纪录片《地球劫难日》 第02期 卡鲁盆地（在线收听）

The Karroo Basin in South Africa.

南非的卡鲁盆地。

A region of hunting and inhospitable beauty.

一片神秘莫测与荒凉凄美的土地。

This is an area where little grows and man and beast struggle to survive.

植物和动物以及人类只能在此挣扎求生。

But it hasn't always been like this.

但它以前并不是这样。

Almost 300 million years ago, during what scientists called the Permian period, it was an oasis.

大约是在3亿年前，也就是科学家们称为二叠纪的时代，它还是一块绿洲。

The scene would have been low-lying plains, perhaps with mountains in the distance meandering rivers,

当时的景象应该是一片低洼平原，远处环绕着群山，近处有蜿蜒的河流，

lots of plants around the sides of those rivers low plants like ferns and so on

河岸边植被葱郁，生长着像蕨类植物这样的低矮植物，

and then in the background some trees of very unusual type.

背景则是许多千奇百怪的树木。

This was a time millions of years before the dinosaurs when strange and half forgotten creatures walked the earth.

这是一个比恐龙还要早亿万年的时期，统治地球的是一些几乎被遗忘的奇特生物。

They were called thorapsids half mammal, half reptile.

它们叫做兽孔类，兼具哺乳类和爬行类的特征。

The first creatures ever to fullly conquer life on land.

是第一类完全称霸陆地的动物。