纪录片《恐龙的战争》 完美捕食（12）

Texas. 68 million years ago.

德克萨斯州。六千八百万年前。

Here death comes not only from well-armed gargantuan¹ dinosaurs².

死亡不仅来自武装精良的巨型恐龙。

Sometimes it swoops³ down from the sky..on the wings of a flying reptile⁴..Quetzalcoatlus.

有时，死亡会猝然从天而降，落于飞行爬行类的翅展之间，风神翼龙。

A Quetzalcoatlus could be seen as a Cretaceous stealth bomber⁵..

风神翼龙可谓白垩纪的隐形轰炸机...

Air-to-ground weaponry at its finest.

它拥有最先进的空对地武器。

They weren't big, fragile kites. They were big, mean, terrifying bats from hell.

它们并非脆弱的大风筝。而是来自地狱的恐怖大蝙蝠。

Quetzalcoatlus is arguably the largest, most sophisticated animal ever to fly.

风神翼龙算得上是最庞大最复杂的飞行动物。

A wingspan of almost 12 meters holds aloft a body weighing 180 kilograms.

翅展几乎可达12米，带动着180公斤重的身躯直上云霄。

Picture a living plane, and that gives you a sense of what Quetzalcoatlus would look like in life.

把它想象成一只活的飞机，你就能体会到风神翼龙在真实情况下是什么样了。

This is an animal that probably accelerates over 2.5G's just on takeoff.

这种动物的起飞加速度能达到重力加速度的2.5倍多。

Just beyond our comprehension.

超出了我们的理解范围。

A Quetzalcoatlus is 10 times the weight of the largest flying bird today.

风神翼龙有现今最大飞鸟的十倍重。

Yet this airborne reptile doesn't rely on feathers. Its wings are made of skin.

然而这种空中爬行动物并不依赖羽毛。它的翅膀由皮肤构成。

Almost half of that wing is supported by an extended finger bone, a finger 2.5 meters long.

向外延伸的指骨支撑着几乎一半的翅膀，一根指头长2.5米。

A second bone lines the front of the wing, forming a leading edge, similar to an aircraft.

第二根长在翅膀前沿形成了翼前缘，与飞机类似。

This aerodynamic design allows for near-perfect control on takeoff and landing.

这种空气动力学结构使得它对起飞和降落的控制趋于完美。

But for this flying monster, getting off the ground is the hardest task.

但对于这只飞行怪兽起飞才是最困难的。

Big pterosaur like Quetzalcoatlus... giraffe height on all fours, and it's got to get up into the air.

风神翼龙这种庞大的翼龙...四脚着地时与长颈鹿高度相仿，而且还要能够起飞。

How is it gonna do that? And that's made it more difficult living on the plains of Texas.

它是如何做到的？这使得它在德克萨斯平原的生存更艰难。

Flat ground, no hills, no cliffs, no special conditions, nothing to help it at all except its muscles.

平地，没有小山，没有悬崖，没有特殊条件，除了自己的肌肉没有其它辅助条件。

It could still take off from a standstill without any running required.

它仍然不需要任何助跑，原地就能起飞。

The secret to how this Goliath takes off can be seen in a creature 1,000 times smaller...the vampire⁶ bat.

这头歌利亚巨人起飞的奥秘可以在比它小一千倍的生物身上找到，即吸血蝙蝠。

They have to spring up into the air.

它们必须向空中跃起。

They have to do essentially⁷ a super push-up with their powerful forelimbs,

必须靠最有力的前肢

the strongest limbs they have, get up high enough

将身体用力向上推到达足够的高度

so that they can get their wings to flap and get off the ground.

以伸展翅膀平地起飞。

A Quetzalcoatlus takes off in the same way, using all four limbs to suddenly leap up into the air.

风神翼龙亦是这样起飞，用四肢支撑身体跃起后展翅高飞。

Its powerful arm muscles are composed of 80% fast-twitch fiber⁸, a third more than humans.

它强壮的前肢肌肉中百分之八十是快缩肌纤维，比人类的多三分之一。

This specialized⁹ muscle tissue is capable of delivering rapid bursts of energy.

这一特殊的肌肉组织能带来强劲的爆发力。

This energy is needed to propel this creature weighing as much as a grizzly¹⁰ bear,

这股爆发力驱使这只重如美洲灰熊的庞然大物

from a dead stop to a launch speed of 30 kilometers per hour, all in a fraction of a second.

由静止而获得30公里的飞行时速而仅仅用了不到一秒钟。

I think that seeing a pterosaur like Quetzalcoatlus actually take off

如果能亲眼见到风神翼龙起飞

would have to be one of the most impressive sights in the animal kingdom.

肯定是动物王国里最震撼的一幕。

And to see something that's 20 feet tall suddenly spring into the air and fly away

看着一只20英尺高的巨型生物突然直上云霄渐渐远去，

is outside the bounds of human experience.

对人类而言是无法想象的。

1 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

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 swoops   

猛扑，突然下降( swoop的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He fixes his eyes on the greyish spine of the old wolf as he swoops down. 他两眼死死盯住老狼灰黑的脊背。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• An owl swoops from the ridge top, noiseless but as flame. 蓦地，山脊上一只夜枭飞扑直下，悄无声响而赫然如一道火光。

4 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

5 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

6 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

9 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

10 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。