Great White Shark
食人大白鲨

Great white sharks occur in a wide range of sizes, but average 4.3 to 5.5 m (14-18 ft.) and roughly 680 to 1,800 kg (1,500-4,000 lb.). The largest great white ever documented, caught off the coast of Cuba, measured 6.4 m (21 ft). Although it is not the largest of all sharks, the great white is the largest predatory shark. Some relatively harmless sharks, like the whale shark, are much larger than the great white.

*occur：存在，出现。例如，Fish occur in most waters. 大部分水域中都有鱼。另有一个常用的意思是“发生”，尤其是指未计划的事件。比如当听说某地发生了地震你会问“When did the earthquake occur?”并且说“I hope this won't occur again.” *documented：原形是document，在这里是动词，意为“用证件证明，支持”。比如“That's a very interesting claim, but can you document it?”一般document还是用作名词“文件”讲，如“official documents”，即“官方文件”。
*predatory：食肉的。大白鲨虽然不是鲨鱼中体积最庞大的，但它却是最大的食肉鲨。 *whale shark：鲸鲨。它要比大白鲨大得多，但是基本上没什么攻击性。

Great white sharks inhabit temperate waters worldwide, primarily along coastlines. Though not abundant, they are most frequently sighted off the coasts of the United States, Australia, and South Africa.

*inhabit：居住于，栖居于。大白鲨主要栖居在沿海一带温和的水域(temperate waters)中。
*abundant：大量的。大白鲨的数量并不是很多，但在美澳与南非沿海常能看到。

Scientists can easily identify the teeth of a great white shark. The upper teeth are large, broad, and triangular, while the lower teeth are slightly more slender. All the teeth are serrated. Like other sharks, a great white continually looses its teeth and replaces them with new ones.

*triangular：三角(形)的，其名词是triangle。 生活中常会有triangular love affair, 这种“三角恋爱”可不要轻易尝试噢！
*serrated：这是个形容词，意思是“锯齿状的”。 有了这样锋利的牙齿，大白鲨的杀伤力当然就很大了。

Though great white attacks on humans are well documented, they are generally rare. Recent studies suggest that great whites may find humans unpalatable. Attacks probably occur when a shark mistakes a human for a seal or sea lion, the great white's principal prey.

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*unpalatable：味道差的。研究认为，大白鲨不太攻击人类是因为它觉得人吃起来并不“美味”。这里有个词前缀“-un”，表示“不，非，相反，对立”。
*mistake sth./sb. for sth./sb.：这个词组意思是“把……误认为是……”。文中说大白鲨之所以攻击人，是因为它把人误认为是海豹或海狮，这两种动物才是它的主要猎物（principal prey）。

Great whites are often caught intentionally by fishermen, or incidentally as bycatch. All sharks play an important role in ocean ecosystems; without them, some animal populations would increase tremendously, adversely affecting marine food chains. One way to help conserve sharks is to learn more about them.

*bycatch：副渔获物。这里“by-”是一个词缀，指“次要的，附带的”。比如byproduct就是“副产品”。
*adversely：相反地。所有的鲨鱼都在海洋生态系统中起重要作用。如果没有鲨鱼，一些动物数量会激增，相反会影响海洋食物链（marine food chains）。

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