2017考研英语阅读精选：深海生物现身日本港口

考研英语来源：新东方网整理 2016-01-07　

Creature from the deep surfaces in Japanese harbor

深海生物现身日本港口

It isn’t every day that a mystery from the deep swims into plain sight. But on Christmas Eve, spectators on a pier in Toyama Bay in central Japan were treated to a rare sighting of a giant squid.

并不是每天都有来自深海神秘生物游弋到浅海，但平安夜晚上，许多游客在日本中部富山湾的一个港口看到了难得一遇的巨型乌贼。

The creature swam under fishing boats and close to the surface of Toyama Bay, better known for its firefly squid, and reportedly hung around the bay for several hours before it was ushered back to open water.

这条乌贼浮在渔船下面，游到了富山湾的水面上，据称它在水中逗留了数小时之后才被引回开阔水域。富山湾比较出名的则是萤火乌贼。

It was captured on video by a submersible camera, and even joined by a diver, Akinobu Kimura, owner of Diving Shop Kaiyu, who swam in close proximity to the red-and-white real-life sea monster.

巨型乌贼被水下摄像机拍摄，甚至还有一名潜水店的老板Akinobu Kimura潜入水中，近距离观察这条活生生、红白相间的海怪。

"My curiosity was way bigger than fear, so I jumped into the water and go close to it," he told CNN.

Akinobu Kimura告诉CNN记者：“我的好奇心战胜了胆怯，因此跳入水中去接近它。”

"This squid was not damaged and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me. I guided the squid toward to the ocean, several hundred meters from the area it was found in, and it disappeared into the deep sea."

“这条乌贼并没有攻击性，看起来很健康，它喷出墨汁还试图用触角缠绕我，之后我引导它游向开阔的水域，它在离被发现地点几百米的地方消失在了深海中。”

Yuki Ikushi, the curator of Uozu Aquarium in Uozu, Toyama, told CNN that there were 16 reports of Architeuthis squid trapped by fishing nets last season, and this one is the first sighting this season, which runs from November to March.

富山市鱼津水族馆的馆长Yuki Ikushi告诉CNN称，上个捕鱼期有16起渔网捕获大王乌贼的报道，这是本鱼期内第一次见到巨型乌贼，当地的鱼期从11月一直持续到来年3月。

"We might see more in this season, but it’s very rare for them to be found swimming around (the fishing boats’) moorings."

“以后还可能见到更多巨型乌贼，但主动游到渔船停泊港口的并不多见。”

The Toyama squid is a fairly small example of the species, estimated at around 3.7 meters (12.1 feet) long, and may be a juvenile. Giant squid are thought to grow as large as 13 meters (43 feet) long. They typically inhabit deep waters, and it is unclear why this one wandered into the bay.

富山乌贼是众多巨型乌贼种类中的一小类，这条乌贼体长大约3.7米(12.1英尺)，可能还处于成长期。巨型乌贼最长可达13米(43英尺)，通常生活在深海中，目前还不清楚它游到浅湾中的原因。

Sightings of giant squid are extremely rare, and indeed for hundreds of years they were considered no more than a myth. The species was likely the inspiration for the mythological Kraken sea monster, a northern European legend popularized in an eponymous poem by Alfred Tennyson, and the Scylla of Greek mythology.

巨型乌贼十分罕见，数百年来被认为是虚构的。它们很有可能是挪威神话中海怪“克拉肯”的原型，阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生的同名诗歌中也经常出现这一北欧神话，同时希腊神话中的“斯库拉”也有可能是巨型乌贼。