✸✸GREENLAND sharks cannot help but capture the imagination. Theseprimevalinhabitants of the deep, icy waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans can live to 400, possibly even 500 years old, are cigar shaped, and often have worm-like parasites on theirluminouseyes that are said tohypnotisetheir prey. Their bodies are covered with razor-like “skin teeth” and their meat contains a toxin; people who eat it start to hallucinate, become incoherent and stagger around, becoming “shark drunk”.
1） primeval 英 [praɪ'mi:vl] 美 [praɪˈmivəl] adj.原始的;太古的，太初的 adv.原始地，太古地，太初地
The railway cuts through a primeval forest.
铁路穿越原始森林。
2） luminous 英 [ˈlu:mɪnəs] 美 [ˈlumənəs] adj.发光的;明亮的;清楚的;辉赫
He fixed me with those luminous, empty eyes and his melancholy smile.
他笑容忧郁地凝视着我，闪亮的眼睛里空无一物。
短语：luminous intensity 英 [ˈlu:minəs inˈtensiti] 美 [ˈlumənəs ɪnˈtɛnsɪti] 发光强度，照度
luminous point 英 [ˈlu:minəs pɔint] 美 [ˈlumənəs pɔɪnt] 发光点;亮点
luminous energy 英 [ˈlu:minəs ˈenədʒi] 美 [ˈlumənəs ˈɛnədʒi] 光能
luminous efficiency 英 [ˈlu:minəs iˈfiʃənsi] 美 [ˈlumənəs ɪˈfɪʃənsi] 发光效率
３） hypnotise英 ['hɪpnətaɪz] 美 [ˈhɪpnəˌtaɪz]vt.对…施催眠术;使着迷，使精神恍惚
It is impossible to hypnotise someone simply by saying a particular word or phrase.
不可能仅通过说某个词或短语就能把人催眠。
✸✸In his book of the same name Morten Stroksnes, a Norwegian writer, recalls how he and his friend Hugo Aasjordattempted tocatch one of these, the largest species of flesh-eating shark, from a small rubber dinghy in the Lofoten archipelago. The book was a huge success in his home country when it was published in 2015.
１） attempt to 英 [əˈtempt tu:] 美 [əˈtɛmpt tu] 尝试，企图;试图做某事
He made no attempt to conceal his dislike of me
他毫不掩饰对我的厌恶。
✸✸The men use the island of Skrova, one of Norway’s “small, weather-beaten communities that cling like barnacles to the rocky coast” as their base for the hunt, which takes place intermittently over four seasons. Mr Stroksnes beautifully describes the midnight sun, majestic fjords and moody stretches of sea, the changing light and the peaks that rise up out of the water, as well as the Moskstraumen, a system of whirlpools long feared by sailors. Days pass while they wait for their shark, some when the sun burns the “magnesium-white clouds”, and the world seems “cleansed and filled with mirrors”, and others when the sea is “black as ink and possessed of restlessagitation”.
１） agitation 英 [ˌædʒɪˈteɪʃn] 美 [ˌædʒɪˈteʃən] n.激动;搅动，搅拌;煽动，鼓动;[医]兴奋
Danny returned to Father's house in a state of intense agitation
丹尼回到神父的房子时显得极为焦虑不安。
✸✸Following the fishing line with its bait of intestines, kidneys, fly larvae and maggots down into the deep where daylight cannot reach, Mr Stroksnes brings a little known world to life. He notes that humans are morefamiliar withthe surface of the Moon than with the ocean’s depths, which can be reached only with rare, specialist submersibles. Thepitch-blackwater sparkles and glows with extraordinary creatures like the Dana octopus squid, which has lights on each arm, often flashing simultaneously when it attacks. He imagines that its prey feels as if it is beingassaultedby “huge Christmas ornaments”.
１） familiar with 英 [fəˈmiljə wið] 美 [fəˈmɪljɚ wɪð] 熟悉的;友好的，过分亲密的
Most people are familiar with this figure from Wagner's opera.
多数人都熟悉瓦格纳歌剧中的这一人物。
２） pitch-black 英 [ˈpɪtʃˈblæk] 美 [ˈpɪtʃˈblæk] adj.漆黑的，墨黑的;黢黑;乌油油
To them General de Gaulle shone as a star in the pitch-black night.
在他们的眼中，戴高乐就好象是漆黑的夜晚中的一颗闪耀的明星。
３） assaulted v.强暴;袭击( assault的过去式和过去分词 );猛烈攻击;使（感官）难受
The gang assaulted him with iron bars
这伙人用铁棍殴打他。
短语：assault and battery 英 [əˈsɔ:lt ænd ˈbætəri] 美 [əˈsɔlt ənd ˈbætəri] n.殴打，人身攻击
✸✸The most interesting aspect of the book is Mr Stroksnes’s questioning of the whole shark-catching enterprise. He cannot tell if his increasing obsession is an “idiotic, murderous” missionintended tosatisfy curiosity or confront fear. In broader terms, he wonders if men need topitthemselvesagainstthe “myth of the monster slumbering in the deep” in order to make themselves feel like predators instead of prey. Perhaps only then do they feel truly in control. He isalive tothe strangeness of this urge: sharks kill just 10-20 people worldwide each year while humans kill around 73m sharks—and yet “we consider the shark to be the dangerous predator.”
１） intend to 英 [inˈtend tu:] 美 [ɪnˈtɛnd tu] 打算（做）…，想要（做）…
I intend to take full advantage of this trip to buy the things we need.
我打算充分利用这次旅行来购买我们所需的物品。
２） pit against 英 [pit əˈɡenst] 美 [pɪt əˈɡenst] 使与…相斗
The existence of separate dimensions of consistency makes it possible to pit consistencyagainst various types of regularity.
由于有一致性的各别向度，可以将一致性与不同种类规则性对抗比较。
３） alive to 英 [əˈlaiv tu:] 美 [əˈlaɪv tu] 注意到…，对…敏感
He was alive to what he was doing.
他很清楚他在做什么。
✸✸Putting “shark-drunk” man into perspective as the real threat to the ocean is one of the many threads Mr Stroksnes haspulled togetherin a narrative that takes in history and philosophy, mythology and folklore, from Norway’s fishing past to science and the cosmos. Rather thanan account oftwo men trying to catch a shark, it is really ahomageto the sea and a call to arms to protect the ecosystem that humans treat soabysmallyyet rely on so much. He wants people to understand that they did not just come from the sea. They are still part of it—just drops in the ocean.
１） pull together 英 [pul təˈɡeðə] 美 [pʊl təˈɡɛðɚ] 齐心协力；团结起来；通力合作； 保持镇定；克制自己；振作起来； 把…串到一起；把…连成一个整体
Let me now pull together the threads of my argument...
现在让我来将我的论点串起来。
２） an account of 英 [æn əˈkaunt ɔv] 美 [ən əˈkaʊnt ʌv] [法]报告
The preface of the book includes an account of the author's life.
该书前言记述了作者生平。
３） homage 英 [ˈhɒmɪdʒ] 美 [ˈhɑ:mɪdʒ] n.敬意;效忠;顺从
Palace has released two marvellous films that pay homage to our literary heritage
皇宫影业公司发行了两部颂扬我们文学遗产的精彩影片。
４） abysmally 英 [ə'bɪzməlɪ] 美 [ə'bɪzməlɪ] adv.极糟地;可怕地;完全地;极端地
I tried to convince them but I failed abysmally.
我试图使他们信服，但是彻底失败了。