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Scattered1 through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton2. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.
Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs3 that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates4 each year, the sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.
Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine5 scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom6 even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.
No one yet has seriously suggested that “ plankton-burgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary7 food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.
One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimp-like creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provides the major food for the great blue whale, the largest animal to ever inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow to 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity8, it is not surprising that each one devours9 more than one ton of krill daily.
1 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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2 plankton | |
n.浮游生物 | |
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3 outweighs | |
v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 );在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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4 carbohydrates | |
n.碳水化合物,糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 );淀粉质或糖类食物 | |
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5 marine | |
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵 | |
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6 loom | |
n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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7 supplementary | |
adj.补充的,附加的 | |
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8 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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9 devours | |
吞没( devour的第三人称单数 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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