People in a community on the Pacific coast in Southern California awoke last week to a sea of dead fish.
上周，南加州太平洋沿岸地区的居民一觉醒来就发现海边成了死鱼的海洋。

About 850 sailboats and powerboats come and go from the marina at King Harbor in the city of Redondo Beach.
在雷东多海滩国王港码头，大约有850艘帆船和机动船停泊过往，

But the sardines that swam into the marina never swam out.
但这些沙丁鱼游进这个海港之后就再没能游出去。

Estimates put the number of dead fish in the millions.
估计死鱼数量有数百万条之巨。

Local resident John Archibald described the smell this way.
当地居民约翰·阿奇柏德这样描述死鱼的气味。

Not bad.
不算坏吧。

But I would not be ordering any pizzas around here lately.
但我近期不会在这附近订披萨了。

Reporter Pete Demetriou from KNX Newsradio in Los Angeles also spoke to another man who has lived in the area for 26 years.
洛杉矶KNX新闻广播台记者皮特·德梅特采访了一位在当地居住了26年的居民。

The die-off was as bad as I've ever seen, but they cleaned up pretty quick, so there's not too much smell.
这是我所见过的最严重的死鱼事件，但他们很快就清理干净了，所以没有太多的异味。

Well, you've got a few fish on the top here but they're concerned that a lot of it may still be down there on the bottom.
嗯，你们已经清理了一些浮在上面的死鱼，但人们担心水底下可能还有很多死鱼。

What do you do, do you try to clean it up or let it just basically decompose?
你们会怎么做？会设法把它们清理掉还是任其自然分解？”

No, you just let it go.
不，不用去管它。

The crabs will get it.
螃蟹会帮我们解决。

He remembered that about five years ago there was another serious kill-off of fish in King Harbor.
他记得大约在5年前，国王港也曾发生过一次严重的死鱼事件。

It was caused by a harmful algae bloom, a so-called red tide of microscopic organisms that spread from time to time.
那次是由赤潮所引起的，所谓赤潮是指一种时不时发生的有害微生物大量繁殖的现象。

But this time scientists found no toxic algae in King Harbor, so it was a mystery.
但科学家们这次并没有在国王港发现有毒的藻类，因此，这是个神秘事件。

On Friday a scientist at the University of Southern California released findings of continuing research in his laboratory.
周五，南加州大学科学家戴维·卡隆公布了他在实验室反复研究的结果。

Professor David Caron said fish collected on March 8th, the day of the kill, tested "strongly positive" for domoic acid in their stomach contents.
戴维教授说，他对3月8日（即发生死亡事件当天）采集到的死鱼进行了检测，结果显示，死鱼腹中残留物呈软骨藻酸“强阳性”。

Domoic acid is a powerful neurotoxin produced by one kind of microalgae.
软骨藻酸是由一种微藻产生的强神经毒素。

Fish such as sardines and anchovy can get poisoned when they eat plankton that have eaten the algae.
如果沙丁鱼和鳀鱼等鱼类吞食了吃过这种微藻的浮游生物就会中毒。

Researchers from USC confirmed that plankton collected about 20 kilometers southwest of Redondo Beach the next day had very high levels of domoic acid.
加州大学的科研人员证实，次日从雷东多海滩西南部大约20公里处采集到的浮游生物体内含有浓度很高的软骨藻酸。

This would support a theory that the fish became poisoned in coastal waters before entering the harbor.
这将支持一种说法，即鱼群在进入国王港之前就已经在近海水域里中毒。

High levels of domoic acid in the sardines may have worsened the effects of oxygen loss in the water as the fish crowded into a limited space.
当那些沙丁鱼挤进一个有限的空间时，其体内高浓度的软骨藻酸可能造成水中缺氧情况恶化。

Or the domoic acid may help explain why they entered the marina.
软骨藻酸或许可以帮助解释它们进入这个港口的原因。

Professor Caron said research shows that domoic acid poisoning can cause abnormal swimming in some kinds of fish.
卡隆教授称，研究显示，软骨藻酸中毒会导致某些种类的鱼异常游动。

Harmful algae blooms are a common cause of fish kills.
有害藻类大量繁殖是导致鱼群死亡的常见原因。

Domoic acid can also cause neurological disorders and death in animals that eat fish poisoned with the neurotoxin.
如果动物吃了因软骨藻酸神经毒素中毒的鱼，也会导致神经紊乱和死亡。