Live with penguins in Antarctica南极帝企鹅喜获新“伙伴”

陈丽芳

一个小型机器人ECHO正在南极和企鹅们和谐共存，为科研人员提供数据。科研人员希望更多地了解气候变化如何影响生活在南极的动物。

主题语境：生态保护 篇幅：329词 建议用时：6分钟

Antarctica is often called the most remotecontinent on Earth. But if you ask many penguinspecies， Antarctica is anything but remote. Itis home.

This is especially true for the planets larg?est penguin， the emperor penguin. These birdsare over one metre （3.3 feet） tall and are known for making their home in the coldest placeon Earth. The males even care for eggs all through the dead of a sunless winter in the heartof the continent.

As you can imagine， this makes studying emperors very challenging for humans.Were not created to survive in this habitat. But at the same time， we desperately want toknow more about these animals. So what is the solution？ Meet ECHO—the yellow robot cre?ated to spy on penguins！

We say“spy”， but in truth， ECHO is more of a roommate to one particular colony ofemperor penguins. It doesnt attempt to hide itself. Instead， it walks （or rather， wheels） itselfright up to the birds that it is observing. As for the birds， they will sometimes curiouslycheck out the robot. But for the most part， they ignore it and go about their business. This works out well for the scientists who created ECHO， the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu?tion （WHOI） in Massachusetts， USA. As long as scientists can first capture and tag （给……加上标签） a penguin with a taped?on microchip， ECHO can do the rest.

It moves among the birds， scanning their tags， and giving scientists information abouthow the birds move around—when they leave a certain area， when they return， or if theychoose not to return at all. And it can do these all without exposing the birds to a constanthuman presence—or exposing human researchers to exhausting work in the brutal cold.

Scientists are observing the emperors habits to better understand the threats to us andthe rest of the planet. Thanks to the data collected by ECHO， we would now know how to in?vestigate！

Reading Check

1. What makes the studying of emperor penguins so difficult？

A. Their secret habitat. B. The remote distance.

C. The extreme cold. D. Their hatching habit.

2. How do the penguins react to ECHO？

A. They are much frightened.

B. They just take it for granted.

C. They run away from it at once.

D. They choose to stay away from it.

3. What does ECHO focus on while working？

A. The penguins tags. B. The penguins diet.

C. The penguins eggs. D. The weather changes.

4. Whats the last paragraph mainly about？

A. The significance of ECHO.

B. The advantages of ECHO.

C. The crisis facing our planet.

D. The market potential of ECHO.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

It moves among the birds， scanning their tags， and giving scientists information abouthow the birds move around—when they leave a certain area， when they return， or if theychoose not to return at all. 它在企鵝之间移动，扫描它们的标签，并向科学家提供有关它们是如何移动的信息——它们何时离开某个区域，何时返回，或者它们是否选择根本不返回。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句。现在分词scanning和giving 作伴随状语；how引导的名词性从句作介词about的宾语。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

in the heart of 在……中心

spy on 监视；窥视

attempt to do sth 尝试做某事

check out 核实；结账离开

go about 着手做；处理

expose...to 把……暴露于……