地球上的昔日生命
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The Past Life of the Earth
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第1段
It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved, for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial, and it is only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes, where mud and silt have been continuously deposited, that bodies and the like can be rapidly covered over and preserved.
生活在水中或水域附近的动植物，其遗骸最有可能保存下来，因为保存的一个必要条件是迅速掩埋。所以只有在泥沙不停淤积的海河湖泊里，尸体之类的东西才可能被迅速地覆盖从而得以保存下来。
第2段
But even in the most favourable circumstances only a small fraction of the creatures that die are preserved in this way before decay sets in or, even more likely, before scavengers eat them. After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else, whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive, and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided. The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved, for there is seldom anything to cover them over. When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying about, not to mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads. They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.
即使是在最有利的环境下，死去的生物中也只有一小部分能抢在开始腐烂前，或更可能是在被食腐动物吃掉之前，被迅速覆盖而保存下来。毕竟，一切生物都以其它东西而生存，不管这种东西是植物还是动物，是死是活。因此，生物偶尔才能避免被吃掉的命运。陆生动植物的遗体罕有保存下来的，因为陆地上几乎没有可以覆盖它们的东西。 你一想到天上有无数飞来飞去的鸟，更不用说地上有无数不显眼的老鼠和田鼠之类的小动物，但是，除非在路上（被撞死的），很少有人遇到这些动物的尸体。它们腐败之后很快就随雨打风吹去，或被其它生物吃掉了。
第3段
It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse, like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator. This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition. In his mouth were the remains of fir trees— the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back. The mammoth has now been restored in the Paleontological Museum in St. Petersburg. Other animals were trapped in tar pits, like the elephants, sabre-toothed cats, and numerous other creatures that are found at Rancho la Brea, which is now just a suburb of Los Angeles. Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits, and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink, and were promptly bogged in the tar. And then, when they were dead, the carnivores, like the sabre-toothed cats and the giant wolves, came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate. There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.
几乎总是由于某些特殊的情况，陆生动物的遗体才得以保存，比如掉进难以进入的洞穴，或掉进冰河裂缝里。就像西伯利亚长毛象，有时动物像被放在冰箱里一样被完整地保存了下来。著名的别林索夫卡长毛象就是这样被保存下来的，而且保存得很好。它嘴里还残留着冷杉树——它掉进冰河裂缝摔折脊椎之前的最后一餐。这头长毛象现已转存于圣彼得堡古生物学博物馆。 有的动物困在天然沥清坑里被保存下来，如在兰桥·拉·布里—— 现在是洛杉矶的郊区 ——发现的大象、剑齿虎和许多其他动物。 显然，事情的经过是这样：沥青坑里积存了水，大象那样的大动物冒险到似乎坚固的沥青表面上去饮水，然后当场被沥青坑所缠住。 大象死后，一些食肉动物，如剑齿虎和大灰狼就来吃大象，结果遭到了同样的命运。沥青坑里那些数不清多少只的鸟儿，也遭受了同样的命运。
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