歷年六級閱讀理解逐句翻譯：2009年6月（1）
一、
For hundreds of millions of years, turtles have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings down to the waters edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead.
在數億年前的時間里，海龜一直在掙扎著離開大海道海灘上產卵，時間遠遠遭遇自然紀錄片的贊揚，或全球定位通訊衛星和海洋生物學家的追蹤，又或者志愿者們用手把幼龜放在海邊以避免它們受到光線的影響迷失方向，爬向汽車旅館的停車場。
A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines.
由官方建造的大型圍墻用于保護海龜在大西洋沿岸的主要筑巢地。
With all that attention paid to them, youd think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.
收到了各種各樣的關注后，你可能會認為這些生物至少會心懷感激，不至于走向滅亡。
But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds.
但是自然卻無視人類的公平觀念，由漁業和野生動物服務組織提供的用一份報告顯示，北大西洋的數種海龜的種群數量出現了令人擔憂的下降，特別是體重可達400磅的紅海龜。
The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana.
來自環保組織的Ocean的海洋生物學家伊麗莎白格里芬稱，數量最多的佛羅里達州南部穴居種群在過去十年里減少了50%。
The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from threatened to endangeredmeaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.
該數據促使Oceana組織向政府情愿，要求將北大西洋紅海龜的保護級別從受威脅提升至瀕危-----這意味著如果沒有外界的幫助，它們將會面臨滅絕的危險。
Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway?
這就提出了一個明顯的問題：這些海龜究竟還要我們做什么?
It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land , we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. The threat is from commercial fishing, says Griffin.
根據格里芬的說法，雖然海龜在陸上的數周時間內，我們可以很好地保護它們(包括產卵的母龜，卵和幼龜)，但是我們忽略了它們在海里的漫長時光。主要是來自商業捕撈的威脅格里芬說。
Trawlers and longline fishers take a heavy toll on turtles.
拖網漁船(在水中和海床拖行大型的漁網)和延繩釣魚船(在釣線上裝備數以千記的魚鉤，可以延伸至數英里)給海龜造成了慘重的傷亡。
Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems.
當然，就像所有當下的環保問題一樣，這也是在全球變暖和人類干預自然生態系統的背景下發生的。
The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm.
海龜產卵的狹窄沙灘一方面收到開發的壓榨，另一方面收到海洋變暖導致的海平面上升的威脅。
Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.
最終我們還要解決這些問題，否則一種比恐龍活得更久的生物將會在人類手中滅絕，讓我們的后代困惑于怎么這種丑陋的生物會贏得如此多的關愛。
一、
For hundreds of millions of years, turtles have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings down to the waters edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead.
在數億年前的時間里，海龜一直在掙扎著離開大海道海灘上產卵，時間遠遠遭遇自然紀錄片的贊揚，或全球定位通訊衛星和海洋生物學家的追蹤，又或者志愿者們用手把幼龜放在海邊以避免它們受到光線的影響迷失方向，爬向汽車旅館的停車場。
A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines.
由官方建造的大型圍墻用于保護海龜在大西洋沿岸的主要筑巢地。
With all that attention paid to them, youd think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.
收到了各種各樣的關注后，你可能會認為這些生物至少會心懷感激，不至于走向滅亡。
But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds.
但是自然卻無視人類的公平觀念，由漁業和野生動物服務組織提供的用一份報告顯示，北大西洋的數種海龜的種群數量出現了令人擔憂的下降，特別是體重可達400磅的紅海龜。
The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana.
來自環保組織的Ocean的海洋生物學家伊麗莎白格里芬稱，數量最多的佛羅里達州南部穴居種群在過去十年里減少了50%。
The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from threatened to endangeredmeaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.
該數據促使Oceana組織向政府情愿，要求將北大西洋紅海龜的保護級別從受威脅提升至瀕危-----這意味著如果沒有外界的幫助，它們將會面臨滅絕的危險。
Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway?
這就提出了一個明顯的問題：這些海龜究竟還要我們做什么?
It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land , we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. The threat is from commercial fishing, says Griffin.
根據格里芬的說法，雖然海龜在陸上的數周時間內，我們可以很好地保護它們(包括產卵的母龜，卵和幼龜)，但是我們忽略了它們在海里的漫長時光。主要是來自商業捕撈的威脅格里芬說。
Trawlers and longline fishers take a heavy toll on turtles.
拖網漁船(在水中和海床拖行大型的漁網)和延繩釣魚船(在釣線上裝備數以千記的魚鉤，可以延伸至數英里)給海龜造成了慘重的傷亡。
Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems.
當然，就像所有當下的環保問題一樣，這也是在全球變暖和人類干預自然生態系統的背景下發生的。
The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm.
海龜產卵的狹窄沙灘一方面收到開發的壓榨，另一方面收到海洋變暖導致的海平面上升的威脅。
Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.
最終我們還要解決這些問題，否則一種比恐龍活得更久的生物將會在人類手中滅絕，讓我們的后代困惑于怎么這種丑陋的生物會贏得如此多的關愛。
