This buddhist temple near Shanghai has an extraordinary story attached to it.

这所上海附近的佛庙有一段与之相关的传奇故事

In May 2007, a Wild China camera team filmed this peculiar Swinhoe's turtle in the temple's fishpond.

2007年5月 一支狂野中国摄制组在这所寺庙的鱼塘里拍摄到了这只罕见的斑龟

According to the monks, this turtle had been given to the temple during the Ming dynasty, over 400 years ago.

据寺庙的和尚所说 这只龟在明朝期间被赐予寺庙 至今已有400余年历史了

It was thought to be the oldest animal on Earth.

它被认为是地球上最老的动物

Soft shell turtles are considerd a god-made delicacy by many Chinese,

软壳龟被很多从中国人视为神赐的馈赠

and when it was filmed, this was one of just three Swinhoe's Turtles left alive in China.

在被记录下的时候 它已是中国仅存的三只斑龟之一

The rest of its kind having been rounded up and eaten.

他的同胞们被当作食物剿杀殆尽

Sadly, just a few weeks after filming, this ancient creature died.

悲痛人心的是 在拍摄后的短短几周后 这只远古的生物与世长辞了

The remaining individuals of its species are currently kept in seperate zoos and Swinhoe's Turtle is now reckoned extinct in the wild.

他的其他同类现在被散养在不同动物园保护着 据测算现在斑龟在自然界中已经灭绝了

In fact, most of the 25 types of fresh water turtles in China are now vanishingly rare.

事实上 中国25种淡水龟中 多数都已然濒危

The answer to extinction is protection.

杜绝物种灭绝的唯一途径 就是加以保护

And there is now a growing network of nature reserves through southern China.

这里有贯穿中国南方的不断壮大的自然保护区网络

词汇

buddhist ['budist]n. 佛教徒adj. 佛教的

 temple英 [ˈtempl] 美 ['tɛmpl]n. 庙宇；寺院；神殿；太阳穴

peculiar英 [pɪ'kjuːlɪə]美 [pɪ'kjulɪɚ]adj. 特殊的；独特的；奇怪的；罕见的n. 特权；特有财产

fishpond 英 ['fɪʃ,pɒnd]n. 鱼池；养鱼塘

monk英 [mʌŋk]美 [mʌŋk]n. 僧侣，修道士；和尚

delicacy 英 ['delɪkəsɪ]美 ['dɛləkəsi]n. 美味；佳肴；微妙；精密；精美；敏锐，敏感；世故，圆滑

round up围捕；赶拢；使……集拢；去以成整数

reckon英 ['rek(ə)n] 美 ['rɛkən]vt. 测算，估计；认为；计算vi. 估计；计算；猜想，料想

vanishingly 英 ['vænɪʃɪŋlɪ]adv. 难以察觉地；消遁似地；趋于零地

extinction 英 [ɪk'stɪŋ(k)ʃ(ə)n; ek-]美 [ɪk'stɪŋkʃən]n. 灭绝；消失；消灭；废止