▶ Your Answer :
The
reading passage and the lecture are both about the reason of the whale
stranding. The author of the reading mentions mainly three reasons why the
whales are stranded, whereas the lecturer casts doubts on the author’s opinion.
First of
all, according to the reading, the first reason of the whale stranding is the
wind patterns. The author says that because winds from south and west push
water including the food source to the northeast part of Australia, the whales
follow the ocean stream until near shore to have food, which causes stranding
when the tide goes out. The lecturer, however, argues that this reason is
inaccurate, because the whale stranding happens around the world, not in the
specific region. The stranded whale can be everywhere which has a variety of
wind pattern.
Secondly,
the author points out that the whales can be stranded due to illness. The
whales which are suffering from the disease are too weak to swim, so they are
pushed to shore by waves. In addition to this, marine biologists have noticed
that many stranded whales were already dead. The lecturer, on the other hand,
claims that perfectly healthy whales can also be stranded, which means many
whales have enough power to go back into the ocean if someone just pushes back them a little. Also, she argues that if most
of the stranded whales have already died, the body should be washed back to the
ocean.
Lastly,
the author states that the geological character of certain coastlines can make
whales confused about the direction, because they cannot reflect the whales’
sonar signal well. Therefore, the whales lost their way and swim too close to
shore. The lecturer challenges this by explaining that some whales still do not
have any problem to figure out the geological formations of the coast, though
all whales use the same sonar beam system. |