英语演讲比赛预赛朗读文章之二

6、The Dead Sea is alive
FOR a long time we have believed that there’s no life in the Dead Sea (死海). But it looks like we were wrong.

The Dead Sea lies on the border (边界) of Jordan (约旦), Israel (以色列) and the West Bank. There is much more salt in it than in other seas. So people thought it was impossible for things to live in it. Too much salt also makes people float (漂浮) better. For this reason, many tourists visit the Dead Sea every year.

A diving team has found 30 giant craters (火山口) under the Dead Sea. The craters spew (喷出) fresh water. There are many tiny living things around them.

Team member Danny Ionescu told National Geographic News that the craters were a “fantastic place for life”.
 
 
           7、Internet measures up
 
HOW long does it take us to download (下载) a 500m (megabytes, 兆字节，计算机中的一种储存单位) movie from the Internet? In China, it usually takes half an hour. But in South Korea, it only takes four minutes.
According to a global Internet speed study released (发布) by the US company Pando Networks, South Korea offers the world’s highest download speed, 2,202kbps (kilobytes per second,千字节每秒, 网络速度单位。1m等于1,024kb). Romania (罗马尼亚) and Bulgaria (保加利亚) come in second and third on the list.
The US showed up in the middle of the list and China is 80th. The slowest country, according to the study, was the Congo (刚果).
 
 
            8、What’s that in the sky?
MANY people recently reported seeing a UFO in China.

At 9 pm on August 20, the pilot of aircraft CZ6554 was flying above Shanghai. Suddenly, he saw a huge light in the sky. “It was round and kept getting bigger. It looked hundreds of times bigger than the moon,” he said of the sighting (景象).

At almost the same time, Chen Xu of Beijing saw a halo (光环) in the sky. He published a photo of the halo on his micro blog (微博). Chen said the halo was small at first, then became larger, moved north, and disappeared several minutes later.

The experts at the Beijing UFO research organization held a meeting to discuss the UFO sighting. In their opinion, the halos are man-made. The military likely sent a missile (导弹) into the sky. When its remains (残骸) fell, people saw “halos”.
 
 
 
 
           9、Dolphins are a lot like us
ONE of the biggest differences between humans and other animals is humans’ use of tools (工具). But scientists found that some dolphins use tools, too.

According to researchers from Murdoch University, a group of dolphins in Australia made a new tool to catch fish. They hold a large conch shell (海螺壳) in their beaks (嘴) and use it to shake fish into their mouths.

Researchers first saw dolphins shaking conch shells at the surface (表面) of the ocean in 2007. At that time, they thought it was just a game or males giving gifts to females.

Researchers took photos and studied them carefully. They finally found that this is a new fish-catching  trick  made  by  a  clever  group  of  dolphins.
 
  10、Mini Noah’s Ark
IN the movie 2012, a huge ark (方舟) saved people from a destroyed world. Now, a Japanese company has developed a “mini Noah’s Ark” to help people in earthquakes and tsunamis (海啸).

The yellow capsule (舱) looks like a huge tennis ball rather than a ship. It’s made of strong fiberglass (玻璃纤维). Company president and creator of the capsule, Shoji Tanaka, says it can hold four adults. And it has passed many crash (撞击) tests. It has a small lookout window and breathing holes on top. It can also be used as a children’s toy.

More than 27,000 Japanese people died or went missing in the big earthquake in March this year, according to xinhuanet.com. The Japanese company hopes the capsule can help people if the country gets hit by another powerful earthquake and tsunami.