2021年经济学人 恐龙曾“落户”北极(1)

Science & technology

科技板块

Palaeontology

古生物学

Arctic dinosaurs²

北极的恐龙

Dinosaurs once flourished near the North Pole

恐龙曾经在北极附近繁盛

Most artistic³ impressions of dinosaurs picture them in lush forests or on vast temperate⁴ savannahs.

大多数关于恐龙的艺术印象都是在茂密的森林或广阔的温带草原上。

That is fair enough. Such landscapes were common during the beasts' heydays⁵, the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

这很合理，因为这样的景观在侏罗纪和白垩纪的野兽鼎盛时期很常见。

These pictures do, though, ignore the fact that dinosaur¹ fossils have, for decades, been dug up in places which were at that time polar.

然而这些照片确实忽略了一个事实，即几十年来恐龙化石都是在当时的极地地区被挖掘出来的。

Whether these are the remains⁶ of migrants which came for the summer, or of permanent residents, is debated.

不过这些遗骸究竟是夏天迁过来的移民的还是永久居民的则众说纷纭。

But a discovery of bone fragments and teeth from dinosaur hatchlings, just published in Current Biology by Patrick Druckenmiller of University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and his colleagues, suggests some dinosaurs did indeed make their full-time⁷ homes in the Arctic.

而阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯分校的帕特里克·德鲁肯米勒和他的同事们在《当代生物学》杂志上发表的一项发现表明，恐龙确实在北极安过家。

Modern animals that migrate to polar climes, notably⁸ birds, do often breed there.

迁徙到极地的现代动物，特别是鸟类，通常会在那里繁殖。

But their eggs hatch quickly and their young develop fast enough to fledge and fly to warmer places before winter arrives.

它们的卵孵化得很快，幼崽也发育得很快，能够在冬天到来之前长出羽毛飞到更温暖的地方。

Growth lines in fossilised dinosaur embryos⁹ found elsewhere suggest they needed as much as six or seven months of incubation before they were ready to hatch.

在其他地方发现的恐龙胚胎化石中的生长线表明它们需要6到7个月的孵化期才能孵化。

Palaeontologists therefore reckon any discovery of fossilised eggs or hatchlings near the palaeo-poles would mean the species concerned must have been year-round residents rather than migrants.

因此古生物学家们认为，任何在古极地附近发现的恐龙蛋或幼仔化石都意味着相关物种一定是永久居民而不是迁徙居民。

1 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

2 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

4 temperate   

adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的

参考例句：

• Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
• Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。

5 heydays   

n.盛世，全盛期（heyday的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The heydays of grave robbers and relic thieves are over. 盗墓者和文物窃贼的鼎盛时期已经过去了。 来自电影对白

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

9 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句