吃人的巨型生物——水蟒

Before Jennifer Lopez became J. Lo, she was an up and coming actress. Perhaps her worst movie was"Anaconda," about a giant snake that terrorizes a documentary film crew in the Amazon rain forest. 在大家稱珍妮弗.洛佩茲爲J. Lo之前，她是個前途一片光明的女演員。也許她拍的最糟糕的電影就是《狂蟒之災》了，這是一部關於一條使整個在亞馬遜熱帶雨林地區拍攝紀錄片的攝製組都感到恐怖的巨蟒。

Hollywood's version of the snake was pure fantasy—a 100 foot long giant with an appetite for B-movie actors. Although real anacondas are not nearly as large and rarely eat people, they are impressive creatures nonetheless. 好萊塢關於這條蟒蛇的版本純粹是一種幻想——它是一條想吃掉這些B級電影演員的長100英尺的水蟒。雖然現實生活中的巨蟒沒有這樣龐大，而且也不吃人，然而它們確實是讓人印象深刻的巨型生物。

Anacondas are a type of constrictor—snakes that squeeze their prey to death with powerful muscles. Although widely regarded as the largest existing snakes, they are not the longest. That distinction goes to the Asiatic reticulated python, the longest-known specimen measured at thirty-three feet. The largest known anaconda was "only" twenty-eight feet long, but measured forty-four inches around. 水蟒是莽蛇的一種——是那種可以用巨大的肌肉力量把獵物擠壓死的大蛇。儘管它們被看作是現存得最大的蛇，但它們卻不是最長的。這使得它們與亞洲網紋蟒蛇區分開來。這是一種大家知道得最早的有33英尺長的標本。而大家知道的最長的水蟒“僅”有28英尺長，但卻被測量出有44英寸寬。

How did anacondas get so big? Their habitat has a lot to do with it. Living mainly in South American rivers that feed the Amazon, Anacondas spend most of their time in the water. 水蟒是怎樣變得如此巨大的呢？這與它們棲息的地方有很大關係。水蟒主要棲息在滋潤亞馬遜地區的南美衆多河流中，這使得它們生命中的大多時間都生活在水裏。

Unlike snakes that live in trees or on the ground, the anaconda doesn't have to worry about climbing or chasing prey over rough terrain. Since their body weight is supported by the water, even the largest, heaviest anacondas are still effective predators. 水蟒不像普通的蛇那樣生活在樹上或陸地上，它們不用擔心爬樹或在粗糙的地面上追逐獵物。因爲它們的身體重量由水來支撐，所以即使是最大的最重的水蟒也可以是戰鬥力超強的食肉動物。

Anacondas eat virtually anything unfortunate enough to get caught in their grip, including other snakes, fish, deer, and even small jaguars. Prey is first squeezed to death and than swallowed whole. The anaconda's ability to unhinge its jaw allows it to swallow even bulky morsels. 事實上水蟒會吃掉任何足夠倒黴的被它逮到的獵物。包括其他的蛇類，魚，鹿子，甚至是小型的美洲虎。獵物首先會被擠壓死，然後再整個一口吞下肚。水蟒能把它的顎分離開來，所以它可以吞下超大量的小塊食物。

Some people even keep the snakes as pets, but we wouldn't recommend it. Anacondas are fierce predators with small brains not above strangling and swallowing dogs, cats, and even small children. 許多人甚至將蟒蛇作爲寵物飼養，但我們並不推崇這點。水蟒是兇猛的低智商的食肉動物，它們會勒死和吃掉狗和貓，甚至是小孩子。

生詞註釋：

anaconda n. 蟒蛇
constrictor n. 括約肌
squeeze v. 擠，擠壓
predators n. 食肉動物
reticulated adj. 網狀的
virtually adv. 實際上，事實上
morsel n. 一口，一小片，少量