第26课

旁白 neutral

It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved,

生活在水里或水边的动植物遗骸最有可能被保存下来，

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for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial,

因为保存的必要条件之一是快速掩埋，

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and it is only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes,

而只有在海洋、河流以及有时湖泊中，

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where mud and silt have been continuously deposited,

泥沙不断沉积的地方，

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that bodies and the like can be rapidly covered over and preserved.

尸体和类似的东西才能迅速被覆盖并保存下来。

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But even in the most favourable circumstances

但即使在最有利的条件下，

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only a small fraction of the creatures that die are preserved in this way

只有一小部分死去的生物能以这种方式保存下来，

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before decay sets in or, even more likely, before scavengers eat them.

在腐烂发生之前，或者更有可能，在食腐动物吃掉它们之前。

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After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else,

毕竟，所有生物都靠捕食其他生物而生，

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whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive,

无论是植物还是动物，死的还是活的，

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and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided.

只有偶然才能避免这种命运。

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The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved,

生活在陆地上的动植物遗骸保存下来的情况要少得多，

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for there is seldom anything to cover them over.

因为很少有什么东西能覆盖它们。

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When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying about,

当你想到无数飞来飞去的鸟儿，

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not to mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see,

更不用说你看不见的同样多的像田鼠和田鼠这样的小动物，

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it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads.

你很少会碰到一具尸体，当然除了在路上。

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They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.

它们会分解，很快被天气破坏或被其他生物吃掉。

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It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive,

陆地动物的痕迹几乎总是由于某些非常特殊的情况而得以幸存，

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as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse,

比如掉进难以进入的洞穴，或者掉进冰裂缝，

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like the Siberian mammoths,

就像西伯利亚猛犸象一样，

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when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator.

有时整个动物都被保存下来，就像放在冰箱里一样。

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This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition.

著名的别列佐夫卡猛犸象就是这样，它被发现时保存完好。

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In his mouth were the remains of fir trees--the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back.

它的嘴里有杉树的残骸——这是它掉进裂缝摔断背之前的最后一餐。

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The mammoth has now been restored in the Palaeontological Museum in St.Petersburg.

这头猛犸象现已在圣彼得堡的古生物博物馆修复。

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Other animals were trapped in tar pits, like the elephants, sabre-toothed cats,

其他动物被困在沥青坑里，比如大象、剑齿虎，

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and numerous other creatures that are found at Rancho la Brea, which is now just a suburb of Los Angeles.

以及在拉布雷亚牧场发现的无数其他生物，那里现在只是洛杉矶的一个郊区。

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Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits

显然，这些沥青坑上积水了，

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and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink,

像大象这样的大型动物冒险走到看似坚实的表面去饮水，

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and were promptly bogged in the tar.

随即被困在沥青中。

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And then, when they were dead, the carnivores,

然后，当它们死去后，食肉动物，

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like the sabretoothed cats and the giant wolves,

比如剑齿虎和巨型狼，

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came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate.

出来捕食，也遭受了同样的命运。

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There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.

沥青中也有无数的鸟类。