侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第74期:神秘的四贺村小镇

 　　Megalodon. The largest carnivorous fish ever to prowl the oceans.

　　巨齿鲨。海洋中出现过的最大的掠食性鱼类。

　　Megalodon as a species, it receives a lot of interest.

　　巨齿鲨这个物种，引发了很多人的兴趣。

　　It is the closest thing that shark people have to their own Tyrannosaurus, so to speak, and being a big spectacular animal.

　　这是喜欢鲨鱼的人们可以跟霸王龙相提并论的最近的东西，同样也是硕大壮观的动物。

　　And at first, scientists thought it was the top predator¹ of the seas.

　　一开始，科学家们以为它是海洋中的顶级掠食者。

　　In 1992, they found out they were mistaken.

　　在1992年，他们发现自己错了。

　　Dr. Lawrence G. Barnes of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, made a remarkable² discovery in Japan.

　　洛杉矶郡自然历史博物馆的劳伦斯.G.巴恩斯博士，在日本做出了重大发现。

　　But it wasn't on the ocean floor. It was in a storage box.

　　但是并不是在海床上。而是在储物箱里。

　　What he would find revealed a second deep sea monster, one previously³ unknown to science.

　　他发现的东西揭示了第二种深海怪物，此前不为科学界所知的。

　　It shared the domain⁴ of Megalodon and we now know it was every bit as terrifying.

　　它瓜分了巨齿鲨的领地，我们现在知道它的同样恐怖。

　　In the early 1990's, I was traveling with a grant through Japan and I happened to go to the little town called Shiga-mura, mura means village.

　　在上世纪九十年代初，我用一笔拨款在日本旅行，刚好来到了一个小镇子叫四贺村。

　　They took me to their little town museum and they had, laying in storage, a fossilized sperm⁵ whale skeleton.

　　他们带我去了镇里的小博物馆，在他们的储存室里有一具抹香鲸骨骼化石。

　　I looked at it with my colleague and I said "that's a new species".

　　我和我的同事看着它，我说：“那是一个新物种”。

　　Barnes named this new creature Brygmophyseter shigensis, the biting sperm whale.

　　巴恩斯给这种新生物起名叫四贺噬抹香鲸，就是噬抹香鲸。

　　In the prehistoric⁶ deep seas, the biting sperm whales were among the largest, and deadliest whales of their time.

　　在史前的深海里，噬抹香鲸是它们那个时期最大也最致命的鲸之一。

　　They dwarfed⁷ today's killer⁸ whale.

　　它们比今天的虎鲸体型大得多。

　　Because we have a complete skeleton, we can estimate the body size of Brygmophyseter at probably 35 to 40 feet.

　　因为我们有完整的骨架，我们能够估计出四贺鲸的体长在35到40英尺。

　　By comparison with modern whales, this is medium-size. Not really large.

　　与现代的鲸相比，这是中等体型。并不算很大。

　　However, at its time, this was among the largest of the whales that did exist then.

　　不过，在它的时期，这是那时存在的最大的鲸之一。

　　When paleontologists studied whale DNA⁹, they found something remarkable.

　　当古生物学家们研究鲸的DNA时，他们有了不寻常的发现。

 

1 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。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

5 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

6 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

7 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。