侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第35期:地面惊现黑色骨头

 　　Fast forward 115 million years to the town of Bridger in south-central Montana.

　　推进到一亿一千五百万年前，在蒙大拿州中南部的布瑞杰镇。

　　It was paleontologist John Ostrum's last day of a summer searching for fossils.

　　正是古生物学家约翰.奥斯特伦姆夏季搜寻化石的最后一天。

　　He had no idea that he was about to make a significant discovery in dinosaur¹ carnage.

　　他并不知道自己就要做出与恐龙大屠杀相关的重要发现。

　　He spotted² several shiny black bones protruding³ from the ground.

　　他忽然看到几根突出地面的黑色骨头。

　　Taking advantage of what little light remained, he and an assistant began to remove as many bones as they could.

　　利用夕阳的余晖，他和助手尽最大努力去挖出骨头。

　　They find one that was unusual.

　　他们发现了一个奇怪的骨头。

　　Among the fossils was a deeply curved, sickle⁴ shaped claw.

　　这块化石上有一个很弯的镰刀型爪子。

　　The bones were from a predator⁵.

　　这根骨头来自于掠食者。

　　Ostrum continued to unearth⁶ more bones.

　　奥斯特伦姆继续挖掘出更多骨头。

　　With each one he realized he'd found the remains⁷ of a Deinonychus - a Raptor!

　　随着出土的每根骨头，他意识到自己找到的是恐爪龙——迅猛龙！

　　Deinonychus belongs to a group of dinosaurs⁸ we nickname the Raptors. The scientific name is Dromaeosaurs.

　　恐爪龙是一类被我们叫做迅猛龙的恐龙。学名为驰龙。

　　Raptors have a couple of different features that make them different from other predators⁹.

　　迅猛龙有几个特别之处让它区别于其它的掠食者。

　　Number one, it was the design of their tail.

　　其一就是它尾部的构造。

　　Their tail is held stiff by a series of interconnecting bony rods that sort of locked the vertebra in place.

　　它们的尾巴很硬实，一些列互相紧扣的骨棒让尾部的脊椎骨紧连在一起。

　　This stiff tail acted like a balancing pole.

　　这种硬实的尾巴像是一根平衡杆。

　　The dinosaur was able to change directions quickly, he could jump, he could leap into the air, He was an incredible animal.

　　这种恐龙可以迅速改变方向，它可以跳跃，甚至能腾空而起，是一种了不起的动物。

　　But the most distinguishing feature of a Raptor was the killing¹⁰ claw on its foot.

　　但迅猛龙最显著的特点是它脚上的猎杀爪。

　　It's an oversize claw on the second digit¹¹ of each foot that was held upright when the Raptor was walking.

　　迅猛龙脚上最大的第二根脚趾在它们走路时会竖起来。

　　But when he spotted his prey¹² and he leaped on top of it, that claw sort of acted like a mousetrap.

　　不过当它们发现猎物时它们会纵身而起，那根爪子就像捕鼠器一样。

　　It would swing forward, and this dinosaur could slice you open while he's hanging onto you.

　　它能向前方戳刺，这种恐龙可以挂在猎物身上把猎物撕开。

　　I think if we tried to look at Deinonychus in terms of living animals, we couldn't really come up with a match.

　　我想如果要在现在找到类似恐爪龙的动物，恐怕是没有与之匹配的。

　　However, if we combined the characteristics of the Tasmanian Devil and the wolverine and a ferocious¹³ eagle, I think we might have a general glimpse of what it must've been like.

　　但如果我们综合塔斯马尼亚袋貛，狼獾和以及雄鹰的特点，就大概能看到恐爪龙的影子了。

 

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 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

3 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

4 sickle   

n.镰刀

参考例句：

• The gardener was swishing off the tops of weeds with a sickle.园丁正在用镰刀嗖嗖地割掉杂草的顶端。
• There is a picture of the sickle on the flag. 旗帜上有镰刀的图案。

5 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。

6 unearth   

v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出

参考例句：

• Most of the unearth relics remain intact.大多数出土文物仍保持完整无损。
• More human remains have been unearthed in the north.北部又挖掘出了更多的人体遗骸。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 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》

9 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》

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 digit   

n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾

参考例句：

• Her telephone number differs from mine by one digit.她的电话号码和我的只差一个数字。
• Many animals have five digits.许多动物有5趾。

12 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

13 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。