之澳大利亚07:Great Barrier Reef 大堡礁
D: David y：Vicki
D:戴卫 v:薇琪
D: Vicki, hello! Long time no see. Where have you been?
D:薇琪，你好！好久不见了。你去哪儿了？
V: I spent the last six months in Australia. It was so great, I had a wonderful time. The best bit was snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. The sea life there is out of this world.
V：过去半年我都待在澳大利亚。那里太好了，我玩得很开心。最有意思的就是在大堡礁潜水，那里的海洋生物是世界一流的。
D: The Great Barrier Reef is the only living organic collective visible from Earth's orbit. It's one of the wonders of the natural world.
D:大堡礁是唯一能够从地球同步轨道上看得见的生命有机体。它是自然界的一大奇观。
V: And it's the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. There are loads of beautiful islands scattered around and idyllic coral cays.
V:它也是世界上最大的珊瑚礁生态系统。那里四周都是漂亮的岛屿和田园般的珊瑚礁沙洲。
D: It's pretty big. Isn't it? I think it covers more than 300, 000 square kilometers.
D:大堡礁很大．是吧？我想它的面积大概有300.000平方公里。
V: Yes, it's huge. There are more than 3, 000 reefs, which vary in size, the smallest is about I hectare. But the biggest is massive, over 10, 000 hectares.
V：是的，相当大。它由大大小小约3000多个珊瑚礁组成，最小的大约一公顷大。但最大的却相当大，有10. 000公顷。
D: Wow! Unfortunately because many tourists go there, it's suffering. You know, because of the pollutants.
D:哇，真够大的！可不幸的是，由于丢那里参观的游客很多，大堡礁正面临毁灭之灾。你知道，这是由污染物造成的。
V: Unfortunately, that's true. Its protection is the responsibility of the Marine Park Authority, they have developed something called "The Reef Plan". This is a combined effort to protect the reef
v:的确很不幸。保护大堡礁是海洋公园管理局的责任，他们制定了一个计划叫“珊瑚礁计划”，旨在号召大家共同努力保护大堡礁。
D: I believe they are doing a good job with that. How about the coral? Is it really as beautiful as they say?
D:我相信他们是在做好事。对了，珊瑚怎么样？它们真的就像人们说的那么漂亮吗？
V: Oh my god, yes! Coral consists of individual coral polyps-tiny live creatures which join together to form colonies. Each polyp lives inside a shell of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate which is the hard shell we recognise as coral.
V:哦，天啊！真的非常漂亮。珊瑚由单个的珊瑚虫组合而成。珊瑚虫是一种微小的生物，聚合在一起而形成一个群体。每一个珊瑚虫都寄生在一个文石壳内。文石是一种碳酸钙，也就是我们所说的珊瑚硬壳。
D: So, these polyps join together to create forests of coloured coral in interesting An. antler, brain and plate shapes.
D:也就是说，这些珊瑚虫聚合在一起形成了五颜六色的珊瑚丛，有扇形、鹿角形、大脑形和盘子形，非常有意思。
V: That's right. The ideal environment for coral is shallow warm water where there is a lot of water movement, plenty of light, where the water is salty and low in nutrients.
v:是这样，珊瑚生活的理想环境是海水流动较多的温暖浅滩，那里光线充足，水的盐分高、养分低。
D: How many different kinds of coral are there?
D:大堡礁的珊瑚有多少种？
V: There are many different types of coral, some arc slow growing and live to be hundreds of yean old, others are faster growing. The colours of coral are created by algae. Only live coral is coloured. Dead coral is white.
v:珊瑚的种类很多，有些生长缓慢，能存活几百年，而其它的生长较快。珊瑚的颜色是由海藻形成的。只有活着的珊瑚才是彩色的，死了的珊瑚都是白色的。
D: Have you got any photos?
D:你有没有照片？
V: Loads! Come and have- look.
V:多的是。过来看看吧。
【单词词组讲解】
long time no see 好久不见
do a good job 做好事
out of this world 世界一流的
come and have a look 过来看看
【背景介绍】
大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）是世界上最大、最长的珊瑚礁区，是世界七大自然景观之一，也是澳大利亚最著名的天然景观。又称为“透明清澈的海中野生王国”。 是保存最完好的海洋公园。前往大堡礁海域潜水是不少人的梦想之旅：海水湛蓝、清澈见底，珊瑚丛生、色彩绚丽，鱼群擦身、形态各异……
它位于澳大利亚昆土兰州以东，巴布亚湾与南回归线之间的热带海域，太平洋珊瑚海西部，绵延于澳大利亚东北海岸外的大陆架上，北面从托雷斯海峡起，向南直到弗雷泽岛附近，沿澳大利亚东北海岸线绵延2000余千米，东西宽20～240千米。大堡礁由三千个不同阶段的珊瑚礁、珊瑚岛、沙洲和泻湖组成，蔚为奇观。是世界上景色最美、规模最大的珊瑚礁群，总面积达20.7万平方千米。这里景色迷人、险峻莫测，水流异常复杂，生存着400余种不同类型的珊瑚礁，其中有世界上最大的珊瑚礁，鱼类1500种，软体动物达4000余种，聚集的鸟类242种，有着得天独厚的科学研究条件，这里还是某些濒临灭绝的动物物种（如人鱼和巨型绿龟）的栖息地。