英语听力：探索发现 2012-06-17 恐龙是怎样的炼成的—13

 -Can I touch them?-Yeah.

 

-Will they peck me?

 

-They’ll peck at your rings.

 

-They really?

 

-And they’ll try to take them off if they’re gonna get hold. But they are not very strong at pecking.

 

-I want to feel your feathers. Now this might be what a dinosaur¹ felt like to touch. That's really soft and lovely.  

 

-Yes, just like a cuddly² toy.

 

-Oh, I'm stroking dinosaurs³. Yeah, get it off me. I think they too little like dinosaurs especially when you know that some dinosaurs were actually feathered. 

 

-They certainly do. And those feathers are quite primitive⁴ and they structure a lot like some of the fossil feathers we find. 

 

The similarities aren't just on the surface. We can get a much better understanding of ancient dinosaurs by looking at the anatomy⁵ of their modern relatives in depth. And a local farm has recently had to put down one of its ostriches⁶. As an anatomist, I'm very used to dissecting⁷ cadavers⁸. 

 

-You know, I don't usually wear Wellington boots when I do dissecting. But this will be the first time that I'd ever dissected⁹ a bird, or for that matter, the descendant of a dinosaur. Why don't you talk me through the anatomy that we can see on the surface?

 

-That's a heel, the ankle joints¹⁰. But birds walk with that, clear the ground, just like their dinosaur and ancestors did.  

 

-And Really? Just two toes? And one main one?

 

-The middle toe is their dominant¹¹ toe, just like, you know, a dinosaur, the third toe is the major toe of the foot. 

 

And there are other similarities to their ancient relatives. 

 

-I don't know if you can see this. But here is the tip of wing, right here. And there’s a lovely little claw coming of it.

 

-Yeah, so that's the end of one of the digits¹² on their arms, on their wings.

 

-Yeah. And you know, just there is a relic¹³ of their ancestors. 

 

But the real clues about dinosaurs come from seeing what the relationship is between a bird's muscles and its bones.

 

-Right away we can see some of the fine muscles here. You can see this lovely, red colour, beautiful beefy muscle. 

 

-So based on dissections like this, how accurately¹⁴ do you think you can reconstruct the musculature of extinct dinosaurs?

 

-You can look at any bone and tell something about the soft tissue anatomy of the animal, from the scars, as they’re called, the muscle scars like ligament and tendon scars on the bones that are attachment¹⁵ points for all these things that we see here as soft tissue.

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 cuddly   

adj.抱着很舒服的，可爱的

参考例句：

• The beautiful crib from Mom and Dad is so cuddly.爸爸妈妈送的漂亮婴儿床真舒服。
• You can't call a hedgehog cuddly.你不能说刺猬逗人喜爱。

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 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

5 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

6 ostriches   

n.鸵鸟( ostrich的名词复数 )；逃避现实的人，不愿正视现实者

参考例句：

• They are the silliest lot of old ostriches I ever heard of. 他们真是我闻所未闻的一群最傻的老鸵鸟。 来自辞典例句
• How ostriches could bear to run so hard in this heat I never succeed in understanding. 驼鸟在这样干燥炎热的地带为什么能疾速长跑，我永远也理解不了。 来自辞典例句

7 dissecting   

v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的现在分词 )；仔细分析或研究

参考例句：

• Another group was dissecting a new film showing locally. 另外一批人正在剖析城里上演的一部新电影。 来自辞典例句
• Probe into Dissecting Refraction Method Statics Processing under Complicated Surface Conditions. 不同地表条件下土壤侵蚀的坡度效应。 来自互联网

8 cadavers   

n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Human cadavers were the only known source of hGH, and demand was intense. 人类尸体是hGH已知的惟一来源，而且需求广泛。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Will there be enough cadavers for each group this term? 这个学期每一个组都有足够的尸体吗？ 来自电影对白

9 dissected   

adj.切开的，分割的，（叶子）多裂的v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的过去式和过去分词 )；仔细分析或研究

参考例句：

• Her latest novel was dissected by the critics. 评论家对她最近出版的一部小说作了详细剖析。
• He dissected the plan afterward to learn why it had failed. 他事后仔细剖析那项计划以便搞清它失败的原因。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

11 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

12 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

14 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

15 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。