课文
It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be
preserved, for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial, and it is
only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes, where mud and silt have been
continuously deposited, that bodies and the like can be rapidly covered over and
preserved.
只有生活在水中或水边的动植物尸体最有可能被保存下来，因为保存的必要条件之一是迅
速掩埋，所以只有在泥沙不停淤积的海洋和江河里，有时在湖泊里，尸体之类的东西才能
被迅速地覆盖而保存下来。
But even in the most favourable circumstances only a small fraction of the creatures that
die are preserved in this way before decay sets in or, even more likely, before
scavengers eat them.
即使是在最有利的环境中，死去的生物中也只有一小部分能在开始腐烂前，或更可能在被
食腐动物吃掉之前，被这样保存下来。
After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else, whether it be plant or
animal, dead or alive, and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided.
因为一切生物都是靠吃别的东西来活命的，不管这种东西是植物还是动物，死的还是活的
因此，生物偶尔才能避免被吃掉的命运。
The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved, for
there is seldom anything to cover them over.
曾在陆地上生活过的动植物的遗体被保存下来的更为罕见，因为陆地上几乎没有什么东西
覆盖它们。
When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying about, not to mention the
equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very
rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads.
你可以想象出天上有看得见的飞来飞去、数不清的鸟，地上有不显眼的无数的老鼠和田鼠
之类的小动物，但是，除非在路上，很少有人遇到这些动物的尸体，
They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other
creature.
因为它们腐败之后很快就被风化掉，或被别的动物吃掉了。
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