听力文本

The ‘Est,’ Est West (continued)

HERE is a riddle for you. What is it that has no legs and yet can jump as high as the Washington Monument? I’ll tell you the answer in a minute.

Between Oregon and Washington is a river named Columbia, after Columbus. In the Columbia River are large fish called salmon. Salmon live in the salt ocean, but when Mrs.Salmon wants to lay her eggs she goes way up the Columbia River, far above the falls to fresh water, looking for a quiet place to do so. How can she get by the falls? She jumps the falls. You may wonder how fish without legs can jump at all, and it is peculiar that they can, but they do. They bend their tails into a kind of spring, then flip!—up they go; for a salmon can jump as high as the Washington Monument.

“Are the falls as high as the Washington Monument?”

“No, they are all low.”

“But you said a salmon could jump as high as the Washington Monument.”

“A salmon can, for the Washington Monument can’t jump at all!”

Millions of salmon together called “schools” swim up the river and fishermen catch them in nets, but they leave most of them so that they can lay eggs from which little salmon are born, and the little salmon swim down the river and out into the ocean, where they live and grow up.

参考译文

“之最”最多的西部（续）

有个谜语给你猜：什么东西没有腿却能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高？我一会儿就告诉你答案。

在俄勒冈州和华盛顿州之间有一条以哥伦布的名字命名的河，叫做哥伦比亚河。哥伦比亚河里有一种很大的鱼，叫做鲑鱼。鲑鱼生活在海洋的咸水里，但是当鲑鱼夫人要产卵的时候，她会沿哥伦比亚河往上游，到远远高于瀑布的淡水里，找一个安静的地方去产卵。她怎么才能通过瀑布呢？她跳过瀑布。你也许很纳闷鱼没有腿怎么会跳呢，鲑鱼能跳起来真是太奇怪了，但它们就是能。鲑鱼把尾巴弯成像弹簧的样子，然后猛然翻转——就跳上去了；因为鲑鱼能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高。

“瀑布有华盛顿纪念碑那么高吗？”

“没有，那里的瀑布都很低。”

“但是你说鲑鱼能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高啊。”

“鲑鱼肯定能，因为华盛顿纪念碑根本就不会跳！”

千千万万的鲑鱼在一起叫做“鱼群”，这些鱼群游到河流的上游 ，被渔民用网捕捞起来，但渔民会放走大部分的鱼， 好让它们产卵生出小鲑鱼， 小鲑鱼往河的下游游去最后游到大海里，它们在大海里生长，