万物简史 第500期:多灾多难的生命进程(20)

 Some animals absolutely prospered¹ — including, a little surprisingly, the turtles once again. 有的动物再次一片兴旺的景象——包括鳖，真有点儿令人感到意外。

As Flannery notes, the period immediately after the dinosaur² extinction³ could well be known as the Age of Turtles. 弗兰纳里指出，恐龙灭绝之后的时期，很可以称之为鳖时代。

Sixteen species survived in North America and three more came into existence soon after. 16个物种在北美存活下来，过不多久又出现了3个。

Clearly it helped to be at home in water. 显而易见，家住水里很有好处。

The KT impact wiped out almost 90 percent of land-based species but only 10 percent of those living in fresh water. KT撞击消灭了将近90%的陆基物种，而生活在淡水里的物种只有10%遭殃。

Water obviously offered protection against heat and flame, but also presumably provided more sustenance⁴ in the lean period that followed. 水显然起了防热和防火的作用。还可能在随后的萧条岁月里提供了食料。

All the land-based animals that survived had a habit of retreating to a safer environment during times of danger, 凡是存活下来的陆基动物，都有在危险时刻退缩到安全环境的习惯，

into water or underground — either of which would have provided considerable shelter against the ravages⁵ without. 钻进水里或地下——二者都能在相当程度上防护外面的灾难。

Animals that scavenged for a living would also have enjoyed an advantage. 靠搜寻食物来维持生命的动物也有个优势。

Lizards⁶ were, and are, largely impervious⁷ to the bacteria in rotting carcasses. 蜥蜴总的来说不受腐烂尸体里的细菌的伤害，过去如此，现在依然如此。

Indeed, often they are positively⁸ drawn⁹ to it, and for a long while there were clearly a lot of putrid¹⁰ carcasses about. 实际上，它们还往往对其怀有好感。在很长时期里，蜥蜴周围显然存在着大量腐烂的尸体。

It is often wrongly stated that only small animals survived the KT event. 经常有人提出错误的看法，认为只有小动物才挺过了KT撞击。

In fact, among the survivors¹¹ were crocodiles, which were not just large but three times larger than they are today. 实际上，在幸存者当中有鳄鱼。它们不仅很大，而且比今天的鳄鱼还大3倍。

But on the whole, it is true, most of the survivors were small and furtive¹². 不过，总的来说，没错儿，大部分幸存者是行动诡秘的小动物。

 

1 prospered   

成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Mr. Black prospered from his wise investments. 布莱克先生由于巧妙的投资赚了不少钱。

2 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

3 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

4 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

5 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

6 lizards   

n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards. 在庞培城里除了蟋蟀、甲壳虫和蜥蜴外，没有别的生物。 来自辞典例句
• Can lizards reproduce their tails? 蜥蜴的尾巴断了以后能再生吗？ 来自辞典例句

7 impervious   

adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的

参考例句：

• He was completely impervious to criticism.他对批评毫不在乎。
• This material is impervious to gases and liquids.气体和液体都透不过这种物质。

8 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 putrid   

adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的

参考例句：

• To eat putrid food is liable to get sick.吃了腐败的食物容易生病。
• A putrid smell drove us from the room.一股腐臭的气味迫使我们离开这房间。

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

12 furtive   

adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的

参考例句：

• The teacher was suspicious of the student's furtive behaviour during the exam.老师怀疑这个学生在考试时有偷偷摸摸的行为。
• His furtive behaviour aroused our suspicion.他鬼鬼祟祟的行为引起了我们的怀疑。