听力材料

　　Well, ongoing investigations have revealed that predation is the most likely cause of sea otter decline after all.
　　目前的研究表明天敌捕食是最可能导致海獭数量减少的原因。

　　First, the pollution theory is weakened by the fact that no one can really find any Dead Sea otters washing off on Alaskan beaches. That’s not what you would expect if infections caused by pollution started killing a lot of otters. On the other hand, the fact that it’s so hard to find dead otters is consistent with the predator hypothesis. If an otter is killed by a predator, it’s eaten immediately so it can’t wash up on shore.
　　首先，由于没有人发现有海獭尸体被冲上阿拉斯加海滩，所以污染理论捕食那么站得住脚的。如果污染造成的疾病感染导致了海獭数量的剧减，那么情况不该如此。而且，很少发现海獭尸体也恰恰说明了天敌捕食假说。捕食者杀死了海獭后，会很快地吃掉它，那么我们也就不会再岸上发现海獭尸体了。

　　Second, although orcas may prefer to hunt whales, whales have essentially disappeared from the area because of human hunters. That means that orcas have had to change their diet to survive and since only smaller sea mammals are now available, orcas have probably started hunting those. So, it probably is the orcas that are causing the decline of all the smaller sea mammals mentioned in the passage - the seals, the sea lions, and the sea otters.
　　第二，尽管逆戟鲸喜欢捕食鲸类，但是鲸类的数量却由于人类的捕猎活动而剧烈减少。这意味着逆戟鲸不得不为了生存而更改捕食习惯。目前来看只有一些小型海洋哺乳动物还可以捕捉，逆戟鲸很可能开始以它们为食了。所以，很可能是逆戟鲸的捕食导致了文中提到的诸如海豹、海狮和海獭等小型哺乳动物的数量减少。

　　And third, the uneven pattern of otter decline is better explained by the orca predation theory than by the pollution theory. What happens to otters seems to depend on whether the location where they live is accessible to orcas or not. In those locations that orcas can access easily, the number of sea otters has declined greatly. However, because orcas are so large, they can’t access shallow or rocky locations. And shallow and rocky locations are precisely the types of locations where sea otter populations have not declined.
　　第三，海獭数量变化的不均衡性恰好表明了逆戟鲸捕食理论比污染理论更合理。海獭数量的增减取决于它们生存的地方逆戟鲸是不是可以进入。在那些逆戟鲸很容易进入的海域，海獭的数量急剧减少。然而，因为逆戟鲸个头很大，所以他们不能进入那些过浅或者充满岩石的海域。而那些过浅和充满岩石的海域，恰恰是海獭数量保持稳定的地区。

　　听力笔记内容
　　Main point: 天敌说更为可信。
　　Sub point one: 没有发现海獭的尸体。
　　Sub point two: 多种小型海洋哺乳动物的减少是因为逆戟鲸捕食。
　　Sub point three: 逆戟鲸个头很大，有的海域不能进入，解释了为何数量变化不均衡。

　　提示：在阅读部分出现的陌生的名词(包括专有名词)要记下来，因为听力出现的时候我们要根据读音判断出现位置和大致含义。