蔣建平

A ten?year?old sperm whale（抹香鯨） was found dead on a beach in Scotland. A necropsy （尸檢） revealed that nearly 100 kilograms of plastic and other trash had formed clumps（硬塊） in its di?gestive system. The tragedy quickly made headlines. Why would a top predator in the ocean eat gloves， rope， and plastic cups？

Conventional wisdom suggests that marine ani?mals eat plastic because it is there and they dont know any better. It is certain that plastic may smell like food to some of them. But that doesnt explain why only certain types of whales—deep?diving toothed whales， such as sperm whales and pilot whales—turn up dead on beaches with stomachs full of plastic.

Its possible， says Savoca， that plastic trash sounds like food to toothed whales. These species hunt deep in the ocean， sometimes nearly 500 meters below the surface， where its pitch black （漆黑）.They use echolocation （回聲定位） to hunt for food， typically squid （烏賊）.

By contrast， baleen whales （須鯨）， including humpbacks and blue whales， have natural filters （過濾器） for their food. Baleen， the brush?like filter?feeding system they have in place of teeth， as well as their narrow throats， keeps them from swallowing anything much larger than the krill（磷蝦） that forms the basis of their diet. That could help explain why baleen whales are not ending up with plas?tic filled stomachs.

Fifty years ago， there was almost no plastic in the ocean. The lifespan of a large whale can be twice that long. In the lifetime of a single whale， we went from an ocean with no plastic to hundreds of thousands of tons of it. Plastic comes on top of other factors affecting life in the ocean?climate change， overfishing， shipping traffic， and noise pollution. “Its a real shame because their lives are challenging enough even without the additional pressure we put onto them，” says Savoca.

Choose the best answer for each question.

1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about？

A. Plastic smells like food to toothed whales.

B. Marine animals started to eat plastic decades ago.

C. Many toothed whales are found dead on beaches every year.

D. A new twist of conventional wisdom about marine animals eating behavior.

2. What does the author want to emphasize in the last paragraph？

A. Whales have a longer lifespan than humans.

B. Plastic has a negative effect on climate change.

C. Great changes have taken place in the ocean in the past 50 years.

D. Plastic pollution has worsened already serious issues affecting marine life.

3. Which of the following would be another title for the text？

A. Different diets， different fates B. Silent killers in the ocean

C. Plastic trash in the ocean D. Saving sperm whales

它為什么叫“抹香鯨”？它很香嗎？科普一下，要收藏哦！

Fun facts about sperm whales

Sperm whales 1.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （name） after the spermaceti—a waxy substance 2.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （use） in oil lamps and candles—found on their heads，? 3.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?account for one?third of their body length.

Sperm whales are the largest of all toothed whales and can grow 4.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?a maximum length of 15.8 metres and 5.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （weigh） of 40 metric tons， with males 6.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （grow） much larger than females.

Female sperm whales form 7.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （last） relationships with other females in their family and create social groups around these bonds. Males， on 8.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?other hand， leave their matriarchal groups between 4 and 21 years old 9.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （join） “bachelor schools” before eventually leading solitary lives in their later years.

During the whaling era， which occurred between the 17th and 20th centuries， as many as 1，000，000 sperm whales were killed. Sperm whales are 10.? ? ? ? ? ? ? （current） considered an endangered species.