经济学人263:远古动物行为 侏罗纪雨燕

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Ancient animal behaviour

　　远古动物行为

　　Jurassic lark¹

　　侏罗纪雨燕

　　How the pterosaur caught its supper

　　翼龙是如何逮到晚餐的

　　PALAEOETHOLOGY, working out how long-extinct animals behaved, is a subject whose practitioners² can never, definitively³, be proved right.

　　古行为学，作为一门研究那些早已灭绝的动物的行为的学科，其研究者永远不可能证明自己的理论是确凿无误的，

　　But that does not stop them trying.

　　但这一点从来没有阻止过他们对真相的探索。

　　The latest effort, to be presented later this month to the International Symposium⁴ on Pterosaurs in Rio de Janeiro, is an attempt by Michael Habib of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and Mark Witton at the University of Portsmouth, in Britain, to work out how one of the most peculiar⁵ of the flying reptiles⁶ of the Jurassic earned its living.

　　本月晚些时候，将于里约热内卢举行的国际翼龙目研讨会将展示该领域最新一项研究成果，南加州大学的Michael Habib和普利茅斯大学的Mark Witton进行了该项研究，目的在于弄清楚侏罗纪最神奇的飞行类爬行动物之一是如何捕捉食物的。

　　Anurognathus and its relatives have been known for 90 years.

　　蛙嘴龙及其近亲为人类了解已有90年。

　　They were the size of swifts and until now it had been thought that, like swifts, they chased around the sky after insects—a technique known as hawking⁷.

　　它们体型如雨燕般大小，直到今天，人们一直认为它们像雨燕一样在天空中到处疾飞追逐昆虫—即一种被称为飞行捕食的摄食策略。

　　Dr Habib and Dr Witton believe this is wrong.

　　两位博士Habib 和Witton认为这种理论是错误的，

　　They suspect instead that Anurognathus sat in wait for its prey⁸, and then sallied forth⁹ to intercept¹⁰ it like a surface-to-air missile.

　　他们猜想蛙嘴龙反而是静待猎物，然后像地空导弹一样突然腾空截击。

　　They came to this conclusion by comparing Anurognathus with 36 birds and 20 bats from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

　　在将蛙嘴龙与取自斯密森学会博物馆的36种鸟和20种蝙蝠进行对比后，Habib和Witton做出这一推论。

　　Using a mix of computerised tomography and mundane¹¹ measurements with callipers, they assessed the lengths, widths, thicknesses, densities¹² and bending potential of the bones of the modern animals and compared them with those gleaned¹³ from Anurognathus fossils.

　　他们综合了计算机断层摄影术和使用卡钳的普通测量方法，分析评估了现代动物骨骼的长度，宽度，厚度，密度及弯曲度可能性，并将它们和从蛙嘴龙化石中搜集到的数据进行对比。

　　Anurognathus's mouth, they found, was similar to the mouths of nightjars, which also sally after prey.

　　他们发现，蛙嘴龙的嘴与夜鹰相似，后者也是突袭猎物的。

　　Moreover, the pterosaurs' legs and wings were stronger than those of any comparable bird or bat, reinforcing the idea that they could leap rapidly into the air.

　　另外，翼龙的腿和翅膀要比任何可以相提并论的鸟类和蝙蝠都要强壮，这一点强化了它们可以迅疾腾空的观点。

　　Their conclusion was that Anurognathus did indeed feed by sallying—and probably more effectively than any living creature.

　　两位博士Habib和Witton的结论是，蛙嘴龙的确是突然腾空袭击猎物的—而且它们的狩猎有可能比任何生物都要更高效。

　　1.work out 解决；作出

　　Negotiators are due to meet later today to work out a compromise...

　　谈判人员定于今天晚些时候进行会谈，商定一个折中方案。

　　It took me some time to work out what was causing this.

　　我花了一些时间才弄清此事的起因。

　　2.chase around 向某方向急奔

　　Clive and carol chase around a lot together.

　　克莱夫和卡罗尔两人交往甚密。

　　It was all quite exciting as a slow-motion game of chase around the islands ensued.

　　围着岛屿，慢速追逐，这非常刺激。

　　3.wait for 等候

　　I'll wait for you.

　　我会等你的.

　　But foreign wars don't wait for washington inaugurations¹⁴.

　　但是国外的战争是不会等待华盛顿的就职仪式。

　　4.similar to 跟。。。类似得，与。。。同样的

　　You should see something similar to figure 2.

　　你应该会看到类似图2的内容。

　　Try and visualize¹⁵ this energy as a bright white light similar to that of sunlight.

　　试着想象这一能源，把它当做一种明亮如阳光一样的白光。

1 lark   

n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏

参考例句：

• He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
• She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。

2 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

3 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

4 symposium   

n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集

参考例句：

• What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
• The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。

5 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

6 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

11 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

12 densities   

密集( density的名词复数 )； 稠密； 密度（固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量）； 密度（磁盘存贮数据的可用空间）

参考例句：

• The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3．5左右。
• Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。

13 gleaned   

v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• These figures have been gleaned from a number of studies. 这些数据是通过多次研究收集得来的。
• A valuable lesson may be gleaned from it by those who have eyes to see. 明眼人可从中记取宝贵的教训。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 inaugurations   

n.就职( inauguration的名词复数 )；就职典礼；开始；开创

参考例句：

15 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。