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They can grow more than two metres long and weigh as much as three men. But the giant tortoises of ice age North America were even larger. Florida does have tortoises today, but on a much smaller scale. This is the gopher tortoise.
他們能夠長到3米長，重量可與3個成年人的體重相當。但是在冰河時代的北美洲，巨型陸龜體型甚至更加巨大。佛羅里達現在也有烏龜，但是他們的體型很小。這就是穴居沙龜。
Tortoises are cold-blooded animals. They rely on external temperature to keep themselves warm. Although Florida is plenty warm enough for much of the year, during the winter months, it can get cold. So to survive the winter, gopher tortoises must burrow and hibernate underground. The colder it gets, the deeper into their burrow they go.
烏龜是冷血動物。他們依靠外部溫度保持自身溫暖。盡管佛羅里達一年中的大部分時節都溫暖如春，但是在冬天的幾個月里，氣溫還是十分寒冷。因此，為了撐過寒冬，穴居沙龜必須在地下挖掘洞穴來進行冬眠。天氣越寒冷，他們挖掘的洞穴越深。
Giant tortoises, however, can't burrow. And they sleep above ground. They need relatively warm temperatures all year round. The fact they were in Florida during the ice age means that paradoxically the climate must have been more stable and even milder than it is today. So we know something of the climate, but what about the vegetation and the landscape. How did that look 13,000 years ago?
然而，巨型陸龜卻沒有挖掘的技能。他們在地上冬眠。他們一年都需要相對溫暖的氣溫。這看起來與現實相駁，而事實上，他們可以在冰河時代的佛羅里達生存正意味著那時的氣溫一定比今天更加穩定，更加溫和。因此我們可以推測出當時佛羅里達的氣候，但是13000年前的植被以及地貌又是什么樣子呢？
Today Florida is one of the wettest parts of the continent, especially the vast swampy area known as the Everglades. Flooded grasslands stretches as far as the eye can see.
如今，佛羅里達是北美洲濕度最高的地區之一，尤其是像佛羅里達大沼澤這樣的一篇巨大的沼澤地。人們的視線內遍布著在侵泡在水中的草地。
英文文本來自普特英語，譯文屬可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可不得轉載.
