【背景知識】

Jurassic Period
侏羅紀(jì)

Jurassic Period is a geologic period that extends from 199.6 million to 145.5 million years ago; from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles.
侏羅紀(jì)是一個地質(zhì)年代，約1億9960萬年前到1億4550萬年前，界于三疊紀(jì)和白堊紀(jì)之間。侏羅紀(jì)是中生代，也稱爬行動物時代，的第二個紀(jì)。

Named for the Jura Mountains on the border between France and Switzerland, where rocks of this age were first studied, the Jurassic has become a household word with the success of the movie Jurassic Park.
侏羅紀(jì)的名稱取自于法國、瑞士邊界的侏羅山，人們首次在那里發(fā)現(xiàn)該年代的巖石。電影《侏羅紀(jì)公園》的成功使得侏羅紀(jì)成為家喻戶曉的詞匯。

During the Jurassic Period, the supercontinent Pangaea split apart. The northern half, known as Laurentia, was splitting into landmasses that would eventually form North America and Eurasia.
在侏羅紀(jì)，超級陸塊盤古大陸開始分裂，其北部的勞倫西亞大陸分裂成多個大陸塊，最終形成北美洲和歐亞大陸。

The southern half, Gondwana, was drifting into an eastern segment that would form Antarctica, Madagascar, India and Australia, and a western portion that would form Africa and South America.
南部的岡瓦納大陸繼續(xù)漂移，其東段最終將形成南極洲、馬達(dá)加斯加島、印度和澳大利亞，而西部則形成非洲和南美洲。

This rifting, along with generally warmer global temperatures, allowed for diversification and dominance of the reptiles known as dinosaurs.
大陸的分裂，以及整體較暖的全球氣溫，為爬行動物，即恐龍，的繁衍變化和統(tǒng)治提供了絕佳環(huán)境。

（來源：中國日報手機(jī)報 編輯：左卓）