(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Why did the tiny nematode worm cross the road?
Well, for all the usual reasons.
But a more interesting question is “how did it make the crossing?”
Turns out, it may have hitched a ride—inside a slug, or other invertebrate.
That's according to a study in the journal BMC Ecology.
Nematodes are about a millimeter long.
They're often found on decomposing fruits or rotting plants, where they feast on the resident bacteria.
But when that food source is exhausted, how do these diminutive diners make their way to their next meal, which could be in a mulch pile a major trek of several yards away?
To find out, researchers hit the compost heap, and they collected some 600 slugs and 400 centipedes, spiders, beetles, flies and locusts.
And they found that the innards of slugs, centipedes and woodlice are littered with live worms that the larger creepy crawlies accidentally ingested as they snacked.
But what becomes of these itinerant intestinal interlopers?
To solve that mystery, the researchers exposed 79 slugs to more than a million nematodes that had been tagged with a fluorescent marker.
And they saw that the worms not only survive a southbound trip through a slug's guts, they emerge none the worse for where-they've-been when their ride takes a bathroom break.
Sure, a chugging slug isn't exactly high-speed rail.
But its bacteria-filled belly means that, for the nematode passengers, the dining car is always open.
参考译文
为什么小线虫会横穿马路?
恩，只是出于一些平常无奇的原因。
但更有趣的问题则是小线虫是怎样横穿马路的?
原来它可能是搭便车—即通过搭乘鼻涕虫或其他无脊椎动物内脏的便车。
《BMC生物学》杂志发表的一项研究得出了这样的结论。
线虫身长约1毫米。
你可以在已经腐烂的植物或水果上发现正享受着细菌盛宴的它们。
但是当食物吃光，这些小型食客们是如何长途跋涉抵达下一处餐点呢?
为了一探究竟，研究人员扒开了肥料堆，收集到大约600只鼻涕虫，400只蜈蚣、蜘蛛、甲虫、苍蝇及蝗虫。
而后他们发现鼻涕虫、蜈蚣及土鳖虫的内脏中满是活的小线虫，而它们是这些较大的爬行动物在进食时偶然吞下去的。
但是这些肠道入侵者为何会安然无事呢?
为了揭开这个谜团，研究人员们将79只鼻涕虫放在用荧光标记过的100万多只线虫环境中。
而后他们发现线虫不仅在鼻涕虫内脏的旅行中存活，而且在被排泄出后并没有对宿主造成任何不良反应。
当然慢慢爬行的鼻涕虫并不是一辆特快列车。
但对于旅客线虫而言，那充满细菌的肚子代表着这辆餐车总是对它们敞开大门。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
重点讲解
1.turn out 结果是；关掉
例句:Sometimes things don't turn out the way we think they're going to.
有时事情并不像我们认为的那样发展。
2.make one's way to 想方设法进入
例句:One of our best workers was pushed out to make way for the director's son.
我们中的一个最好的工人被不公平地辞掉了,为的是给主任的儿子让位。
3.find out 发现；查明；找出
例句:Find out how much your surveyor's and solicitor's fees will be.
弄清你要向鉴定员和律师支付多少费用。
4.more than 超过；多于
例句:Their replies were no more than grunts of acknowledgement.
他们所谓的回答不过是表示承认的咕哝罢了。
