BBC Newsround｜科学家是如何帮助珊瑚的

 How scientists are helping coral?

Now, earlier this month, we brought you the story of coral turning white in oceans all over the world. It's known as coral bleaching and happens because of rising sea temperatures. And one of the causes is climate change. A BBC wildlife documentary called Our Changing Planet has been looking at the effects this has been having on coral and meeting the people who are trying to help. Nina spoke to one of the show's presenters, Liz Bonin, to find out more.
本月初，我们为您报道了世界各地海洋中珊瑚变白的故事。这种现象被称为珊瑚白化，发生的原因是海水温度上升。其中一个原因就是气候变化。BBC的一部名为《我们星球的变化》的野生动物纪录片一直在关注气候变化对珊瑚造成的影响，并采访了试图提供帮助的人们。妮娜采访了该节目的主讲人之一莉兹·博宁，以了解更多信息。

Hey Liz, thank you so much for joining us on Newsround. First off, can you just explain what is coral and why is it so important to us? Corals are extraordinary little animals. We don't often think of them as animals, we think of these amazing multi-coloured reefs and with this sort of hard exoskeleton, this hard structure. But actually, corals are little polyps, little They're almost like little jellyfish, miniscule jellyfish that live in huge colonies and they're some of the most extraordinary animals I've ever had the pleasure to learn about.
嘿，丽兹，非常感谢你参加我们的Newsround。首先，你能解释一下什么是珊瑚，以及为什么它对我们如此重要吗？珊瑚是一种非同寻常的小动物。我们通常不认为它们是动物，我们认为它们是色彩斑斓的珊瑚礁，有着坚硬的外骨骼，这种坚硬的结构。但实际上，珊瑚是小珊瑚虫，小珊瑚虫就像小水母，微小的水母生活在巨大的群落中，它们是我有幸了解过的最奇特的动物。

When people ask me what my favourite animal is, I often say coral and they're a bit surprised but it's because they're capable of building things so much bigger and vaster than themselves. They also live in symbiosis, so in a kind of a mutually beneficial relationship with these little algae that live in their tissues. And the algae use the light to produce energy for the coral animals to survive. And in return, the corals give the algae safety.
当人们问我最喜欢的动物是什么时，我经常说珊瑚，他们有点惊讶，但这是因为它们能够建造比自己更大、更广阔的东西。它们也生活在共生关系中，因此与生活在它们组织中的这些小藻形成了一种互惠互利的关系。藻类利用光为珊瑚动物的生存提供能量。作为回报，珊瑚为藻类提供了安全保障。

The biggest threat to corals is climate change, warming oceans. When the oceans get too hot, the corals get stressed and they release those little algae that they rely on to get their energy from and they can recover them if the oceans cool again. But more and more we're seeing the oceans are staying warm for far too long. So it makes the corals stress for too long and then eventually they die and they starve.
珊瑚面临的最大威胁是气候变化和海洋变暖。当海洋变得太热时，珊瑚就会受到压力，释放出它们赖以获取能量的小藻类，如果海洋再次冷却，它们就能恢复过来。但我们越来越发现，海洋的温度持续时间太长了，这会让珊瑚承受了太长时间的压力，最终导致它们饿死。

And as part of that episode, you go out and you meet people who are doing their best to help coral. What are they doing to help? So basically, we feature all sorts of different scientists and different individuals who have come together and collaborated with others to find really novel, new, exciting solutions to the coral crisis.
作为这一集的一部分，你走出去，遇到了那些尽最大努力帮助珊瑚的人。他们正在提供什么样帮助？基本上，我们特邀了各种不同的科学家和不同的个人，他们聚集在一起，与他人合作，为珊瑚危机找到了真正新颖、新的、令人兴奋的解决方案。

Do you think all this effort is going to help? There's no question that all of these projects are giving corals a lifeline. Without them I don't think corals would have any chance of surviving and that's quite a big statement to make but the truth is we've lost over 50% of our coral reefs around the world. And we stand to lose all of them in the next 20 or 30 years. So what each of these amazing individuals, and by the way, there are more. We featured some scientists in Florida, and there's lots of people doing amazing things. Without them, I don't think I'd be as positive about the future of coral reefs.
你认为所有这些努力都会有帮助吗？毫无疑问，所有这些项目都在为珊瑚提供命脉。如果没有这些项目，我认为珊瑚将没有任何生存的机会，这个话说的很大，但事实是，我们已经失去了全世界 50%以上的珊瑚礁。在未来的二三十年里，我们将失去所有的珊瑚礁。所以，这些了不起的人，顺便说一句，还有更多。我们介绍了佛罗里达州的一些科学家，还有很多人在做着了不起的事情。如果没有他们，我想我不会对珊瑚礁的未来如此乐观。

Lovely to hear from Liz, and to know more, the special episode of Our Change in Planet about coral is available on the BBC iPlayer.
很高兴听到利兹的发言，想要了解更多，关于珊瑚的《我们星球的变化》特别集可以在BBC iPlayer上观看。

词汇表
coral bleaching  珊瑚白化：指珊瑚礁因为压力而失去共生藻类而导致颜色褪色的现象。
multi-coloured reefs  色彩斑斓的珊瑚礁
exoskeleton（昆虫和甲壳纲等动物的）外骨骼
polyp （水螅型）珊瑚虫，息肉
jellyfish 水母，海蜇
colony 群体，群落；聚居地
symbiosis （动物或植物间的）共生
mutually beneficial relationship 互惠互利关系
algae 藻类，海藻
feature 特邀，以……为特色，起重要作用
novel 新颖的，独创的
lifeline 命脉，生命线，救生索
stand to lose 面临损失，可能失掉

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