纪录片《侏罗纪之谜》 第09期 陆地板块分裂（在线收听）

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 dinosaurs, 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 lumped 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 instinctively felt it had to have some effect on the evolution 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 diversification 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。