侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第121期:水可载舟亦可覆舟

 　　At the base of the tail, where it connects to the hips¹, Gastonia had these sharp triangular² shaped plates made of bone.

　　在它尾巴基部，连接髋部的位置，加斯顿龙有这些锋利的三角形的骨质护甲。

　　In and among themselves, they were pretty nasty weapons.

　　它们本身就是非常恐怖的武器。

　　But looking more closely at them, paleontologists saw something amazing.

　　不过更进一步地观察它们，古生物学家发现了一些令人惊讶的东西。

　　When this dinosaur³ swung its tail from side to side, these things crossed each other and acted like a pair of bone slicing shears⁴.

　　当这种恐龙向两侧摆动尾巴时，这些东西相互交错，就像一对骨头切割剪一样。

　　The fossil evidence indicated that Gastonia was one of the most well protected dinosaurs⁵ ever.

　　化石证据表明加斯顿龙是有史以来防护最好的恐龙。

　　But he had a weakness.

　　不过它也有弱点。

　　This large complement⁶ of body armor made this dinosaur very slow.

　　这么巨大的全身铠甲让这种恐龙行动迟缓。

　　Gastonia would have been a relatively⁷ slow moving plant-eating dinosaur, it probably spent its day wondering around finding vegetation to eat.

　　加斯顿龙是一种移动速度相对较慢的植食恐龙，它很可能整天在周围游荡寻找能吃的植物。

　　Because it was so heavily armored, it could only eat low vegetation, so ferns and cycad plants and low-lying shrubs⁸.

　　因为它身披重甲，只能吃到较低的植物就是蕨类、苏铁类植物和低矮的树丛。

　　Then, the investigation⁹ took an unexpected turn.

　　之后的调查有了意料之外的转折。

　　Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University using CT scans to peer through the armored skulls¹¹ of dinosaurs like Gastonia.

　　俄亥俄大学的劳伦斯·维特莫利用CT扫描来观察加斯顿龙这样的恐龙带甲的头颅内部。

　　What he discovered was intriguing¹².

　　他发现的事情非常有趣。

　　Scientists now know that this "tank" was not an intelligent dinosaur, but had a powerful sense of smell and hearing.

　　科学家们现在知道这种“坦克”不是很聪明的恐龙，但是有很强的嗅觉和听觉能力。

　　When we look at the brain of Ankylosaurs like Gastonia, what we see is still a relatively simple kind of structure.

　　在观察加斯顿龙这类甲龙的脑部时，我们看到的是相对比较简单的结构。

　　One thing that is kind of expanded though is the olfactory¹³ centers, the centers associated with the sense of smell.

　　有一部分比较膨大就是其嗅觉中枢，这部分大脑跟气味感觉相关。

　　They're actually considerably¹⁴ enlarged suggesting that smell was very important to these animals.

　　它们其实相当大，这说明嗅觉对于这些动物来说很重要。

　　We also see, in the inner ear of these animals, that the part associated with hearing was also remarkably¹⁵ well developed suggesting that hearing as well as smell were particularly important.

　　我们还看到，这些动物的内耳，与听觉相关的那部分，同样也相当发达，表明听觉对于它们来说也和嗅觉一样非常重要。

　　But the CT scans uncovered something else.

　　不过CT扫描还揭示了其它情况。

　　The vision centre of the skull¹⁰ showed that Gastonia had poor eyesight.

　　其头颅里的视觉中枢表明加斯顿龙的视力不佳。

　　In the brain, we don't see tremendous expansion of the optic centers, the visual centers associated with processing visual information.

　　在它的脑部，看不到视觉中枢有特别明显的膨大，视觉中枢与处理视觉信号有关。

　　They have a really low head posture¹⁶, these are not animals that can in a sense scan the horizon for predators¹⁸, and so vision really would only be useful at close distances in terms of seeing a predator¹⁷.

　　这些动物的头部体位很低，它们不是在某种意义上能扫视地平线上掠食者的动物，所以就看到掠食者来说，其视觉只有观察近距离时才会有用。

1 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

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 shears   

n.大剪刀

参考例句：

• These garden shears are lightweight and easy to use.这些园丁剪刀又轻又好用。
• With a few quick snips of the shears he pruned the bush.他用大剪刀几下子就把灌木给修剪好了。

5 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》

6 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

7 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。

8 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 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。

11 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

12 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

14 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

15 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

16 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

17 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。

18 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》