【BBC南太平洋】漂流者 27

英语自学网

Hint:
        mourning gecko
        New Guinea
        Lapita
No matter how remote the Hawaiian islands are, or how hostile, there is one creature that has reached almost all of them. The mourning gecko. It is the ultimate castaway, the marathon winner on the long journey from New Guinea. Incredibly, the female mourning gecko has done away with the need for a mate. Instead, she simply produces eggs that need no fertilisation. So one single female washed up on an island could start a whole population. Along with this extraordinary ability, these thick-skinned and salt-resistant geckos could also survive long sea passages on rafts, and even the force of cyclones. But there is more to the gecko's story than this. Less than 2,000 years ago, something happened that was to revolutionise the spread of plants and animals. Taking to their sailing boats once more, descendants of the Lapita left the central Pacific and set off again in search of new lands into the great unknown.不管夏威夷群岛有多偏远或环境有多艰险，有一种生物几乎走遍了它所有的岛屿。那就是鳞趾蝎虎。它是最终极的流浪者，是这场从新几内亚开跑的长途马拉松的赢家。很令人惊奇地，雌性鳞趾蝎虎已经不需要配偶了。它已经能产出不需要受精的卵了。所以被冲上岛屿的单只雌性动物能自己开创一整个群体。除了这特别的能力外，这些厚皮耐盐的蝎虎能呆在漂走的植物筏子上渡过长途海上旅行，甚至抵过龙卷风的威力。但蝎虎的故事没有那么简单。将近两千年前，发生了一些彻底改变了动植物散布的事。再度驾驶起他们的帆船，拉匹达人的后裔离开了中太平洋并动身寻找新的岛屿，进入广阔的未知世界。