纪录片《巨龙的奥秘》 第22期 研究焦油熔池

John Harris has been investigating these tar¹ pits for the past 20 years.

John Harris过去20年中一直都在研究焦油熔池

What happened would be a horse or a ground sloth² or a camel would wander along,

情况可能是一匹马、一只地懒，或是一头骆驼正在这里散步

and get stuck and... Just demonstrating here.

一不小心陷了进去，我来示范一下

Once it's in, it takes a great deal of strength to pull it out.

陷进去后，需要用很大力气，才能把它拔出来

And of course if an animal gets stuck on the surface like this,

因此一旦动物陷进这种地方

when it's trying to pull out one leg, it's pushing in three others.

当它们试着拔出一条腿时，其它3条腿就会越陷越深

And so very soon it will get totally immobilized.

很快它们就动弹不了了

The trapped animal would lure³ predators⁵ to the swamp, who would, in turn, become stuck.

受困的动物把掠食者引来沼泽，它们也跟着一块儿陷了进去

It would be meat on the hoof⁶, waiting for the sabre-tooths and the dire⁷ wolves to come in and feed from it.

这是送到嘴边的肥肉，剑齿虎和恐狼赶过来吃它们，

And they would come in and, they in turn, get stuck.

结果也跟着落入陷阱

The down would come vultures to feed for a moment and they would get stuck.

然后秃鹫也飞下来吃，它们也陷进去了

In would come the flies, and they would get stuck, too.

后来苍蝇也过来吃尸体，它们同样难逃厄运

In pretty short order, you'd build up the example whole food chain.

所以在短期内，这里说不定已经有了一条食物链

Over time, hundreds of dinosaurs⁸ would have sunk into traps.

随着时间的推移，数百只恐龙落入了陷阱

Millions of years later, the tar and mud has turned to rock,

亿万年后，焦油和泥浆变成了岩石

the bones fossilized, and the site would look like any normal rocky bone bed.

骨骼变成了化石，这里也就成了很普通的化石场

If Currie's dig site was actually a prehistoric⁹ predator⁴ trap,

如果Currie的挖掘地点是一个史前掠食动物陷阱

it would destroy his theory that the tyrannosaurs lived and hunted in packs.

那将全盘否定他关于暴龙是集体生活和狩猎的观点

But how could the paleontologists tell?

那么，古生物学家又是如何解释的呢

1 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

2 sloth   

n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散

参考例句：

• Absence of competition makes for sloth.没有竞争会导致懒惰。
• The sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down from the branches.大部分时间里树懒都是倒挂在树枝上。

3 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

4 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

5 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 hoof   

n.(马，牛等的)蹄

参考例句：

• Suddenly he heard the quick,short click of a horse's hoof behind him.突然间，他听见背后响起一阵急骤的马蹄的得得声。
• I was kicked by a hoof.我被一只蹄子踢到了。

7 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

8 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》

9 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。