纪录片《南太平洋》 第77期 无尽深蓝（11）

As one sailor wrote,

正如一个水手写到

"Our utmost efforts, which were at first directed to kill him for prey¹,

"我们最初的想法是想杀掉鲨鱼作为食物

became, in the end, self-defence."

最终却以艰难防卫收场"

Now, more than ever, they needed the salvation² of land.

此时，他们愈发渴望回到陆地

Seabirds would have been a ray of hope.

海鸟或许可以带来一线希望

While tropic birds can survive at sea for months on end,

尽管一些热带鸟类可以在海上生存数月

others, like frigate³ birds, return to roost every night, so are a sure sign of nearby land.

但像军舰鸟等其他鸟类必须每晚回巢，因此海鸟出现预示着陆地就在附近

Guided by the sun, stars and the Earth's magnetic field,

在太阳，星星以及地球磁场的指引下

seabirds navigate⁴ over thousands of miles of featureless ocean.

海鸟可以飞越数千公里全无标示的海域

They must all return to land to breed, often on little more than dots of sand,

它们最终还是要返回陆地繁衍后代，通常只是星点小岛

which makes their navigational skills even more impressive.

这也更彰显了它们出色的导航能力。

1 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

2 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

3 frigate   

n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰

参考例句：

• An enemy frigate bore down on the sloop.一艘敌驱逐舰向这只护航舰逼过来。
• I declare we could fight frigate.我敢说我们简直可以和一艘战舰交战。

4 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。