侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第110期:躺着等待未知的猎物

 　　Utahraptors stayed on the migration¹ routes of the herbivores, lying in wait for their unsuspected prey².

　　犹他盗龙埋伏在植食动物迁徙的必经之路上，躺着等它未知的猎物。

　　Utahraptor may have been more of an ambush³ predator⁴.

　　犹他盗龙可能更像是伏击性掠食者。

　　In other words, we might say that a Velociraptor was a cheetah⁵ running things down, that Utahraptor may have been the equivalent of a lion in the sense that it may have laid and waited for prey and with a quick, short burst of speed, take in something, but it wasn't an animal that probably runs things down over a long distance.

　　换一句话说的话，我们可能会说伶盗龙像猎豹一样奔袭猎物，而犹他盗龙可能更像狮子会埋伏起来等待猎物靠迅速的短距离冲刺来捕获猎物，但它可能并不会依靠长距离奔跑来狩猎。

　　Utahraptor was fast, but the cooling climate favored even faster, smaller models.

　　犹他盗龙速度很快，不过变冷的气候青睐更加迅捷小巧的型号。

　　Future Raptors would evolve to stand just over a meter high.

　　未来的迅猛龙将进化到站起来只有一米多高。

　　They would rely more on agility⁶ and cunning than brute⁷ strength and they would render the Utahraptor obsolete⁸.

　　它们将更依赖敏捷和狡黠而不是蛮力，它们将致使犹他盗龙被淘汰。

　　Found halfway⁹ around the globe, another killer¹⁰ was perfectly¹¹ suited to his environment.

　　在半个地球之外，人们发现了另一种完美适应环境的杀手。

　　It was the apex¹² predator of his territory and it's often called "the T-Rex of the East".

　　它是那片领地上的顶级掠食者，经常本称作“东方霸王龙”。

　　70 million years ago, the earth was cooling.

　　七千万年前，地球正在变冷。

　　Ice caps formed at the poles and winters were becoming harsher with temperatures dropping to near freezing.

　　极地开始形成冰盖，冬季变得更加严酷气温降到了冰点左右。

　　Those temperatures would seem relatively¹³ warm by today's standards.

　　那些温度按今天的标准来看好像还比较温暖。

　　But for life in the Cretaceous period, it was much colder than anything the dinosaurs¹⁴ were used to.

　　不过对于白垩纪时期的生命，这可比恐龙们经历过的任何时候都要寒冷。

　　The Cretaceous period was much cooler than that of the Jurassic that preceded it.

　　白垩纪时期远比之前的侏罗纪时期更加寒冷。

　　Well, this was all due to the break-up of Pangaea, and then ultimately Gondwana and Laurasia.

　　这都是因为泛大陆的分裂，最终形成了瓦纳古陆和劳亚古陆。

　　The sea levels rose and fell, the jet streams and the atmosphere were altered, and currents in the ocean were effected.

　　海平面升高又降下，喷射流和大气都被改变了，海洋中的洋流也受到了影响。

　　The life that was hit the hardest was that lived on the smaller landmasses.

　　受到最大打击的生命是生活在较小陆块之上的那些。

　　Well, larger areas have more buffer¹⁵ than smaller ones when it comes to climate change.

　　在气候发生变化时，较大的区域比较小的多了缓冲空间。

　　In what's now North America, the larger Allosaurus had given way to the smaller Raptors.

　　在如今的北美洲上，较大的异特龙让位给了较小的迅猛龙。

　　Off the west coast of Africa, on the island of Madagascar, another smaller-sized improvement on Allosaurus became its biggest killer,referred to as the T-Rex of the East.

　　在非洲西海岸之外，马达加斯加岛上，另一种较小的异特龙改进版成了那里最大的杀手，被称作东方的霸王龙。

　　Its name was Majungasaurus.

　　它的名字是玛君龙。

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 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。

3 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

4 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。

5 cheetah   

n.(动物)猎豹

参考例句：

• The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal.猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。
• The distribution of the cheetah ranges from Africa to Central Asia.印度豹的足迹遍及从非洲到中亚的广大地区。

6 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。

7 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

8 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

9 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

10 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。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 apex   

n.顶点，最高点

参考例句：

• He reached the apex of power in the early 1930s.他在三十年代初达到了权力的顶峰。
• His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.当选总统是他一生事业的顶峰。

13 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

14 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》

15 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。