SECTION 3

HELEN: I've brought my notes on our Biology Field Trip to Rocky Bay, Colin, so we can work on our report on the research we did together.

海伦：科林，我把去岩石湾生物实地考察时的笔记带过来了，这样我们就可以继续之前的研究了。

COLIN: OK. I've got mine too.

科林：好。我也把我的带来了。

Let's look at the aims of the trip first.

现在先确认本次考察的目的。

HELEN: Right. What did you have?

海伦：好的。你有什么想法？

COLIN: I just put something about getting experience of the different sorts of procedures used on a field trip.

科林：我只是了解了一些以前考察的不同程序。

But we need something about what causes different organisms to choose particular habitats.

但是我们需要了解什么原因导致不同生物选择独特栖息地。

HELEN: I agree.

海伦：我同意。

And something about finding out how to protect organisms in danger of dying out?

我们也要研究如何才能保护濒临灭绝的生物。

COLIN: In our aims?

科林：这是我们本次考察的目的吗？

But we weren't really looking at that.

但是我们之前没往这方面研究。

HELEN: I suppose not.

海伦：是的，我们没有。

OK, now there's the list of equipment we all had to bring on the field trip.

好了，这是我们本次考察要带的设备名单，

What did they tell us to bring a ruler for?

他们说带尺子是要做什么来的？

COLIN: It was something about measuring the slope of the shore, but of course we didn't need it because we were measuring wind direction, and we'd brought the compass for that...

科林：用来测量海岸斜度，当然我们不需要，因为我们之前一直测量风向，我们还带了指南针……

HELEN: But not the piece of string to hold up in the air!

海伦：但是那根举在空中的绳子可算不上是指南针！

Didn't Mr Blake make a fuss about us leaving that behind.

我们忘记把绳子带走的时候，布莱克先生是不是还发了脾气？

COLIN: Yeah. He does go on.

科林：是的。确实如此。

Anyway it was easy to get one from another of the students.

不管怎样，从别的同学那里借一根容易得很。

HELEN: Now, the next section's the procedure.

海伦：嗯下面是流程问题。

I sent you the draft of that.

我给你发一下我的草稿。

COLIN: Yeah. It was clear, but I don't think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back and how we divided up the different research tasks.

科林：嗯。这个很清晰，但是我觉得我们就不需要这些细节了吧，比如什么时候离开，什么时候回来，以及如何区分不同的研究任务。

HELEN: OK. I'll look at that again.

海伦：好吧。我再调整一下。

COLIN: Then we have to describe our method of investigation in detail.

科林：现在我们要仔细描述一下我们的研究方法。

So let's begin with how we measured wave speed.

首先描述当时我们如何测量波速的？

I was surprised how straightforward that was.

我没想到它会如此简单。

HELEN: l'd expected us to have some sort of high-tech device, not just stand there and count the number of waves per minute.

海伦：我本想我们会用到一些高端仪器，但事实是我们只是站在那里数一下每分钟波纹的数量而已。

Not very precise, but I suppose it was good enough.

虽然不是很精确，但是我想这样就可以了。

But the way we measured the amount of salt was interesting.

而我们研究盐含量的方法就很有趣了。

COLIN: In the water from the rock pools?

科林：从潮水坑里取出水的盐度？

HELEN: Yeah, oh, I wanted to check the chemicals we used in the lab when we analysed those samples - was it potassium chromate and silver nitrate?

海伦：对，哦，那时我还想确认那些化学元素是否是我们在实验室分析过的化学样本，是否是铬酸钾和硝酸银？

COLIN: That's right.

科林：对。

HELEN: OK. And we need the map of the seashore.

海伦：好。我们还需要画出海岸的地图。

You just left that to me.

你当时把这个任务交给我了。

And I had to do it while the tide was low, well that was OK, but the place I started it from was down on the beach, then I realised I should have gone up higher to get better visibility, so I had to start all over again.

我得趁着退潮的时候把它搞定，不过也没什么，但是绘制的地点低于海岸沿线，后来我又走到视野更好的高处重新绘制了一次。

But at least I'd got the squared paper or I'd have had problems drawing it all to scale.

不过好在我带的是方格纸，不然想要全部按照规定比例画出来就太困难了。

COLIN: Yes. It looks good.

科林：嗯。看起来不错。

We could get a map of the region off the internet and see if we need to make any changes.

我们可以从网上下载一个地区地图来对比一下是否有需要修改的地方。

HELEN: I had a look but I couldn't find anything.

海伦：我已经查过了，但是没有找到。

But you took some pictures, didn't you?

不过你照了一些照片，对吧？

COLIN: Yeah. I'll email you them if you want.

科林：是的。如果你需要，我用邮件把照片发给你。

HELEN: OK. I'll make my amendments using those, then I can scan it into our report. Great.

海伦：嗯。我用图片对比修正一下吧，然后我把它扫描加入我们的报告里。就这样！

HELEN: Now when we get to our findings I thought we could divide them up into the different zones we identified on the shore, and the problems organisms face in each zone.

在写发现部分的内容时，我认为我们应该分类到海岸的不同区域，把我们鉴定过的生物和受到威胁的生物。

So for the highest area ...

对于海拔最高的地区……

COLIN: ... the splash zone?

科林：你指的是飞溅区？

HELEN: Yeah, we found mostly those tiny shellfish that have strong hard shells that act as protection.

海伦：是的，我们发现这些小型贝类生物大多拥有强硬的外壳来保护自己。

COLIN: But not from other organisms that might eat them, predators?

科林：但是并不能保护它们不被其他生物捕食，比如食肉动物？

HELEN: No, that's not the main danger for them.

海伦：对，但这并不是它们生存的主要威胁。

But the shells prevent them from drying out because they're in the open air for most of the time.

这些外壳主要为了防止干燥，因为它们大多时间都在露天中。

COLIN: Right.

科林：是的。

And since they're exposed, they need to be able to find some sort of shelter, or cover themselves up, so they don't get too hot.

一旦他们暴露在外，他们需要找到遮挡物或是把自己罩上，这样它们就不会感到太热。

Then in the middle and lower zones, nearer the sea, we need to discuss the effects of wave action ...

在中间和低阶靠海的地区，我们需要探讨一下波浪效应……

HELEN: Yes, and how organisms develop structures to prevent themselves from being swept away,or even destroyed by being smashed against the rocks.

海伦：是的，还要谈论生物如何进化形态保护自己免受冲走的危险，甚至被岩石击碎的危险。

COLIN: I haven't done anything on the geological changes.

科林：我没准备关于地质变化的部分。

I don't know what to put for that.

我不知道怎么做。

HELEN: No, we weren't concentrating on that.

海伦：我也没有，我们当时没有关注这个方面。

Maybe we need to find some websites.

或许我们可以从互联网中找一些材料。

COLIN: Good idea.

科林：好主意。

I've got the lecture notes from Mr Blake's geology course, but they're too general.

我拿到了布莱克先生的地质学讲义，但是内容有点泛泛。

But we could ask him which books on our Reading List might be most helpful.

不过我们可以让他推荐一下，书单里哪本书对我们最有用。

HELEN: Right. OK, now I did a draft of the section of sources of possible error in our research, but I don't know if you agree.

海伦：好的。我写了一个草稿，关于我们研究中可能存在的问题来源分类，我不知道你是否赞同。

For example, the size of the sample, and whether it's big enough to make any general conclusions from.

比如，样品数量的多少、对于总结论它的数量是否充分。

But I thought actually we did have quite a big sample.

不过实际上我觉得我们的取样范围已经够大了。

COLIN: We did. And our general method of observation seemed quite reliable.

科林：对。我们观察的通用方法看起来比较可靠。

But we might not be all that accurate as far as the actual numbers go.

但是和实际数量相比可能不是很精确。

HELEN: Yeah, we might have missed some organisms - if they were hiding under a rock, for example.

海伦：是的，我们可能还遗漏了一些生物，比如它们有可能藏到了石头下面。

I wasn't sure about the way we described their habitats.

我不是很肯定我们对它们的栖息地表述是否准确。

I decided it was probably OK.

我想基本上是没有问题的。

COLIN: Yeah, and the descriptions we gave of the smaller organisms, they weren't very detailed, but they were adequate in this context.

科林：对，还有我们对那些小型生物的描述不是很详细，但是在本次研究中已经够用了。

I'm not sure we identified all the species correctly though.

不过，我不确定我们有没有准确辨认出所有的物种。

HELEN: OK, we'd better mention that. Now, how …

海伦：好吧，我们最好说一下。现在，如何……