『新东方在线托福听力』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 11 Lec 3听力练习：What does the professor imply about major weather patterns such as EL NINO?原文题目答案解析，TPO/Official 11 Lec 3听力原文范文音频翻译。

托福TPO/Official 11 Lec 3听力原文What does the professor imply about major weather patterns such as EL NINO?【新东方在线】

独白：听一段关于环境科学的讲座。

Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.

教授：当土地被开发供人类使用时，景色就发生了变化。

Professor: When land gets developed for human use, the landscape changes.

我们不再能看到那么多的植被，树木，草地等等。

We don't see as many types of vegetation, trees, grasses and so forth.

这接着就导致了其他损失：那些曾经在那里居住的动物。

This in turn leads to other losses: the loss of animals that once lived there.

但这些都是显著的变化，还有一些变化并不那么显眼，比如气候变化。

Err…but these are the obvious changes, but there are also less obvious changes like the climate.

有一个关于当地土地利用导致气候变化，特别是温度变化的有趣例子，是在佛罗里达州。

One interesting case of this of…of changes in the local land use causing changes in climate, specifically the temperature, is in Florida.

现在，当提到佛罗里达州的时候，首先你想到了什么？

Now what comes to mind when you think of the state of Florida?

教授：正是如此。佛罗里达一直以来有很好的柑橘属水果产业，大量种植橙子、柠檬和类似水果。

Professor: Yes, exactly. Florida has long had a great citrus industry; large growth of oranges, lemons and the like.

佛罗里达的冬天非常温和，气温很少会掉到零度以下。

Florida's winter is very mild; the temperature doesn't often get below freezing.

但佛州的一些地方会达到结冰点。

But there are some areas in Florida that do freeze.

在二十世纪早期，农民们搬到了佛州南部，那里很少会结冰。

So in the early 1900s, farmers moved even further south in Florida, to areas that were even less likely to freeze.

很明显，零度以下的气温对粮食比较危险。

Obviously, freezing temperatures are danger to the crops.

寒冷气候和冻霜可能毁掉一个农场的所有庄稼。

A bad bout of cold weather, a long spell of frosts could ruin a farmer's entire crop.

不论怎样，在柠檬种植者来到之前，佛州南部的大部分地区都是湿地。

Anyway, before these citric growers moved south, much of the land in south Florida, was what we called wetlands.

湿地是指松软潮湿的沼泽地区，土壤常年被水覆盖着，或者水在接近土壤表层的地方。

Wetlands are areas of marshy, swampy land, areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil for a large part of the year.

湿地有它独特的生态系统，植物和动物在这里有着独特而有趣的适应能力。

Wetlands have their own unique ecosystems, with plants and animals with special and interesting adaptations.

非常令人兴奋，但已经不像是我们今天所谈论的样子了。

Very exciting! But it's not what we are talking about today.

But the land was not suitable for farming.

不能在湿地上种植柑橘，所以农民们要把湿地转换成一种可以耕种的土地。

You can't grow oranges in wetlands, so farmers had to transform the wetlands into lands suitable for farming.

为了达成这个目的，得把水从土地中引出来，转移到别的地方，把水转向诸如河流之类的水源。

To do that, you have to drain the water from the land, move the water elsewhere, and divert to the water sources such as rivers.

上百英里的水渠在湿地上挖好了。

Hundreds of miles of drainage canals were built in the wetlands.

现在，那些农民们安顿下来的温和不结冰的地区。

Now these areas, the new areas the farmers moved to, used to be warm and unlikely to freeze.

却在最近开始变得有可能冰冻了。

However, recently the area has become susceptible to freezes.

学生 2：是因为一些全球气温或者气候类型改变吗？比如厄尔尼诺现象？

Student B: Is it some global temperature change or weather pattern like El Nino, or something?

一个想法是，你所说的一些主要气候现象是主要原因，比如厄尔尼诺。

One idea is as you suggest that major weather patterns, something like El Nino, are responsible.

但另一个想法，也是我个人比较倾向于的想法，是由湿地的减少而产生的气温变化。

But the other idea and this is the one that I personally subscribe to, is that the changes in the temperature pattern have been brought about by the loss of the wetlands.

学生 1：为什么湿地的减少会改变气温呢？

Student A: Well, how would the loss of wetlands make a difference?

教授：想想我们之前学过的东西。

Professor: Well, think about what we've been studying so far.

我们讨论过地标对于气温的影响，对吧？

We discussed the impact of landscapes on temperature, right?

What affects does the body of water have on an area?

学生 1：哦，对，水会在白天吸收热量，在晚上再释放出来。

Student A: Oh, yeah. The bodies of water tend to absorb the heat during the day, and then they release the heat at night.

教授：对，就是这样。你刚才说的就是我希望你们都能理解的道理。

Professor: Yes, exactly. What you just said is what I want you all to understand.

水释放热量和湿气，使它们回到环境中。

Bodies of water release heat and moisture back into the environment.

所以接近水体的区域，总体来说比没有水的地方气候更温和。

So places near large bodies of water are generally milder, err...slightly warmer than those without water.

我的另一个想法是，湿地的减少使得当地的温度比100年前湿地还没有被抽干的时候的低了。

And what I another think is that the loss of the wetlands has created the situation where the local temperatures in the area are not slightly different, slightly colder than they were 100 years ago, before the wetland were drained.

学生 2：嗯，我们知道之前的温度是多少吗？

Student B: Emm…do we know what the temperature was like back then?

Professor: Well, we were able to estimate this.

我们有关于佛州南部的地标⋯⋯嗯，覆盖的植被的数据。

We have data about South Florida's current landscape, emm…the plant cover.

我们可以重新模拟二十世纪前的地标数据。

And we were able to reconstruct data about its landscape prior to 1900.

然后我输入这些数据，这些关于湿地失水前后的地标的信息。

Then we enter those data, information about what the landscape look like before and after the wetlands were drained.

We enter the data into a computer weather model.

当所有的数据被输入进去，总体的降温趋势就被模型预测出来了。

And when all the data were entered, an overall cooling trend was predicted by the model.

学生 2：现在气温变冷了多少？

Student B: How much colder does it get now?

教授：事实上，模型显示仅仅低了摄氏几度。

Professor: Well, actually the model shows a drop of only a few degrees Celsius.

但这足够给农作物带来巨大的损失。

But this is enough to cause dramatic damage to crops.

如果晚上的温度本来就已经接近结冰点，那么下降几度有可能使温度到达冰点以下。

If temperatures over night are already very close to the freezing point, then this drop of just a few degrees can take the temperature below freezing.

冻冰导致霜冻，这会杀死农作物。

And freezing causes frosts, which kill crops.

如果湿地仍然存在，这些破坏力大的霜冻就不会出现，仅仅是微小的气温差别就会导致严重的后果。

These damaging frosts wouldn't happen if the wetlands were still in existence, just a tiny temperature difference can have major consequences.

Why does the professor mention the building of canals in the wetlands?

What does the professor imply about major weather patterns such as EL NINO?

What point about bodies of water does the professor emphasize to the students?

What data from 100 years ago and today were entered into the computer model that the professor discusses?

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