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Adventure (冒险)

Aquarium Diving 水族馆潜水

详细资料: 创建于 2009年5月07日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年4月29日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：386

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Some aquariums will let you swim with the fish 到水族馆和鱼儿共游吧！

I was kneeling under 12 feet of water when the sensation began, the feeling of something soft and velvety on the back of my neck. A minute passed, then another, and it was still there, a feathery pressure.

我原本跪坐在水下十二呎处，突然有种感觉浮现，不知什么柔软光滑的东西滑到我的后颈部。一分钟过去了，又过了一分钟，那种感觉却还在，有种轻柔的压迫感。

There were nine sharks, including two very playful zebra sharks, swimming near me, but I wasn’t worried about the tickle coming from one of them. They all kept a respectable distance, even if that was barely a foot away at times. After all, I had told dive master Yves Delpech I would not be intimidated by having the creatures on top of me, in a manner of speaking. But when I decided to reach back and brush away what I felt on my neck, Yves, who was behind me, suddenly pushed my hand.

这里总共有九条鲨鱼，其中包括两条顽皮的大虎鲨（译注：或译斑马鲨），牠们全游到我附建，而我对其中一只在我身上呵痒的举动并不担心。牠们全都保持相当的距离，虽然有时候距离可能会缩短到几乎不到一呎。不妨这么说吧，毕竟我曾拍胸脯告诉潜水长伊维．戴尔佩，说我可不怕那些在我头上游来游去的家伙。不过，等我决定把手往后伸，好拍掉后颈的那个东西时，在我身后的伊维却突然推开我的手（译注：以免手打到后颈附近的石斑鱼吉儿）。

Gill, a 250-pound goliath grouper, finds great sport in perching on the head or shoulders of folks whose attention is on the prime attractions in the “Dive with the Sharks” program at the Florida Aquaruim in downtown Tampa. He also has several rows of teeth sharp enough to seize the crustaceans that are part of this grouper species’ normal diet.

当潜水客把焦点锁定在坦帕市闹区「佛罗里达水族馆」推出的「与鲨鱼共潜」活动最引人注目的鲨鱼身上时，吉儿这只两百五十磅重的大石斑鱼却喜欢栖息在人们的头或肩膀上。吉儿也拥有几排锐利得足以咬住甲壳纲动物的牙齿，甲壳纲动物是这种石斑鱼的主食之一。

Up close and personal 近距离接触

The big grouper goofs with visitors as relentlessly as the blind zebra shark, Zoe, who lives in the Wings in the Water tank. The tank is located at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, another of several aquariums in the country that offer the chance to pay for a dive with some exotic critters.

这只大石斑鱼也和（译注：另一家水族馆的）另一只盲眼的大虎鲨佐衣一样，极喜欢和访客厮混，而佐衣栖息在水槽侧翼中。这座水槽座落在巴尔的摩「国立水族馆」，这是全美提供在水族馆付费潜水机会的几家水族馆之一，游客可以潜水和一些奇异的水生物共游。

Zoe kept bumping me and rubbing against me, the abrasive quality of her skin evident despite my 3-millimeter-thickwetsuit. The experience provides plenty of fun to divers feeling starved for the pleasure of plunging into warm-water environments. There are also hours of “dry” diversions in the multiple galleries at each aquarium.

佐衣一直碰撞我，也一直磨蹭，而即使隔着我那三公厘厚的潜水衣，还是能感觉到牠粗糙不平的鱼皮。对渴望享受跃入温水环境之乐的潜水客来说，这种经验乐趣十足，而且不只是水中活动，各水族馆的许多艺廊也可以提供数小时「不碰水」的余兴节目喔。

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velvety [ˋvɛlvɪtɪ] adj. 天鹅绒般柔软光滑的

feathery [ˋfɛðərɪ] adj. 羽毛似的；轻软的

tickle [ˋtɪk!] n. 搔痒

respectable [rɪˋspɛktəb!] adj.（质、量等）不错的，相当的，可观的

brush away 把(某物)扫掉, 刷掉, 抹掉

goliath [gəˋlaɪəθ] n. 巨人；大亨；庞然大物

grouper [ˋgrupɚ] n. 石斑鱼 a heavy-bodied, wide-mouthed fish native to warm waters

sport [sport] n. 娱乐；消遣；乐趣；逗乐

crustacean [krʌsˋteʃən] n. 甲壳纲动物 any of various types of animals, which live in water and have a hard outer shell

critter [ˋkrɪtɚ] n. 生物; 【口】异常动物

bump [bʌmp] v. 碰，撞

abrasive [əˋbresɪv] adj. 粗糙的; 摩擦的

wetsuit [ˈwɛtsut] n. 潜水服 a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps a person warm and dry when under water

starve [stɑrv] v. 渴望；极需要[（+for）][+to-v]

diversion [daɪˋvɝʒən] n. 娱乐，消遣

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Diving in the city 在市内潜水

Baltimore and Tampa’s programs, which I experienced this spring, and other similar ones are open to certified divers, but age minimums, certification requirements and the equipment provided vary. Check the aquariums’ websites for more information.

无论巴尔的摩或是坦帕市的水族馆潜水活动，我都在今春亲身体验过，此外，还有其他水族馆也推出类似活动，凡是领有执照的潜水客都可以参加，不过，各家水族馆对于最低年龄限制、执照的要求条件和所提供的设备都各不相同。可查询各水族馆网站以了解更多相关信息。

The cost is far less than a trip to Hawaii or Belize or the Caymans, to name a few popular dive destinations. You can pair the dive with a trip to a major city, and kids can have a ball in the aquarium and watch through “underwater” windows as their family members frolic with the fish. Also, all learn something about the threats facing our marine habitats.

到水族馆潜水的花费，远比赴夏威夷、只里斯或开曼群岛等受欢迎的潜水胜地来得低廉。你还可以为潜水活动再搭配都会自由行，孩子们可以在水族馆玩得很尽兴，同时还可以透过「水下」玻璃来欣赏家人在水中与鱼儿嬉戏的景象。此外，所有参与者都可以学习到海洋生物栖息地正面临的种种威胁。

On top of that, the aquariums’ biggest tanks are so relatively shallow that air consumption is no issue. You won’t run out of air – or things to see.

除此之外，各水族馆即使最大型的水槽，水都相当浅，因此潜水时空气的消耗不会有什么问题，你决不会没有空气可呼吸──也不会没有东西可观赏。

“You would need 25 years of diving to interact with as many species as you do on these two 30-minute dives,” said John Harman of Atlantic Edge Dive Center, which runs the guest diver program for the Baltimore aquarium. “We have one woman who has done this dive five times.”

「你光是参加这两种各三十分钟的潜水活动，可以互动的水生物种类就非常多了，如果换作是一般潜水，你可能要花二十五年才能接触到相同数目的水生物呢，」经营巴尔的摩水施馆游客潜水活动的约翰．哈特曼如此表示，他也任职于「大西洋边缘潜水中心」。「有位女士足足参加了五次水族馆潜水活动呢，」他说道。

The biweekly Baltimore program offers 12 divers a chance to explore the aquarium’s 13-foot-deep artificial Atlantic Coral Reef – with tube and fern coral and other fauna rendered in stunningly real detail – and it’s 9-foot-deep ray tank. Anyone who has dived Stingray City off Grand Cayman will know how enjoyable it is to encounter the rays in shallow water.

巴尔的摩水族馆每两周举办一次的这项潜水活动，提供十二位潜水客探索水族馆十三呎深的人工「大西洋珊瑚礁」的机会──里头的圆管星珊瑚、蕨珊瑚（直译）和其他生物都惟妙惟肖地呈现出来，做工极为精细──还有一个九呎深的魟鱼槽。任何曾去过大开曼岛魟鱼市潜水的人，就一定了解在浅水区和魟鱼近距离接触有多么好玩。

The circular coral reef has 60 species of fish, including some spectacularly large angels, several types of grouper, wrasses, margates, snapper and a green moray eel named Oscar. You can glide under archways, squeeze through a “cave” and swim at different levels.

环形的珊瑚礁水域共有六十种鱼类，其中包括引人注目的大型神仙鱼，也有好几种石斑鱼、隆头鱼、白仿石鲈、真鲷，和一条名叫奥斯卡的绿色海鳗。你可以滑游到拱门下，从「洞穴」里挤过去，也可以在深浅不一的水位悠游。

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Belize [bɛˋliz] n. 贝里斯（中美洲一国家）

on top of that 此外; 另外 in addition to the bad thing already mentioned

no issue 没有问题

issue [ˋɪʃjʊ] n. 问题；争论；争议 a personal problem

fauna [ˋfɔnə] n. (尤指某个地区的)动物群

wrasse [ræs] n. 隆头鱼科的鱼

snapper [ˋsnæpɚ] n.【鱼】真鲷

moray [ˋmore] n.【动】海鳝

archway [ˋɑrtʃ͵we] n. 拱门

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Six type of rays and Zoe, the zebra shark (she’s actually spotted; their stripes change to spots in adulthood), have been sharing the Wings in the Water tank with an Atlantic tarpon, a blacknose shark and Calypso, the green sea turtle. You will learn about the aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program and its volunteer diver program during the 60-minute dive briefing Atlantic Edge gives.

在水槽侧翼中，有六种魟鱼及佐衣这只大虎鲨（牠身上其实是呈斑点状，因为大虎鲨幼时体表的条纹，会在成年时转为斑点）（译注：此指zebra ahark虽然因幼时的条纹而被以斑马命名，但成年后条纹会不见，转为斑点）和大西洋大海鲢、黑吻真鲨和名叫叫卡利普索的绿蠵龟分享水中的家。你将会在「大西洋边缘」公司举办的六十分钟潜水说明会中，得知有关该水族馆「海洋生物救援计划」和志工潜水员计划的详情。

Dispelling the shark myths 戳破有关鲨鱼的迷思

In Tampa, aquarium dive master Mike Knudsen dispelled some myths about these much-feared creatures during his shark-dive briefing.

坦帕市水族馆潜水长麦克．努德森在和鲨鱼共潜的说明会中，破解了有关这些备受畏惧的水生物的一些迷思。

Shark populations are dropping worldwide because of demand for their fins (shark fin soup is an Asian delicacy), their meat, teeth and hides. They do not reproduce fast enough to keep up with the numbers being fished out of the seas.

由于各界对鲨鱼的鳍（鱼翅汤是亚洲珍馐）、肉、牙齿和皮的需求量很大，使得全球鲨鱼数量锐减。鲨鱼繁殖的速度根本跟不上牠们从海中被捕捞的数量。

Tampa has five types of sharks, none of them “man-eaters.” The two nurse sharks lay on the sand during my 30 minutes in the tank, debunking the idea that sharks always move.

坦帕水族馆共有五种鲨鱼，其中没有任何「食人鱼」。我潜在水槽里的半小时期间，两只铰口鲨一直都躺在沙上，无异戳破了有关鲨鱼会一直动个不停的说法。

After exiting the cage used to descend into Shark Bay, the guest diver swims to a spot and is passive in this program, kneeling on the bottom and holding a large rock to avoid significant movement. The tank’s confines are so limited that the sharks, the grouper and a hawksbill sea turtle are almost always at close range as they move.

进入「鲨鱼湾」前，潜水客会先进入特制笼子里，笼子下降到「鲨鱼湾」中后，他们再走出笼子，游到特定地点，并在这项活动中保持被动状态，在水底跪坐着，并抱着一块大石头，以避免大幅移动。由于水槽容积有限，所以包括鲨鱼、石斑鱼和玳瑁都几乎总是近距离地游来游去。

The zebras did underwater loop-the-loops, a display that seemed purposefully comical. The steely gray sand tigers glided lazily around me, seemingly staring with their eerily bright eyes and revealing the rows of impressive teeth they constantly shed.

大虎鲨在水中绕圈圈翻转，这表演似乎刻意要弄得很滑稽。两只银灰色的锥齿鲨懒洋洋地在我四周悠游，看起来好像是在用牠们亮晶晶的怪异眼睛瞪着我，还露出令人印象深刻的整排牙齿，这些鲨鱼会定期换牙。

Florida Aquarium officials note that from the time it opened in March 1995 through April 2008, volunteer, staff and guest divers have spent more than 44,300 hours diving, completed 49,500 dives, and there have been zero shark incidents.

「佛罗里达水族馆」馆方提到，自从一九九五年三月开馆以来，一直到二００八年四月为止，志工、馆内员工和潜水客总共花了超过四万四千三百三十小时来潜水，共完成了四万九千次潜水，而期间从未发生过鲨鱼攻击事件。

−by Philip Hersh