侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第39期:迅猛龙被神秘力量压碎

 On a barren hillside in the badlands of Montana, a group of paleontologists had uncovered a 115-million-year-old site.

在蒙大拿不毛之地的荒芜山坡上，一队古生物学家发现了一亿一千五百万年前的古战场。

Four deadly Raptors lay crushed by an unknown force.

四头致命的迅猛龙被未知之力压碎。

Then, another clue emerged.

接着，另一条线索出现了。

As they continued to investigate the scene, just a few meters away from the Raptors, they uncovered the scattered¹ remains² of another dinosaur³.

古生物学家在现场继续搜寻，在这群迅猛龙仅仅几米之外，他们发现了另一只恐龙散落的骸骨。

It was a large, plant eating dinosaur called Tenontosaurus.

一种叫做腱龙的大型植食恐龙。

Tenontosaurus were giant herbivores that stood more than 2 meters tall and weighed in excess of a ton, more than 10 times the weight of a Raptor.

腱龙是大型食植动物，站立时超过两米高，且体重超过一吨，是迅猛龙的十多倍重。

They wanted to establish if there was a link between the Tenontosaurus and the Raptors.

科学家们想要理清腱龙与迅猛龙之间的关系。

And was it possible that it just washed there by a flood?

可能都是被洪水冲过来的吗？

There's a tremendous amount of evidence that can be gathered at a fossil site just by looking at the geology.

仅从地质方面来看，仅在化石场就能找到大量证据。

The size, shape and even configuration⁴ of the rocks that surround the bones can tell you a lot.

化石骨骼周围石头的大小、形状甚至结构都能告诉你很多东西。

They can tell you if those bones are buried in mud, sand or ash.

它们能告诉你这些骨骼是埋在泥里、沙里还是灰烬里。

The way the bones are found can also kind of give us an idea of how the skeleton arrived there.

找到骨头的方式也能告诉我们这些骨架是怎么到那里的。

Was it washed in, was it slowly covered by windblown sand?

是被冲到那里还是被风沙渐渐埋没的？

In the case of these Deinonychus and Tenontosaurus, it was pretty clear that these animals had not washed together, they had died together.

很明显这些恐爪龙和腱龙肯定不是一起被冲到这里的，它们是死在一起的。

Clearly, there was a fight. But there was even more direct evidence of a gang attack.

显然这是一场混战。但那里有群体猎杀更直接的证据。

As the paleontologists continue to dig, the scattered remains of nearly a dozen Raptor's teeth were found among the bones.

古生物学家们不懈地在散落的遗骸中挖掘并发现了十几颗迅猛龙的牙齿。

This evidence spoke⁵ volumes. The Tenontosaurus was half eaten.

这一发现意义重大。腱龙被吃掉了一半。

Along with the all the broken teeth found among the Tenontosaurus bones, one of the most telling pieces of evidence to support the idea that the Raptors had attacked it,

除了腱龙骨头上被找到的那些断牙，还有一个很有说服力的证据证实了腱龙遭到迅猛龙攻击的假设，

is that the Raptor skeletons were really complete, but the Tenontosaurus was half eaten.

那就是迅猛龙的骨骼相当完整，但腱龙被吃剩了一半。

This makes a very good argument that not only did they attack the Tenontosaurus, but they ate him as well.

所以这很好地说明了它们不仅仅攻击了腱龙，而且还吃过腱龙。

The Tenontosaurus had been half eaten, but dead Raptors lay everywhere.

腱龙被吃掉了一半，但死去的迅猛龙却散落在四周。

This is a pretty cool mystery because you have four dead Raptors laying beside a half eaten Tenontosaurus.

这个谜题真的很有意思，因为吃剩一半的腱龙尸体旁边有四头迅猛龙尸体。

The Raptors died in battle, so how could they eat half of their opponent if they were dead?

迅猛龙死于争斗，那么它们都死了又怎么吃掉对手半个身体呢？

The answer is they were dead before he was eaten.

结论是腱龙被吃前它们就已经死了。

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 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。

3 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。

4 configuration   

n.结构，布局，形态，(计算机)配置

参考例句：

• Geographers study the configuration of the mountains.地理学家研究山脉的地形轮廓。
• Prices range from $119 to $199,depending on the particular configuration.价格因具体配置而异，从119美元至199美元不等。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。