纪录片《非洲》 第67期:撒哈拉沙漠（8）

搜索

复制

This is the White Desert, in Egypt.

眼前是埃及境内的白沙漠

The landscape is littered with giant chalk pillars,

此处遍布着巨大的柱形白垩

carved by innumerable sandstorms.

是由长期的风沙侵蚀而成

This glaring white oven is lethally¹ hot.

这些耀眼的白岩石极其炙热

Food here is almost non-existent.

在这里根本无法找到食物

But there's a rare gift from a passing camel.

但路过此处的骆驼会留下珍贵的小礼物

The smell has lured² dung beetles⁴ from miles around.

粪便的气味能够引来数英里外的蜣螂

For them, this is manna from heaven.

对他们来说 这就是天上掉下的馅饼

One dung ball could provide enough food

一个粪球足以供这只雌蜣螂

to last this female beetle³ the rest of her life.

享用一辈子了

But she has a problem.

但她面临一个问题

To keep it fresh,

为了保持粪便的新鲜

she must bury it in moist ground.

她必须把粪球埋入潮湿的土壤中

And that's not easy to find.

那可不容易找到

The temperature has already risen ten degrees.

此时 温度已上升了10度

This lizard⁵ avoids the roasting sand.

这只蜥蜴逃离了炽热的沙地

Only 30 centimetres above the surface,

虽然离地面只有30厘米

it's significantly cooler.

但已经凉快多了

1 lethally   

adv.致命地；危害地；极具威胁地

参考例句：

• AMERICANS do it guiltily, Russians casually, Africans lethally and the French habitually. 通奸这种事美国人做起来满怀内疚，俄国人非常随便，非洲人相当致命，法国人习以为常。 来自互联网
• The concentration of salt in her blood was found to be lethally low. 人们发现她血液中的盐浓度很低，是致命的原因。 来自互联网

2 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

3 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

4 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》

5 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。