英语听力：2013-03-22 恐龙之战之极限生存 Extreme Survivors—2

 I think it’s a very beautiful idea that you have this little egg that’s surprisingly small and out of it comes a baby sauroposeidon that’s about the size of a rabbit and in two or three decades, it’s gonna be a 50-ton adult. 

 

But why does this huge animal have such small eggs?

 

Sauroposeidon eggs like all eggs are honeycombed, with tiny pores to let oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. Bigger eggs need more air holes, but if they get too big, the shell collapses¹. That’s why even today no bird lays a larger egg larger than an ostrich² which weighs just over a kilogram. 

 

Each female lays about 500 eggs a season. The moment an egg hatches marks the beginning of a race for survival, a race that virtually all of them will lose. 

 

Being a hatchling, you don’t have horns, you don’t have plates, you don’t have any kind of armor on your body. Practically, anything could gobble it up. 

 

Thousands of defenseless hatchlings are left loose into a world of fierce predators⁴. It’s a brutal⁵ way to raise a family. 

 

Sauropods are just trying to flood the environment with babies, just in the hopes that a few survive. 

 

In the cretaceous period, plant eaters face vicious killers⁶. And none has a worse reputation than Tyrannosaurus Rex, possibly the largest land predator³ that has ever lived. 

 

T-Rex is sort of the quintessential monster.

 

A dinosaur⁷ with an attitude. 

 

A tyrannosaur as Rex can grow to 5.5 meters tall and 12 meters long with jaws⁸ designed to tear meat to shreds⁹.

1 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

2 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

3 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。

4 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》

5 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

6 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

7 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。

8 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

9 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说