纪录片《我们的地球》 第317期 极端沙漠(8)

The locusts¹ now transform into winged adults,

蝗虫正在变态为有翅的成虫，

and with conditions as good as this, they do so three times faster than normal.

由于生长环境良好，它们发育的速度达到平时的三倍。

Now they are at their most voracious²...

现在到了食欲最旺盛的时候...

and with wings, they can take to the skies.

有了翅膀，它们就能飞行。

Once airborne, the locusts can travel over 60 miles a day in their search for new feeding grounds.

一旦上天，蝗虫每天可以飞行九十六公里去寻找新的觅食区。

A super swarm³ of this scale may only appear once in a decade.

如此大规模的超级蝗群也许十年才出现一次。

This one extends over 200 square miles and contains several billion individuals.

这个蝗群遍布518平方公里，共有数十亿只蝗虫。

Between them, they will devour⁴ 40,000 tonnes of food in a day.

每天能吃掉四万吨食物。

Nothing can strip a land of its vegetation with such speed and thoroughness as a plague of locusts.

蝗灾吞噬植被的速度和彻底性没有任何事物能与之比肩。

When the food eventually runs out, the whole army will die...

当食物消耗殆尽时，蝗虫大军就会灭亡...

but not before it's devastated⁵ the land.

但不等它们寂灭下来，世界早已一片狼藉。

1 locusts   

n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树

参考例句：

• a swarm of locusts 一大群蝗虫
• In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything. 很快蝗虫就飞落下来开始吃东西，什么都吃。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

3 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

4 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。