英语听力：探索发现 2012-07-08 恐龙是怎样的炼成的—22

 Going back, say, ten years ago, would you ever imagine that you would have been able to tell what colour any dinosaurs² would have been?

 

No, I mean I think at that time I would have said that it’s one of the things we will never know. And so we just focus up and see what we’ve got here.

 

Using a scanning electron microscope, Mike can find clues about the pigmentation of these ancient fossil feathers.  

 

And if we just have a look at this, the required time amount of locations, that’s 9,000 times. All these sausage shapes then are melanosomes, and then a living feather. They would be full of the chemical melanin, which would in fact give the colour. And these sausage-shaped ones are a sure indicator⁴ of a particular kind of melanin, which is the one that gives a black or dark brown colour. So in some cases like this, the field of views is completely packed with the sausage-shaped ones. So we know this must have been intensely black. If they were more loosely spaced, we would know it was a paler colour, maybe dark brown or even gray.

 

So is it just really the presence or absence of the black pigments⁵ that you are able to ascertain⁶?

 

Well, the wonderful thing is there is another form of melanin that gives a ginger⁷ colour. And so, and it is packaged in a different shape of melanosome, not this kind of cigar-shaped or sausage-shaped one, but a spherical⁸ one, a little ball. Close it up. We get the vacuum going. 

 

A sample taken from a different fossil shows what the structures that carried this ginger pigment³ look like.

 

That's entirely⁹ different. This surface looks as if they've taken a melon baller and scooped¹⁰ up lots of little spherical hollows. So what colour would these melanosomes have made? 

 

This is definitely ginger. And if you look at this ginger hair from a man of our human being, that's what you see ourselves.

 

So is it relatively¹¹ easy to compare your dinosaur¹ feathers with what’s already known about, the feathers of a living bird, to get that comparison to know what colours you were looking at here?

 

We can put the specimens¹² in one after the other. There is the modern one. There is the fossil. Spot the difference. No difference at all. And who on earth would have thought a dinosaur was close to a bird? But here we are, you know, it's kind of proved in the skeletons. And now if you like, proved in the melatonin of the feathers.

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 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 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

4 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

5 pigments   

n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls. 古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。 来自辞典例句
• The original white lead pigments have oxidized and turned black. 最初的白色铅质颜料氧化后变成了黑色。 来自辞典例句

6 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

7 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

8 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

10 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》