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It's a familiar sight: you're driving along one of those long, dry stretches of highway in any of the southwestern states, and you keep coming across snakes that have been run over by cars. Why should snakes have worse luck with cars than any other desert animal does?
很熟悉的一幕：當你駕車在西南各州沿著其中一條又長又干燥的高速公路行駛時，你會不斷遇到被汽車碾壓過的蛇。為什么蛇比其它野生動物更加不幸得成為了車輪的犧牲品呢？
One reason is that snakes are cold-blooded—that is, their body temperature isn't maintained internally the way ours is, but fluctuates with the temperature of their environment.
原因之一是蛇是冷血動物，這就意味著它的體溫不會像人類一樣保持恒溫，而是隨著環境的溫度變化而變化。
If you are cold-blooded and you live in the desert, you will find yourself getting very chilly at night, because sandy terrain does not hold heat very long after sunset. To get around this, snakes will often "bask" on warm rocks; and they also seek hot places to help aid in their digestion. This, in fact, is true of any snake, no matter what part of the country you find them in.
如果你是冷血動物，并且也住在荒漠，你會發現夜晚你的身體變得異常冰冷。因為日落后沙地不會長時間保持熱度。為了解決這個問題，蛇類經常在溫暖的巖石上“曬太陽”；它們也會尋找炎熱的地方幫助消化。實際上任何蛇都是這樣，不論是在國內哪個地方，都能找見它們。
The deserts just make a particularly clear case exactly because they do get cold so fast at night, and snakes can't hide out in wooded or grassy areas. Now you can probably see the problem that comes when human beings enter into the picture. When we move into deserts, we build those long roads out of asphalt and other materials that retain heat long after the sun has gone down. Desert snakes come out to bask away the cold hours on these convenient stretches of warmth. And, well...that turns out to be a mistake.
沙漠讓情形變得更加特殊，因為在夜里蛇的體溫降低過快，而且不能藏在樹林或者草地里。現在你能想象到當人類進入荒漠會引起什么麻煩。人類進入荒漠，用瀝青和其它可以在日落后長久保溫的材料鋪路。荒漠里的蛇跑出來在這塊溫暖的樂土上消磨寒冷的時光。然而，事實證明這是錯誤的選擇。
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