Counting Stars on Whale Sharks數(shù)鯨鯊身上的“星星”

NASA is well known for its finding out in space， but it is now also looking at the earth. It is helping save the largest fish in the ocean—whale sharks.

The problem with saving whale sharks is that researchers dont know much about them like how they live or where they go. To better understand and protect the endangered fish， they need a way to find them first.

Dr Brad Norman， an expert from Murdoch University in Australia， created a “photo library” of whale sharks. In the library， there are photos of different whale sharks.

Dr Brad Norman hopes that by comparing the dates and places of the photos， researchers can find out about those whale sharks location and migration routes.

美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局因在太空中的發(fā)現(xiàn)而聞名，但現(xiàn)在它也在關(guān)注地球。它正在幫助拯救海洋中最大的魚類——鯨鯊。

拯救鯨鯊的問(wèn)題在于，研究人員對(duì)它們知之甚少，比如它們?nèi)绾紊罨蛉ネ睦?。為了更好地了解和保護(hù)瀕臨滅絕的鯨鯊，研究人員首先需要一種追蹤它們的方法。

澳大利亞莫道克大學(xué)的專家布拉德·諾曼博士創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)鯨鯊“圖庫(kù)”。圖庫(kù)里有各種鯨鯊的照片。

布拉德·諾曼博士希望，通過(guò)對(duì)比照片的日期和地點(diǎn)，研究人員可以找出這些鯨鯊的位置和遷徙路線。

There are spots on whale sharks back. They look like stars in the night sky. Although each whale sharks spots are unique， its almost impossible for researchers to tell the difference by eye. Then NASA steps in. It once developed a technology for mapping stars in the sky. Now it uses it to compare the spots on whale sharks， and then identify them. With the information about whale sharks locations and migration routes， researchers can make proper decisions on how to protect the large fishs habitats.

Now more and more people contribute to the photo library. They have helped the researchers find more than 10 thousand whale sharks. They make better protection of the large fish possible.

鯨鯊的背上有斑點(diǎn)，它們看起來(lái)像夜空中的星星。雖然每條鯨鯊的斑點(diǎn)都是獨(dú)一無(wú)二的，但研究人員幾乎不可能用眼睛分辨出它們。于是美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局加入了進(jìn)來(lái)，它曾經(jīng)開發(fā)了一種繪制天空中恒星的技術(shù)?，F(xiàn)在它用這項(xiàng)技術(shù)來(lái)比對(duì)鯨鯊身上的斑點(diǎn)，然后識(shí)別它們。有了鯨鯊的位置和遷徙路線的信息，研究人員可以就如何保護(hù)鯨鯊的棲息地做出適當(dāng)?shù)臎Q定。

現(xiàn)在越來(lái)越多的人為圖庫(kù)提供照片。他們已經(jīng)幫助研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一萬(wàn)多頭鯨鯊。他們幫助鯨鯊獲得更好的保護(hù)。

Word Bank

protect v. 保護(hù)

compare v.（現(xiàn)在分詞形式comparing）對(duì)比；比較

unique adj. 唯一的；獨(dú)一無(wú)二的

habitat n. （復(fù)數(shù)形式habitats）棲息地

contribute to 捐助；捐獻(xiàn)