侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第79期:鲸像一辆油罐车

 The biting sperm¹ whale was powered by the up and down motion of its powerful tail fluke allowing it to reach speeds of over 25 miles per hour.

噬抹香鲸用其有力的尾鳍上下摆动来获得动力，其速度能达到每小时25英里。

The larger Megalodon used a side to side motion to propel its massive body forward, but its tremendous size limited its speed to 15 miles per hour.

较大的巨齿鲨用向两侧的摆动推动其巨大的身体向前游动，不过它庞大身躯将其速度限制在每小时15英里。

Sharks and whales are built completely differently.

鲨鱼和鲸的身体构造完全不同。

The whale's body is supported by a bony skeleton, whereas the shark's body is made of cartilage.

鲸鱼的身体由骨骼支撑，而鲨鱼身体则是由软骨组成。

For the shark, it means that it can turn and maneuver² much easier because it doesn't have the same limitation that the whale has with that bony skeleton.

对鲨鱼来说，要想转弯和机动就容易得多，因为它没有鲸的骨骼所带来的那种限制。

So the shark is certainly more agile³.

所以鲨鱼肯定更加灵活。

As for speed, the whale, being a little smaller, has less mass to move, and therefore I think would have been a lot faster.

从速度上看，噬抹香鲸体型稍小，需要带动的质量也少，因此我觉得会比巨齿鲨快很多。

Sharks can turn much more quickly.

鲨鱼的转身会快很多。

Think about a Ferrari for a shark.

可以把鲨鱼想成法拉利。

Think about more like an oil tanker⁴ for a whale.

而鲸则更像是一辆油罐车。

It takes a lot longer for a whale to actually turn its body and they won't turn as sharply.

鲸要转身花的时间要长得多，它们没法做同样的急转弯。

But the shark will just really twist its body quickly and can bend and move more quickly in the water.

不过鲨鱼能迅速扭转它的身体，而且能在水中弯曲和更快地移动。

Very few creatures in the prehistoric⁵ seas had teeth as large as the biting sperm whale and Megalodon shark.

史前海洋中很有动物有像噬抹香鲸和巨齿鲨那么巨大的牙齿。

Each tooth was ideally suited for capturing and killing⁶ prey⁷.

每颗牙齿都非常适合捕捉并杀死猎物。

These are the actual fossils of a Megalodon tooth and of a sperm whale tooth.

这些是真实的巨齿鲨和抹香鲸的牙齿化石。

And the teeth are very different.

它们的牙齿大相径庭。

The shark tooth has serrations along the edge, literally⁸ like a steak knife.

鲨鱼的牙齿在边缘呈现锯齿状，简直就像一把牛排刀。

And the sperm whale has a tooth that is for piercing and holding.

抹香鲸的牙齿则用来穿透并咬住猎物。

Those teeth tell us a lot about how each animal used them.

这些牙齿告诉我们这些动物是如何使用它们的。

The whale was using his to grab and hang onto prey.

鲸用它的牙齿来咬住猎物不放。

But the shark was doing something totally different.

不过鲨鱼做的事情就完全不同。

He was ripping and slicing huge chunks⁹ of flesh from its victim.

它会从猎物身上撕扯切割下大块的肉。

We see images of modern Great whites and how they shred¹⁰ prey.

我们见到过现代大白鲨如何把猎物撕碎。

Well, with Megalodon, imagine that same image, but with a mouth that can swallow a boat.

对于巨齿鲨，想象同样的画面，不过换上能够吞下小船的巨口。

Two creatures, each at least the size of a bus.

两种生物，每种最少都有公共汽车那么大。

But the biting whale had a unique weapon the Megalodon didn't have - sonar that could disorientate and even kill.

不过噬抹香鲸的一种独门武器是巨齿鲨望尘莫及的，能够用来定位甚至杀戮的，声纳。

1 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。

2 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

3 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

4 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

10 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。