I've brought my notes on our Biology Field Trip to Rocky Bay, Colin,

科林，这次岩石湾生物实地考察我把笔记也带来了。

so we can work on our report on the research we did together.

这样我们就可以继续之前的研究了。

OK. I've got mine too. Let's look at the aims of the trip first.

好，我也把我的带来了。现在先确认本次考察的目的。

Right. What did you have?

好的，你有什么想法？

I just put something about getting experience of the different sorts of procedures used on a field trip.

我只是了解了一些以前考察的不同程序。

But we need something about what causes different organisms to choose particular habitats.

但是我们需要了解什么原因导致不同生物选择独特栖息地。

I agree. And something about finding out how to protect organisms in danger of dying out?

我同意，我们也要了解如何防止它们濒临灭绝。

In our aims? But we weren't really looking at that.

这是我们本次考察的目的吗？但是我们之前没往这方面研究。

I suppose not. OK, now there's the list of equipment we all had to bring on the field trip.

我不这么认为。好了，这是我们本次考察要带的设备名单，

What did they tell us to bring a ruler for?

他们说带尺子是要做什么来的？

It was something about measuring the slope of the shore,

用来测量海岸斜度。

but of course we didn't need it because we were measuring wind direction, and we'd brought the compass for that ...

当然我们不需要，因为我们之前一直测量风向，我们还带了指南针……

But not the piece of string to hold up in the air! Didn't Mr Blake make a fuss about us leaving that behind? Yeah.

但是咱们不用在风中举着这根线吧？布莱克先生真的不是小题大做吗？ 呵呵，

He does go on. Anyway it was easy to get one from another of the students.

确实如此。没事，我们可以和学生借用。

Now, the next sections the procedure. I sent you the draft of that. Yeah.

嗯下面是流程问题。我给你发一下我的草案。嗯，

It was clear, but I don't think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back and

这个很清晰，但是我觉得我们就不需要这些细节了吧，比如什么时候离开，什么时候回来，

how we divided up the different research tasks. OK.

以及如何区分不同的研究任务。好吧，

I'll look at that again.

我再调整一下。

Then we have to describe our method of investigation in detail. So let's begin with how we measured wave speed.

现在我们要仔细描述一下我们的研究方法。首先描述当时我们如何测量波速的？

I was surprised how straightforward that was.

我没想到它会如此简单。

l'd expected us to have some sort of high-tech device,

我本想我们会用到一些高端仪器，

not just stand there and count the number of waves per minute. Not very precise, but I suppose it was good enough.

但事实是我们只是站在那里数一下每分钟波纹的数量而已。虽然不是很精确，但是我想这样就可以了。

But the way we measured the amount of salt was interesting. In the water from the rock pools?

而我们研究盐含量的方法就很有趣了。在池塘的水里那次？

Yeah, oh, I wanted to check the chemicals we used in the lab when we analysed those samples

对，哦，那时我还想确认那些化学元素是否是我们在实验室分析过的化学样本，

was it potassium chromate and silver nitrate? That's right.

是否是铬酸钾和硝酸银？对。

OK. And we need the map of the seashore. You just left that to me.

好，我们还需要画出海岸的地图。你当时把这个任务交给我了。

And I had to do it while the tide was low, well that was OK, but the place I started it from was down on the beach,

我测量的时候赶上了低潮，画得还行，但是绘制的地点低于海岸沿线，

then I realised I should have gone up higher to get better visibility, so I had to start all over again.

后来我又走到视野更好的高处重新绘制了一次。

But at least I'd got the squared paper or I'd have had problems drawing it all to scale. Yes.

总算最后我制作完成了草图，要不我的地图比例就有问题了。嗯，

It looks good. We could get a map of the region off the internet and see if we need to make any changes.

看起来不错。我们可以从网上下载一个地区地图来对比一下是否有需要修改的地方。

I had a look but I couldn't find anything. But you took some pictures, didn't you?

我已经查过了，但是没有找到。不过你照了一些照片，对吧？

Yeah. I'll email you them if you want.

是的。如果你需要我用邮件把照片发给你。

OK. I'll make my amendments using those, then I can scan it into our report. Great.

嗯，我用图片对比修正一下吧，然后我把它扫描加入我们的报告里。就这样！

Now when we get to our findings I thought we could divide them up into the different zones we identified on the shore

当我们有所发现时，我认为我们应该分类到海岸的不同区域，把我们鉴定过的生物

and the problems organisms face in each zone. So for the highest area ... the splash zone?

和受到威胁的生物。 对于海拔最高的地区我们命名为飞溅区对吧？

Yeah, we found mostly those tiny shellfish that have strong hard shells that act as protection.

是的，我们发现这些小型贝类生物大多拥有强硬的外壳来保护自己。

But not from other organisms that might eat them, predators?

但是并不能保护它们不被其他生物捕食对吧？

No, that's not the main danger for them. But the shells prevent them from drying out

对，但这并不是它们生存的主要威胁。这些外壳主要为了防止干燥，

because they're in the open air for most of the time. Right.

因为它们大多时间都在露天中。是的，

And since they're exposed, they need to be able to find some sort of shelter, or cover themselves up, so they don't get too hot.

一旦他们暴露在外，他们需要找到遮挡物或是把自己罩上，这样它们就不会感到太热。

Then in the middle and lower zones, nearer the sea, we need to discuss the effects of wave action ...

在中间和低阶靠海的地区，我们需要探讨一下波浪效应……

Yes, and how organisms develop structures to prevent themselves from being swept away,

是的，还要谈论生物如何进化形态保护自己免受冲走的危险，

or even destroyed by being smashed against the rocks.

甚至被岩石击碎的危险。

I haven't done anything on the geological changes. I don't know what to put for that.

我没准备关于地质变化的部分，我不知道怎么做。

No, we weren't concentrating on that. Maybe we need to find some websites.

不用，我们的重点不在此。或许我们可以从互联网中找一些材料。

Good idea. I've got the lecture notes from Mr Blake's geology course, but they're too general.

好主意，我拿到了布莱克先生的地质学讲义，但是内容有点泛泛。

But we could ask him which books on our Reading List might be most helpful.

不过我们可以让他推荐一下，书单里哪本书对我们最有用。

Right. OK, now I did a draft of the section of sources of possible error in our research, but I don't know if you agree.

好的，我写了一个草稿，关于我们研究中可能存在的问题来源分类，我不知道你是否赞同。

For example, the size of the sample, and whether it's big enough to make any general conclusions from.

比如，样品数量的多少、对于总结论它的数量是否充分。

But I thought actually we did have quite a big sample. We did.

不过我认为我们确实有非常大的样本。对。

And our general method of observation seemed quite reliable.

我们观察的通用方法看起来比较可靠。

But we might not be all that accurate as far as the actual numbers go.

但是和实际数量相比可能不是很精确。

Yeah, we might have missed some organisms - if they were hiding under a rock, for example.

是的，我们可能还遗漏了一些生物，比如它们有可能藏到了石头下面。

I wasn't sure about the way we described their habitats. I decided it was probably OK.

我不是很肯定我们对它们的栖息地表述是否准确，我想基本上是没有问题的。

Yeah, and the descriptions we gave of the smaller organisms, they weren't very detailed, but

对，还有我们对那些小型生物的描述不是很详细，但是

they were adequate in this context. I'm not sure we identified all the species correctly though.

在本次研究中已经够用了。我也不太确定我们本次鉴别的生物全部正确。

OK, we'd better mention that. Now, how ...

好吧，我们最好说一下，现在，如何……