纪录片《南太平洋》 第137期 奇异岛屿（13）

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the mammals have finally arrived in force. Australian possums.

聪明能干，哺乳动物最终大规模到达了。澳洲袋貂

Imported for their fur two centuries ago,

200年前它们的皮毛被进口

they soon reached plague proportions, stripping trees of their vegetation.

不久就带来了鼠疫，毁坏了草木

A war is being waged against them...traps set and poison scattered¹.

一场对它们发动的战争...陷阱装置和散布的毒物

And yet they are now far more numerous than the kakapo ever were.

可是它们的数量远远超过鸮鹉的数量

A staggering 70 million possums overrun New Zealand's forests.

难以置信得超过7千万只袋貂 散布在新西兰的森林里

Where a bird failed, a mammal has succeeded. But why? The possums were unwitting immigrants,

鸟失败了 哺乳动物嬴了。为什么？袋貂是不知情的移民

while the kakapo have lived here for millennia²...perfectly³ adapted to this forest.

鸮鹉生活在这里已数千年...完美地适应了这里的森林

It's an irony⁴ that is by no means unique to the kakapo and the possum.

具有讽刺的是这里并不仅有鸮鹉和袋貂

Right across the Pacific, similar scenes have been unfolding.

横过太平洋 类似的场景依然在演化着

Tiny islands off the coast of New Zealand

新西兰海岸外的小岛

are the last refuge for a host of animals now vanished from the two main islands.

是一大群动物最后的避难所 它们如今在两个主岛上已经消失了

This is Stephens Island...one square mile of rock protruding⁵ from the ocean.

这是斯蒂芬岛...是从海上突出的一平方英哩的岩石

It's home to a living fossil, a relict, barely changed for over 100 million years.

它是一位活化石的家，一位残遗体 1亿年来几乎没有改变过

The tuatara. And half the world's population survive on this one island refuge.

楔齿蜥。全球一半的数量生存在这个岛屿庇护所

During the reign⁶ of the dinosaurs⁷, the ancestors of the tuatara were everywhere.

在恐龙统治时期，楔齿蜥的祖先无处不在

They survived the cataclysm⁸ that killed off the dinosaurs,

它们从恐龙灭绝的剧变时代中存活下来

but then couldn't compete with the mammals and died out...everywhere,

却无法与哺乳动物相抗争，灭绝了...无论何处

except on what was then a mammal-free New Zealand.

除了不受哺乳动物影响的新西兰

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

5 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

6 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

7 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 cataclysm   

n.洪水，剧变，大灾难

参考例句：

• The extinct volcano's eruption would mean a cataclysm for the city.死火山又重新喷发，对这座城市来说意味着大难临头。
• The cataclysm flooded the entire valley.洪水淹没了整个山谷。