Searching for the Loch Ness Monster 尋找尼斯湖水怪

本集內容

學習要點

有關 “the unexplained（未知）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What kinds of environmental DNA are scientists collecting from the loch?

文字稿

It’s a mystery which endures. Just what exactly lies beneath the murky waters of Loch Ness?

這是一個由來已久的謎團。尼斯湖渾濁的湖水下究竟隱藏著什麼？

The sightings of Nessie stretch back hundreds of years – but as yet, no definitive explanation has been found. A team of scientists, led by New Zealand’s Otago University, has been testing water samples and collecting environmental DNA from all forms of life in the loch, including plants, insects, fish and mammals.

尼斯湖水怪的出現可以追溯到幾百年前，但至今仍無確切的解釋。由新西蘭奧塔哥大學牽頭的一個科學傢團隊采集分析瞭尼斯湖水樣，並收集瞭湖中生物的脫氧核糖核酸（DNA），包括植物、昆蟲、魚類和哺乳動物。

Professor Eric Verspoor, University of the Highlands and Islands
You basically take a litre or two of water and you filter it out, and in the stuff that’s filtered out will be DNA. And using that DNA, you can then sequence it. And on the basis of the sequence, identify the types of organisms that are present in the water.

埃裡克·維斯普教授高地與群島大學
“你提取一到兩升水，然後過濾，過濾掉的東西裡會有環境 DNA。用這些 DNA，可進行基因排序。根據序列，識別出水中存在的生物體類型。”

The world’s media gathered at the loch side to hear exactly what they found.

全世界的媒體都聚集在湖邊，想聽聽這項研究到底發現瞭什麼。

Professor Neil Gemmell, University of Otago
This idea of a giant, extinct reptile… Well, we didn’t find any reptilian DNA, so we don’t think that seems very plausible based on the samples and the analysis that we’ve undertaken. And we also went looking for another idea, which is a giant eel. Well, we don’t know if the eels are giant or not but we certainly found an awful lot of eel DNA. I guess, much more than I expected.

尼爾·格默爾教授奧塔哥大學
“我們沒有發現任何爬行動物的 DNA，我們認為這似乎不太可信，這是根據我們所做的樣本分析得出的結果。我們也試圖尋找一條巨型鰻魚。我們不知道湖中的鰻魚是否巨大，但我們確實發現瞭大量鰻魚 DNA。比我想象的要多。”

But one long-time Nessie hunter is unconvinced by today’s news.

但是這位長期研究尼斯湖水怪的男士並不認可這項研究的新發現。

Steve Feltham, Nessie hunter
Eels in Loch Ness? Personally, I think a 12-year-old boy could tell you that. There could be some massive eels in there – that could be the explanation. But to say ‘we have found evidence of eels’ is like saying ‘we’ve found evidence of fish in a Scottish loch’. Well done!

史蒂夫·費爾特姆 “尼斯湖水怪” 尋找者
“尼斯湖裡有鰻魚？在我看來，一個 12 歲的男孩都知道這個。尼斯湖裡可能有一些巨大的鰻魚，這可能是一種解釋。但是說 ‘我們發現瞭鰻魚存在的證據’ 就像說 ‘我們在蘇格蘭的湖泊中發現瞭魚類存在的證據’。這研究做得真好！”

The sense of mystery here at the loch, though, remains. More than 20% of the DNA found was unidentified – meaning the search for Nessie goes on.

盡管如此，尼斯湖的神秘感依然存在。此次研究發現的生物 DNA 中超過 20% 是未知的，這意味著對尼斯湖水怪的搜尋仍將繼續。