纪录片《侏罗纪之谜》 第28期 南北半球恐龙的差别

According to my preliminary analysis,

根据我的初步分析

it seems that these animals do not seem to show any differentiation¹ between the dinosaurs³ from the Northern and Southern Hemisphere

在南北半球的这些恐龙之间，似乎并没有表现出明显的区别

and this is the time more or less directly before the final split of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere,

这段时期差不多刚好是在南北半球分裂之前

the final separation of North and South America.

也就是南北美洲分离之时

One continent, one type of meat-eater.

一块大陆，一种食肉恐龙

It was just as the vicariance theory predicted,

这正是地理分隔理论预测的结果

but then they had to compare dinosaurs for signs of vicariance from after the super-continent split up.

但他们还得比较大陆刚分裂后的恐龙，寻找地理分隔的相关证据

If the theory was right, there should be some differences between dinosaurs from the north and the south,

如果这一说法正确，那么南北恐龙之间必然存在着一些不同点

but because the split had only just happened

但是由于大陆刚分裂不久

these differences would only be slight and very hard to spot

这些差异非常细小，很难被发现

and at first he couldn't find anything significant.

一开始他们没能找到一点重要线索

In the end he looked again at the radioactive dinosaur².

最后他决定再次研究放射性的恐龙骨骼

Of all the fossils this was the youngest, from well after the super-continent split up.

它是所有化石中最年轻的，来自超大陆刚分裂之时。

Now the interesting thing about this fossil is

这块化石值得关注的原因是

that this comes from a part of the rock sequence that we actually now believe to be younger than the other fossils that we've seen

我们认为它挖掘出来的岩层比我们找到的其它化石的岩层都要年轻

and with this kind of fossils hopefully then we can answer the question,

有了这类化石，我们就有希望找到问题的答案。

whether the dinosaurs took different evolutionary⁴ pathways in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.

南北半球的恐龙是否真的沿着不同的轨道进化。

1 differentiation   

n.区别，区分

参考例句：

• There can be no differentiation without contrast. 有比较才有差别。
• The operation that is the inverse of differentiation is called integration. 与微分相反的运算叫做积分。

2 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。

3 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》

4 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。