纪录片《南太平洋》 第09期 大洋小岛（09）

Imagine each island as a castle,

把岛屿想象为一座城堡

and the ocean a giant moat stretching to the horizon in every direction,

海洋就是一直延伸到遥远地平线的巨大的护城河

and you have captured the essence of their isolation¹.

你就可以体会到其与世隔绝的本质

It's a wonder how any life reached these islands at all.

任何能够抵达这座岛屿的生命都是一个奇迹

But no matter how remote or small an island is,

但无论岛屿多么偏远或者微小

animals have somehow conquered the massive ocean barrier to reach these specks² of land.

动物们总有办法克服广阔海洋的障碍，抵达这里

For the lucky few that made it, South Pacific islands provided great opportunities.

对于少数幸运者而言，南太平洋群岛提供了很多生存机遇

Once here, they had the freedom to be different.

一旦来到这里，它们便享有进化的自由

Crabs³ may not seem unusual, but there's one kind here that's like no other.

螃蟹看似普通，但这里有一种螃蟹与众不同

On this little island in Vanuatu lives a real oddity.

在瓦努阿图的梅托马岛上生活着一种怪物

It's the largest terrestrial invertebrate⁴ on Earth.

这是地球上最大的陆栖无脊椎动物

1 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

2 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

3 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 invertebrate   

n.无脊椎动物

参考例句：

• Half of all invertebrate species live in tropical rain forests.一半的无脊椎动物物种生活在热带雨林中。
• Worms are an example of invertebrate animals.蠕虫是无脊椎动物的一个例子。