DNA in Loch Ness, Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand’s University of Otago said on Thursday.

　　周四，新西蘭奧塔哥大學(xué)遺傳學(xué)家尼爾·格默爾表示，尼斯湖中含有大量鰻魚的DNA。

　　Scientists began the study of the lake’s biodiversity in June 2018, taking 250 samples of water from various locations and depths to identify its inhabitants.

　　2018年6月，科學(xué)家們開始研究尼斯湖的生物多樣性，他們從不同地點(diǎn)和深度采集了250個(gè)樣本，以確定其棲息物種。

　　They found about 3,000 distinct species, Gemmell told a press conference at the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit, Scotland. "Most of those are so small, you’ll never see them."

　　格默爾在蘇格蘭德拉姆納德羅基特的尼斯湖中心舉行的新聞發(fā)布會上說，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了大約3000種不同的物種。“大部分生物都很小，你永遠(yuǎn)都看不到它們。”

　　Gemmell said that while the study’s primary focus was the lake’s biodiversity, a Loch Ness monster sighting would’ve been a bonus.

　　格默爾說，雖然這項(xiàng)研究的主要關(guān)注點(diǎn)是尼斯湖的生物多樣性，但如果能發(fā)現(xiàn)尼斯湖水怪的痕跡，那將是一個(gè)額外的收獲。

　　Although the discredited 1934 photo was later said to be a toy submarine, with a model head and neck attached, various theories over the years have suggested the monster could actually be a dragon, a marine dinosaur or just a really big catfish.

　　盡管1934年那張不可信的照片（有著頭部和頸部的不明物）后來被說成是一艘玩具潛艇，但多年來的各種理論都表明，這只怪物實(shí)際上可能是一條龍、一只海洋恐龍、或者實(shí)際上只是一條大鯰魚。

　　The new data suggested some of the more outlandish theories about Nessie could be ruled out.

　　新的數(shù)據(jù)表明，關(guān)于尼斯湖水怪的一些更古怪的理論已經(jīng)可以排除。

　　“Is there a plesiosaur in Loch Ness? No. There is absolutely no evidence of any reptilian sequences in our samples,” Gemmell said. "So I think we can be fairly sure that there is probably not a giant scaly reptile swimming around in Loch Ness."

　　格默爾說：“尼斯湖里有蛇頸龍嗎？沒有。在我們的DNA樣本中絕對沒有任何爬行動物的痕跡。所以我認(rèn)為我們可以非常肯定的是，尼斯湖里可能并沒有一只巨大的有鱗爬行動物在游動。”

　　(全文共281個(gè)詞)

　　重難點(diǎn)詞匯：

　　hoax  n. 惡作??；騙局；謊報(bào) v. 捉弄，欺騙

　　outlandish  adj. 古怪的；奇異的；異國風(fēng)格的；偏僻的

　　reptile  n. 爬行動物；卑鄙的人 adj. 爬行動物的；卑鄙的