What kind of fish are they?

Fish and chips has always been a favourite dish in Britain, but as theoceans have been overfished, fish has become more and more expensive. So itcomes as a surprise to learn that giant fish are terrifying the divers on NorthSea oil rigs. Oil rigs have to be repaired frequently and divers, who often haveto work in darkness a hundred feet under water, have been frightened out oftheir wits by giant fish bumping into them as they work. Now they have hadspecial cages made to protect them from these monsters. The fish are not sharksor killer whales, but favourite eating varieties like cod and skate which growto unnatural sizes, sometimes as much as twelve feet in length. Three factorshave caused these fish to grow so large: the warm water round the hot oil pipesunder the sea; the plentiful supply of food thrown overboard by the crews on therigs; the total absence of fishing boats around the oil rigs. As a result, thefish just eat and eat and grow and grow in the lovely warm water. Who eatswho?

New words and expressions 生词与短语

chip n. 油煎土豆片

overfish v. 过度捕捞

giant adj. 巨大的

terrify v. 吓，使恐怖

diver n. 潜水员

oil rig 石油钻塔

wit n. (复数)理智，头脑

cage n. 笼

shark n. 鲨鱼

whale n. 鲸

variety n. 品种

cod n. 鳕

skate n. 鳐

factor n. 因素

crew n. 全体工作人员

本文参考译文新概念英语第二册

油煎鱼加炸土豆片一直是英国人喜爱的一道菜，但是随着海洋里的滥捕滥捞，鱼已经变得越来越昂贵。因此，听说北海石油钻井平台上的潜水员受到巨型鱼类的恐吓，确实很让人吃惊。钻井平台需要经常修理，潜水员常常要在水面100英尺以下摸黑工作，他们曾在工作时被撞到他们身上的大鱼吓得惊惶失措。现在他们有了特制的笼子，用来保护他们免受大鱼的侵袭。这些鱼并不是鲨鱼或逆戟鲸，而是深受人们喜爱的食用鱼品种，如鳕鱼和鳐鱼，只不过它们长得出奇地大，有时长达12英尺。这些鱼能长得这么大是由3个因素造成的：海底热的输油管道附近的温暖的海水;钻井平台工作人员抛到海里充足的食物;钻井平台周围根本没有捕鱼船只。结果是，这些鱼就在可爱的温暖的水流中吃呀吃，长呀长。究竟谁吃谁呢?

(兼职编辑：张博)