本集内容

Searching for the Loch Ness Monster 寻找尼斯湖水怪

学习要点

有关 “the unexplained（未知）” 的词汇

边看边答

What kinds of environmental DNA are scientists collecting from the loch?

文字稿

It's a mystery which endures. Just what exactly lies beneath the murky waters of Loch Ness?

这是一个由来已久的谜团。尼斯湖浑浊的湖水下究竟隐藏着什么？

The sightings of Nessie stretch back hundreds of years - but as yet, no definitive explanation has been found. A team of scientists, led by New Zealand's Otago University, has been testing water samples and collecting environmental DNA from all forms of life in the loch, including plants, insects, fish and mammals.

尼斯湖水怪的出现可以追溯到几百年前，但至今仍无确切的解释。由新西兰奥塔哥大学牵头的一个科学家团队采集分析了尼斯湖水样，并收集了湖中生物的脱氧核糖核酸（DNA），包括植物、昆虫、鱼类和哺乳动物。

Professor Eric Verspoor, University of the Highlands and Islands
You basically take a litre or two of water and you filter it out, and in the stuff that's filtered out will be DNA. And using that DNA, you can then sequence it. And on the basis of the sequence, identify the types of organisms that are present in the water.

埃里克·维斯普教授     高地与群岛大学
“你提取一到两升水，然后过滤，过滤掉的东西里会有环境 DNA。用这些 DNA，可进行基因排序。根据序列，识别出水中存在的生物体类型。”

The world's media gathered at the loch side to hear exactly what they found.

全世界的媒体都聚集在湖边，想听听这项研究到底发现了什么。

Professor Neil Gemmell, University of Otago
This idea of a giant, extinct reptile… Well, we didn't find any reptilian DNA, so we don't think that seems very plausible based on the samples and the analysis that we've undertaken. And we also went looking for another idea, which is a giant eel. Well, we don't know if the eels are giant or not but we certainly found an awful lot of eel DNA. I guess, much more than I expected.

尼尔·格默尔教授    奥塔哥大学
“我们没有发现任何爬行动物的 DNA，我们认为这似乎不太可信，这是根据我们所做的样本分析得出的结果。我们也试图寻找一条巨型鳗鱼。我们不知道湖中的鳗鱼是否巨大，但我们确实发现了大量鳗鱼 DNA。比我想象的要多。”

But one long-time Nessie hunter is unconvinced by today's news.

但是这位长期研究尼斯湖水怪的男士并不认可这项研究的新发现。

Steve Feltham, Nessie hunter
Eels in Loch Ness? Personally, I think a 12-year-old boy could tell you that. There could be some massive eels in there - that could be the explanation. But to say 'we have found evidence of eels' is like saying 'we've found evidence of fish in a Scottish loch'. Well done!

史蒂夫·费尔特姆     “尼斯湖水怪” 寻找者
“尼斯湖里有鳗鱼？在我看来，一个 12 岁的男孩都知道这个。尼斯湖里可能有一些巨大的鳗鱼，这可能是一种解释。但是说 ‘我们发现了鳗鱼存在的证据’ 就像说 ‘我们在苏格兰的湖泊中发现了鱼类存在的证据’。这研究做得真好！”           

The sense of mystery here at the loch, though, remains. More than 20% of the DNA found was unidentified - meaning the search for Nessie goes on.

尽管如此，尼斯湖的神秘感依然存在。此次研究发现的生物 DNA 中超过 20% 是未知的，这意味着对尼斯湖水怪的搜寻仍将继续。

词汇

mystery 神秘的事情

definitive explanation 确切的解释

plausible 貌似可信的

unconvinced 不信服的，不确定的

unidentified 不明的，未知的

问题答案

Scientists are collecting DNA from all forms of life, including plants, insects, fish and mammals.