纪录片《南太平洋》 第138期 奇异岛屿（14）

Unlike mammals, tuatara live life in the slow lane.

不像哺乳动物 楔齿蜥的生命是生存在一个缓慢的通道中

Days can pass when they barely move a muscle...sometimes taking just one breath an hour.

数天过去了它们只不过动了一下肌肉...有时1小时才呼吸一次

They feed on wetas, beetles¹ and other invertebrates²...

它们以沙螽 甲虫或其它无脊椎动物为食

but don't appear very good at catching³ them.

但显得很不擅长捕捉它们

Even after millions of years of practice, eye-mouth co-ordination is not what it could be.

即使练习了数百万年之后，眼嘴协调不是它们能做到的

"Survival of the fittest" just doesn't seem to apply here.

"适者生存"似乎并不适合这

The tuatara's survival, first on New Zealand, now on Stephens Island,

楔齿蜥的生存首先在新西兰 现在在斯蒂芬岛

proves a point...islands are pretty safe places to be, at least until invaded.

证明了一点...岛屿是相当安全的地方，至少没有干扰

Fortunately for the Stephens Island tuatara, it did survive a brief mammal invasion.

斯蒂芬岛的楔齿蜥是幸运的，从哺乳动物短暂入侵中生存下来

But for some of the other wildlife here, the invasion was rather more...catastrophic.

但对于一些其它的野生动物来说，入侵是更多的是...灾难的

The island had been uninhabited and largely ignored,

岛屿杳无人迹多半是自生自灭

but that all changed with the construction of this lighthouse back in 1894.

但自1894年有了灯塔后一切都改变了

When the newly installed keeper, a Mr Lyall, found an unusual wren⁴ on the island,

新近设备维护员莱奥先生，在岛上发现一种珍稀的鹪鹩

he sent a specimen⁵ to London for identification. Like many island birds, it was flightless.

他送了一个样本到伦敦作鉴定。像多数岛屿鸟类 它是不会飞的

And perhaps that's why it wasn't Mr Lyall who first discovered the bird,

或许这就是为什么不是莱奥先生 首次发现这种鸟

but his four-legged companion.

而是他的四足伙伴

1 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 invertebrates   

n.无脊椎动物( invertebrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Insects and worms are all invertebrates. 昆虫和蠕虫都是无脊椎动物。 来自辞典例句
• In the earthworm and many other invertebrates, these excretory structures are called nephridia. 在蚯蚓和许多其它无脊椎动物中，这些排泄结构称为肾管。 来自辞典例句

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 wren   

n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员

参考例句：

• A wren is a kind of short-winged songbird.鹪鹩是一种短翼的鸣禽。
• My bird guide confirmed that a Carolina wren had discovered the thickets near my house.我掌握的鸟类知识使我确信，一只卡罗莱纳州鹪鹩已经发现了我家的这个灌木丛。

5 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。