侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第5期:玛君龙的弱点

 　　Majungasaurus's arm is incredibly short.

　　玛君龙的前肢不可思议地短小。

　　It's got an upper arm bone, but its forearm has shrunken, so it's basically a wrist.

　　它有上臂骨不过前臂萎缩，基本就是一个腕子。

　　From the elbow to the hand is probably less than a foot.

　　从肘部到爪子大概二十多厘米。

　　It definitely does not have any functional¹ grasping ability.

　　它肯定没有任何抓握能力。

　　It doesn't have any slashing² ability. It's basically a vestigial arm.

　　它的前肢没有挥砍能力。基本上是退化残留。

　　Its second drawback, its relatively³ short legs compared to its overall body size.

　　玛君龙的第二个缺陷是就它的体形来说，它的腿较短。

　　The length of dinosaur⁴ legs certainly had an effect on how fast they run.

　　恐龙腿的长度肯定对它们奔跑速度有影响。

　　Animals with longer legs were presumably faster than animals with shorter legs.

　　腿较长的动物一般比腿短的速度快。

　　What we see in Majungasaurus is an animal that's not built for speed.

　　我们看到的玛君龙并不是为速度而设计的动物。

　　This is an animal that's pretty fast but still not the kind of swift footed runner that we see in other kinds of dinosaurs⁵.

　　这种动物速度不慢不过不像我们看到的其它一些能够飞奔的恐龙那样。

　　It's estimated that Majungasaurus may have been only be able to run at 10 to 15 miles per hour, not much faster than the average human.

　　据估计玛君龙只能跑到时速十五到二十多公里不比一般的人快多少。

　　But given its densely⁶ forested environment, speed may not have been that important to this hunter.

　　不过考虑到其生活的密林环境速度对猎手来说可能不那么重要。

　　It didn't have to be particularly fast because there were no really fast dinosaurs known from its environment.

　　它不用特别快因为这种环境里没有很快速的恐龙。

　　So you only have to be faster than your meal.

　　所以只需要比食物跑得快就行。

　　You don't have to be faster than something else you're never gonna see.

　　对于那些看都看不到的东西用不着比它们快。

　　CAT scan evidence revealed the dinosaur's third weakness, poor vision.

　　CT扫描证据揭示了这种恐龙的第三个弱点视力不好。

　　With Majungasaurus, we can look at the brain structure and see that the visual centers are not tremendously enlarged.

　　对于玛君龙我们通过观察它的大脑结构发现它的视觉中枢并不是很大。

　　They're relatively modest.

　　这部分实在不发达。

　　One of the really interesting aspects of the visual system is weather these animals had binocular vision.

　　关于其视力系统有趣的一点是它是否有双目视力。

　　In another word, did their visual field overlap⁷? Because that actually provides depth perception.

　　换一句话说它们的双目视野是否有重叠？因为这样能带来纵深感。

　　Majungasaurus has very limited binocular vision.

　　玛君龙的双目视觉很有限。

　　The construction of their skull⁸ made it a little bit to get that binocular vision.

　　它们的颅骨结构使其能有一点儿双目视觉。

　　So as they are sizing each other up, they are gonna be really kind of looking from side to side,当它们互相打量的时候，它们会从一边换到另一边，but if one moves quickly, it's gonna get out of that binocular vision.

　　不过要是另一头快速移动，就会脱离其双目视野。

　　So there will be a lot of joggling for position between these guys, kind of like boxers⁹ will do before they start their fight.

　　所以这些恐龙之间会为了有利位置而经常摇动，就像拳击手在开打之前那样。

 

1 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

2 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 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。

5 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》

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

8 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

9 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》