纪录片《侏罗纪之谜》 第09期 陆地板块分裂

Because until Argentina scientists had so few facts all they had to go on were their theories,

因为在此之前，科学家们只有很少一些资料能证明他们的假设

but all these theories did have one thing in common:

但是所有这些假设都有一个共同点

they all had something to do with one of the most extraordinary events ever to have happened in the Earth's history,

它们都与地球史上发生过的一次最重大的事件有关

because back at the time of the early dinosaurs¹, the Earth was a very different place to today.

因为在早期恐龙的时代，地球的面貌与今天截然不同

You see at the beginning of the Jurassic what we had was all the land masses,

在侏罗纪初期，所有陆地板块

all the continents lumped² together in one giant super-continent that was then surrounded by just one giant ocean.

所有大陆都连在一起，形成一块巨大的超大陆，当时它被一整片泛大洋包围

This super-continent was the world of the early dinosaurs, but forces deep within the Earth were already at work.

这块超大陆是早期恐龙的生存地，不过地球内部的巨大力量正在发挥作用

During the Jurassic this continent started to break apart.

这块大陆于侏罗纪开始分裂

This was the birth of the world we know today.

我们今天熟知的世界诞生了

It was such a huge event, scientists instinctively³ felt it had to have some effect on the evolution⁴ of the dinosaurs.

这是一次重大事件，科学家们从直觉上认为它可能影响到恐龙的进化

Well this break-up of the super-continent probably had to do something with the diversification⁵ of the dinosaurs,

这次超大陆的分裂很可能导致了恐龙的多样化

but what it was that is what we're trying to find out.

但到底是怎么回事，这就是我们要研究的。

1 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 lumped   

v.结成块( lump的过去式和过去分词 )；把…归并在一起（考虑），将人[物]同等对待[分类]；集总

参考例句：

• We've lumped all the top students in single class. 我们把所有优等生都编在一个班里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two questions should not be lumped together. 这是两个问题，不能往一块儿扯。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 evolution   

n.进展，发展，演变，进化

参考例句：

• A cultural and social evolution now becomes rapid.现在文化和社会发展很快。
• It has passed through an interesting procedure of evolution.它经过了一个有趣的进化过程。

5 diversification   

n.变化，多样化；多种经营

参考例句：

• The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
• Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句