最有可能留存遗骸的，是那些生活在水中或水边的动植物；因为保存的必要条件之一是迅速掩埋，而只有在海洋、河流，有时是湖泊中——那些泥沙不断沉积的地方——遗体等物才能被迅速覆盖并保存下来。
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.
但即便在最有利的条件下，以这种方式得以保存的生物也只占死亡生物中极小的一部分——那是在腐烂发生之前，或者更有可能的是，在食腐动物将其吞食之前。
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.
毕竟，所有生物都靠以其他生物为食而存活——无论是植物还是动物，无论死的还是活的——而这种（被吃掉的）命运之所以能被避免，只不过是出于偶然。
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.
陆地上生存的动植物遗骸极少能被保存下来，因为几乎没有任何东西能将其覆盖。
The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved, for there is seldom anything to cover them over.
当你想到人们随处可见的无数飞鸟，更不用说那些同样数量众多却不易见到的小动物，如田鼠和水鼠，你就会发现极少会碰到动物的尸体——当然，道路上除外。
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.
它们（陆地动物的遗体）腐烂分解，并迅速被风化作用或其他生物所摧毁。
They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.
陆地动物痕迹得以留存，几乎总是由于某些极为特殊的情形，例如坠入难以进入的洞穴，或坠入冰隙——就像西伯利亚猛犸象那样，整头动物有时就像放在冰箱里一样被完好保存下来。
It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse, like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator.
著名的别列佐夫卡猛犸象正是如此：它被发现时保存完好，状态良好。
This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition.
他（猛犸象）口中留有冷杉树的残余物——那是他坠入冰隙、折断脊背之前的最后一餐。
In his mouth were the remains of fir trees--the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back.
这头猛犸象现已在圣彼得堡古生物博物馆中复原陈列。
The mammoth has now been restored in the Palaeontological Museum in St.Petersburg.
其他动物则被困于沥青坑中，例如在兰乔拉布雷发现的那些象、剑齿虎以及无数其他生物——该地如今只是洛杉矶的一处郊区。
Other animals were trapped in tar pits, like the elephants, sabre-toothed cats, and numerous other creatures that are found at Rancho la Brea, which is now just a suburb of Los Angeles.
显然，事情的经过是这样的：雨水积聚在这些沥青坑表面，像大象这样的大型动物大胆走上看似坚实的水面去饮水，随即便陷入了沥青之中。
Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink, and were promptly bogged in the tar.
随后，当那些大型动物死去，肉食动物——如剑齿虎和巨狼——也出来觅食，并遭受了与它们完全相同的命运。
And then, when they were dead, the carnivores, like the sabretoothed cats and the giant wolves, came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate.
沥青中同样还有无数的鸟类（遗骸）。
There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.