【背景知識】

Jurassic Period
侏羅紀

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.
侏羅紀是一個地質年代，約1億9960萬年前到1億4550萬年前，界于三疊紀和白堊紀之間。侏羅紀是中生代，也稱爬行動物時代，的第二個紀。

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.
侏羅紀的名稱取自于法國、瑞士邊界的侏羅山，人們首次在那里發現該年代的巖石。電影《侏羅紀公園》的成功使得侏羅紀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，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漂移，其東段最終將形成南極洲、馬達加斯加島、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，的繁衍變化和統治提供了絕佳環境。

（來源：中國日報手機報 編輯：左卓）