侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第134期:不警觉的动物会坠入摔死

 　　In 1971, paleontologists discovered a massive hole in the ground in Wyoming. The cave opening had acted as a trap, unwary creatures fell to their death.

　　在1971年，古生物学家在怀俄明发现了地上的一个巨洞。这个洞口如同一个陷阱，不警觉的动物会坠入摔死。

　　They called it "natural trap cave".

　　人们称之为“自然陷坑”。

　　Laying 30 meters below the opening in an underground cavern¹, they found the remains² of thousands of ice age mammals.

　　在洞口下方30米处的一个地下洞穴，他们发现了数千具冰期哺乳动物的遗骸。

　　Among them, the broken skeleton of a giant bear named Arctodus.

　　在其中有一头巨熊的破碎骨架，它叫熊齿兽。

　　The thing that impresses everybody when they first see an Arctodus fossil is just how big it is.

　　每个人第一次见到熊齿兽化石的时候都震惊于它的巨大。

　　The largest bears living today are the Alaskan Brown Bears, the Kodiak Bears and the Polar Bears.And an Arctodus would be about twice as large as either one of those.

　　如今生活的最大的熊，是阿拉斯加棕熊、科迪亚克熊，以及北极熊。而熊齿兽的体型是它们任意一个的两倍多。

　　The size of this bear was staggering.

　　这种熊的体型大得惊人。

　　Arctodus stood 4 meters tall, its body was 5 meters long and it weighed nearly a metric ton.It towered over today's Grizzlies³.

　　熊齿兽站立起来有四米高，身体长五米，重量将近一吨。它远比现代灰熊更加高大。

　　Alongside its sheer mass, Arctodus had two distinctive⁴ features that differentiated⁵ it from modern bears.

　　除了体型巨大，熊齿兽还有两个特点让它们区别于现代熊。

　　The first was its oversized teeth and short, but powerful muzzle⁶, from which it derives⁷ its nickname: the short faced bear.

　　第一是它们超大的牙齿和短而有力的口鼻部，因此它们有一个小名：短面熊。

　　This is the skull⁸ of a giant short faced bear and you can see why they're named this.

　　这是巨大的短面熊颅骨，能看出来它们为何得此名。

　　They have a very shortened snout in proportion to the overall skull, their skull is actually very wide for its size.

　　从整个头颅的比例来看，它们的口鼻部非常短，它们的头颅对它的大小来说是非常宽的。

　　Here are the canines⁹, you can see they're very long and robust¹⁰.

　　这些是犬齿，能看到它们很长很结实。

　　The teeth here are very bear-like.They're just basically bear teeth that are scaled up, developed for crushing.

　　这里的牙齿和熊的很像。它们基本上是放大了的熊牙，用来咬碎东西。

　　Very powerful muscles would have attached right here, here, and up here that would have given it a very powerful bite.

　　这里附着非常有力的肌肉，这里，还有上边这里，这能带来非常强大的咬合力。

　　We open the mouth then.We can see those large canines, what it would be like to be on the dinner side of a short faced bear.

　　我们把它的嘴张开。看到那些很大的犬齿，试想一下被短面熊当成晚餐会是什么样吧。

　　The second feature was its unusually long front legs.

　　第二个特点是它异乎寻常的长前腿。

　　Modern Grizzly¹¹ bears have longer front legs than back legs.

　　现代灰熊前腿比后腿要长。

　　Allowing it to reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour over short distances.

　　这使它能够在短距离就加速到35英里每小时。

　　But in the mega bear, both equal-length legs were a special adaptation that may have allowed this bear to reach speeds in excess of 45 miles per hour, and run for much greater distances.

　　不过这种巨熊，前后一样的长腿，是一种特别的适应性，那也许能让这种熊达到超过45英里的时速，而且能奔跑更长的距离。

1 cavern   

n.洞穴，大山洞

参考例句：

• The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。
• It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 grizzlies   

北美洲灰熊( grizzly的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Suns beat the Memphis Grizzlies 127-113 earlier Tuesday night. 在周二晚上早些时候，太阳以127：113击败孟菲斯灰熊。
• Whatever you do, do not blink.They're like grizzlies. 无论你做什么，别眨眼。他们跟熊有点相象。

4 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

5 differentiated   

区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征

参考例句：

• The development of mouse kidney tubules requires two kinds of differentiated cells. 小鼠肾小管的发育需要有两种分化的细胞。
• In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上，大麦，苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。

6 muzzle   

n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默

参考例句：

• He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth.他把手枪的枪口放在牙齿中间。
• The President wanted to muzzle the press.总统企图遏制新闻自由。

7 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 canines   

n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 )；犬牙；犬科动物

参考例句：

• For example, the teeth are more primitive. There are large canines and unusually shaped incisors. 譬如，牙齿更为原始，有大的犬齿和非常合适的门齿。 来自辞典例句
• Well-to-canines can attend doggy daycare centers while their owners work. 富人家的狗在主人上班的时候可以去狗狗托管中心。 来自互联网

10 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

11 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。