侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第76期:黑暗中的双眼

 　　And they have the blemish¹ both front and rear from a facet² where the opposite tooth interlocked with it.

　　在牙齿前后的齿面都有缺陷就是与对面牙齿相交错的地方。

　　What happens is that the root is anchored well into the lower jaw³.

　　实际情况就是这个牙根深深地嵌在其下颌骨上。

　　And then the crown is vertical⁴.

　　这部分牙冠是垂直的。

　　So this really makes sure the tooth doesn't wiggle around.

　　这就确确实实地保证牙齿不会晃动。

　　It's anchored well on the bone and the jaw is about this deep.

　　它非常结实地嵌在骨头上颌骨大概这么深。

　　These powerful, deep rooted, curved daggers⁵ were ideally suited for preying⁷ upon a variety of aquatic⁸ life.

　　这些有力、根深、弯似匕首的牙齿用来捕猎各种水生生物再合适不过。

　　This put the biting whale in direct competition with Megalodon.

　　这使得噬抹香鲸与巨齿鲨形成了直接竞争。

　　I think it was a top predator⁹, it was a very carnivorous animal and could have taken on or eaten anything it wanted to.

　　我觉得它是顶级掠食者，它是绝对的肉食性动物会随心所欲地攻击或捕食任何猎物。

　　The biting sperm¹⁰ whale of Japan is found in deposits that also have dolphins, other whale, very primitive¹¹ sea lion like animals.

　　在日本发现的噬抹香鲸所处的沉积层还有海豚、其它鲸类、非常原始的类似海狮的动物。

　　I think any one of these could have been part of its diet.

　　我觉得这些中的任何一个都可能在噬抹香鲸的菜单上。

　　It probably could have eaten fishes, squids, sharks, other kinds of small mammals as well.

　　它可能捕食鱼类、乌贼、鲨鱼还有其它各种小型哺乳动物。

　　So it probably had a very generalized diet.

　　所以它的食谱可能非常广泛。

　　Unlike the modern sperm whale, the fossil one had large, fully¹² functional¹³ teeth both on the upper and lower jaws¹⁴.

　　与现代抹香鲸不同，这副化石的主人在其上下颌都有巨大，实用的牙齿。

　　These teeth were specifically designed to lock onto prey⁶ with slippery scales.

　　这些牙齿有特别的设计能够锁住带有滑溜鳞片的猎物。

　　To help this whale find its prey in any water condition, the biting whale employed something unique - sonar.

　　噬抹香鲸有一门独家绝技帮助它在任何水下情况都能找到猎物，声纳。

　　They have very keenly developed echo location sonar sense associated with their brains that is a unique feature of toothed whales.

　　它们有与大脑相关的非常发达的回声定位声纳感觉，那是齿鲸独一无二的特点。

　　And sperm whales have it very developed to a very keen degree.

　　抹香鲸将其发展到了非常敏锐的程度。

　　The way sonar works is basically the animal would produce sound, and these sound waves travel out away from the skull¹⁵.

　　声纳的原理基本上就是动物会发出声音，这些声波从颅骨传出。

　　When the sound wave hits something, it bounces back to the animal,当声音碰到某种物体，就会反弹回到发声动物，and receptors in the skull sort of paint a picture of what's in front of it, where it is, what direction it's going, how large it is.

　　其颅内的接收器就像能画出图画一样，感知到前面是什么，它在哪里，在朝哪个方向前进，它的体型多大。

　　Sonar is like eyes in total darkness.

　　声纳就像是完全黑暗中的双眼。

　　The advantage of sonar is it allows you to make up for conditions of poor vision at night, in murky¹⁶ water.

　　声纳的优势是它能弥补在晚上或是浑浊的水中视野不好的情况。

　　And so it'd be very useful, because in near shore waters you tend to get a lot of sediments¹⁷ stirred up by waves,所以这非常有用，因为在离岸不远的水域里海浪常常会搅起很多沉积物，and so it tends to be a little bit murkier¹⁸ than you would find even slightly off shore.

　　所以跟离岸边远些的地方相比起来就会更加浑浊。

　　So it would be an advantage under those conditions.

　　所以在那样的条件下这就是一种优势。

　　But sonar was not just for finding food or seeing in the dark, it was a weapon that could kill.

　　不过声纳不只能用来发现食物或在黑暗中探测，它也是一种致命武器。

　　This sonar is normally used to help locate prey in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean.

　　这种声纳通常用来帮助在大洋最深最黑暗的部分定位猎物。

　　But the whales could focus that sonar into a much tighter beam and use it like a battering¹⁹ ram²⁰ against potential prey and potential predators²¹.

　　不过鲸能够把声纳密集成一束把它当做攻城槌对付潜在猎物和潜在掠食者。

　　Sound travels faster and farther underwater than it does on top.

　　声音在水下比在水上传播得更快更远。

　　So if you're sitting somewhere and you hang a stick of dynamite²² 10 feet from your head and detonate it, it's gonna kill you, just because of the shock wave.

　　要是你坐在什么地方吊下一束炸药在离脑袋10英尺处并引爆它，仅仅是冲击波就能致你于死地。

　　Magnify that times 100 and it's not just going to kill you, it's going to liquefy you.

　　把那威力放大一百倍就不光会要了你的命，那能把你液化。

 

1 blemish   

v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点

参考例句：

• The slightest blemish can reduce market value.只要有一点最小的损害都会降低市场价值。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

2 facet   

n.(问题等的)一个方面；(多面体的)面

参考例句：

• He has perfected himself in every facet of his job.他已使自己对工作的各个方面都得心应手。
• Every facet of college life is fascinating.大学生活的每个方面都令人兴奋。

3 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

4 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

5 daggers   

匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I will speak daggers to her, but use none. 我要用利剑一样的话刺痛她的心，但绝不是真用利剑。
• The world lives at daggers drawn in a cold war. 世界在冷战中剑拨弩张。

6 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。

7 preying   

v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• This problem has been preying on my mind all day. 这个问题让我伤了整整一天脑筋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For a while he let his eyes idly follow the preying bird. 他自己的眼睛随着寻食的鸟毫无目的地看了一会儿。 来自辞典例句

8 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

9 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。

10 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。

11 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 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。

14 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。

15 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。

16 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

17 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

18 murkier   

adj.阴暗的( murky的比较级 )；昏暗的；（指水）脏的；混浊的

参考例句：

• If not, the outcome may be a lot murkier. 而如不然，结果可能就会更加含糊不清。 来自互联网
• This leads us into the murkier areas of human behaviour. 这让我们看到了人类行为较阴暗的领域。 来自互联网

19 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

21 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》

22 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。