評論
打印
Located in the North Atlantic, Iceland consists of over thirty active volcanic systems, few other places give such an insight into how our planet was formed.
冰島地處大西洋北部，境內(nèi)分布著超過三十處活火山山系，很少有其它地方能比這里更直觀地反映我們的星球形成時的情景。
Iceland is part of the mid Atlantic ridge - one of the most volcanic places on the planet.
冰島是大西洋中脊的一部分，而大西洋中脊則是全球火山頻發(fā)的地區(qū)之一。
It marks the boundary between two of the earth's crust's biggest plates - the North American and Eurasian plates have been pulled apart for over one hundred million years by the tectonic forces below.
它劃分著地球地殼中最大的兩個板塊的邊界線，也就是北美板塊和亞歐板塊，它們已被地殼下的構(gòu)造作用力分離了超過一億年之久。
This movement has created an almost fifteen-thousand-kilometer-long tear in the earth crust, causing the magma to hemorrhage from below in the relentless lava flow.
這場地質(zhì)運動在地球地殼上形成了幾乎長達一萬五千公里的斷裂帶，導致巖漿從底部溢出，從而形成不間斷的熔巖流。
As it cools, new land is born.
熔巖冷卻后，新的島嶼出現(xiàn)了。
This has created the world's longest mountain range under the ocean, averaging over three kilometers high and a thousand kilometers wide.
這也造就了世界上最長的海底山脈，這些山系的平均高度達到三公里，平均寬度達到一千公里。
And just twenty million years ago, the mountains rose from the waves and Iceland was born.
而就在兩千萬年以前，這里的山系抬升至海面之上，冰島由此誕生。
Although Iceland has a heart of fire, eleven percent of its surface is covered by glaciers.
盡管冰島的根基實為烈火鑄就，百分之十一的表面積卻被冰川覆蓋。
Vast rivers of ice continually carve out the island's evolving landscape.
廣闊的冰河不斷刻劃并改變著這座島嶼的地貌。
Despite Iceland's high latitude on the edge of the Arctic circle, its coastal waters do not completely freeze thanks to the warmer Atlantic Gulf Stream, a system of thermal currents a few degrees warmer than the surrounding waters.
盡管冰島位于北極圈邊緣的高緯度地區(qū)，它的周邊海域卻因受益于北大西洋暖流而不會完全凍結(jié)，這是一股水溫比周圍海水高出幾度的溫暖洋流系統(tǒng)。
As Iceland has only been around for mere twenty million years, relatively few native species of plants or animals have established themselves on the island.
由于冰島的形成距今僅有兩千萬年，因此能在島上安家落戶的本地種類的動植物相對較少。
In fact, there's only one native land mammal - the Arctic fox.
實際上，這里只有一種本地陸上哺乳動物-北極狐。
The Arctic foxes crossed over to Iceland during the last Ice Age, the last time the oceans here froze longenough.
北極狐是在上一次冰河時期越洋遷徙到冰島的，那是這片大洋最后一次長時間的冰封。
Having been isolated on this volcanic island for ten thousand years the Icelandic Arctic fox has been forced to adapt.
由于已經(jīng)在這座火山島上與世隔絕了上萬年時間，冰島北極狐被迫學會如何適應這里的環(huán)境。
Seabirds like these fulmars nest on Icelandic sheer cliff to avoid predators, but for the foxes, where there's a will, there's a way.
像這些管鼻鹱之類的海鳥把鳥巢筑在冰島陡峭的懸崖上躲避捕食者，但對北極狐來說，只要它想做到，就自有辦法。
Elsewhere in the Arctic, lemmings make up over ninety percent of the fox's diet. But there are no lemmingson Iceland.
在北極其它地區(qū)，旅鼠占了北極狐獵物的百分之九十以上，但在冰島是沒有旅鼠的。
The fulmars have one other weapon in their armory.
管鼻鹱在防衛(wèi)方面還有另一種武器。
When attacked, they spit a fowl smelling oil from their gut, and they can fire it up to two meters.
遇到攻擊時，它們會噴出一種內(nèi)臟分泌的惡臭的粘液，而它們能足足噴射兩米遠。
To avoid the noxious yellow liquid, the foxes must attack from the rear.
為了躲避這種黃色有害粘液，北極狐必須從后方出擊。
