2019年12月大学英语四级听力VOA慢速英语(16)
Scientist Fights for Coral Reefs, Makes Science Fun
Coral reefs are home to many -- like this clownfish! But they are in danger. Scientists are around the world are trying to raise awareness. (This photograph is from an
exhibit called 'Coral Reef - Secret Cities of the Sea' at the Natural History museum in London, March 2015. AP PHOTO)
The language used by scientists to explain complex ideas can be difficult and -- well, let’s face it -- sometimes boring.
The language, with its Latin words and long scientific terms, could be one reason some people avoid learning about science, especially children.
American Danielle Dixson is a marine biologist. She wants to make science fun for children. Dixson has turned that idea into a series of children’s books. The nine books are written so that her research is easy to understand.
\and I thought that story books may be one of the easiest ways to sort of captivate them and have them understand.\ Dixson’s research
Danielle Dixson is an assistant professor at the University of Delaware. Dixson says another goal of her science writing is to help increase understanding of the ocean environment.
She spent almost two years in the South Pacific working on her post-doctoral research. She went to the island nation of Fiji to investigate coral reefs that are collapsing or, as she says, degrading.
The goal of her research is to identify why some healthy coral reefs are breaking down. She also wants to find out how this degradation affects fish that live in and around the reefs.
\know, these beautiful coral reef systems that have a lot of holes for animals to hide in, into reefs that the coral’s degrading and collapsing and then there is not as much hiding spaces for fishes and things like that.”
Early in her research, Dixson made some videos for people in Fiji. The videos explained her work to the local community. She says she wanted them to understand how her research would help them.
For the local children, Dixson started making books explaining her work. This helped to keep them from walking through her “laboratory” – baby pools filled with water she was using for her experiments.
\locals. It was a lot easier to get research done if they understood what I was doing and how it would help them. And one of the ways that I was able to connect with the adults was I would make these videos for them. And then I started making children's books for the kids so that they would have a better idea of why I was there, so that when I ask them not
to walk through the baby pools I was using for experiments or something like that, that that would actually happen.” When Dixson returned to the United States, she started doing the same thing for children in this country. She uses colorful story books to capture the imagination of children. While she has their attention, she provides very useful information about science. Home is where the heart is.
Home and family are at the heart of many great stories. The search for one’s home or protecting one’s home is universal.
In one of her books, Danielle Dixson tells young readers about two fish -- Mr. and Mrs. Goby. The fish live in a coral reef. And their home is sick.
\a sudden coral starts to get sick, but they needed their house to stay alive. So what would they do to help it? It sort of goes through all the scientific findings, but it does it in the sense of those two gobies are trying to save their home.\
The story about the little fish was based on one of
Dixson's studies. She explains that one form of seaweed kills coral on contact.
\that if you put in contact with coral for 48 hours, the contact point of the coral will be dead. There are a number
2019年12月大学英语四级听力VOA慢速英语(16)(1)
