侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第148期:无底洞穴意味着死亡

 　　The lion's senses are keen.Its whiskers can pick up vibrations¹.So it can sense animals as small as a mouse in pitch darkness.

　　拟狮的感官很敏锐。它的胡须能感知振动。所以它能在漆黑一片的情况下感知到和老鼠一样小的动物。

　　The lion is desperate, and the only way it can win is to get to the throat.

　　拟狮孤注一掷，它的唯一胜机在于能咬到喉咙。

　　With the last remaining strength he lunges towards the bear.

　　它用尽所剩的力气扑向短面熊。

　　The force of the impact knocks the bear backwards² and the lion grabs the throat.

　　巨大的撞击力让短面熊倒向后面，拟狮咬住了它的喉咙。

　　The lion needs almost 20 kilos of meat a day to survive.Without it, it will quickly weaken.

　　拟狮每天需要吃下二十公斤肉才能生存。没有足够食物它会很快变弱。

　　The bear is able to regain³ his footing, and towers over its rival.

　　短面熊重新站立起来，压倒它的对手。

　　It throws the 750 pound Mega Lion with little effort.

　　它不费多大力气就将750磅重的拟狮甩开。

　　Unfortunately for the lion, the bear happens to throw it in direction of the cave.

　　这头拟狮很不幸，短面熊刚好把它朝地穴的方向扔去。

　　The cave is over 30 meters deep, a deadly drop.

　　地穴深达三十多米，这是死亡坠落。

　　It's a sheer drop to the bottom that nothing can survive.

　　这一下直接掉到洞底，没什么能够生还。

　　The herbivore bones that were found in the cave show no signs of predation, so this tells us that nothing that went into that cave lived to eat the bodies of the other victims.

　　在洞里发现的植食动物骨头没有被食用的迹象，所以这说明没什么能够活着进入洞穴吃掉其它牺牲者的尸体。

　　Although the cave meant certain death to animals, it would yield ground breaking benefits to paleontologists.

　　尽管洞穴对动物来说意味着死亡，这却给古生物学家们带来了突破性的好处。

　　The great thing about a cave is that it helps preserve the evidence, because the bones aren't exposed to the normal elements that can erode⁴ the facts and alter the clues, but that's of little comfort to the animals who happened to fall into it.

　　洞穴的一个好处就是它能保存证据，因为骨头没有暴露在通常的环境下，不会被侵蚀而损失线索，不过这对掉进洞里的动物们并不算安慰。

　　Having claimed the life of the Mega Lion, natural trap cave would continue to accumulate thousands of other victims over the next 10,000 years.

　　在让美洲拟狮殒命之后，这个自然陷阱穴在此后的一万年里会继续让成千上万的动物丧生。

　　The Mega Lion is not the only victim to fall prey⁵ to the trap.

　　拟狮并非陷阱的唯一牺牲品。

　　As the environments continued to get worse, even the apex⁶ predator⁷, like the short-faced bear, would be forced to take advantage of any food source it could find.

　　随着环境继续恶化，就连短面熊这样的顶级掠食者，也被迫利用它能找到的任何事物来源。

　　And like the lion, it would have been lured⁸ into the cave with the promise of meat, but would have found death waiting at the bottom of the cave.

　　和拟狮一样，它会被找到肉的希望引诱进洞穴，但它会坠落洞底而丧生。

　　Giant predators⁹ like the Mega Lion and short-faced bear would eventually be unable to sustain themselves in the warmer climates, but they remain some of the largest and most ferocious¹⁰ mammals ever to walk the earth.

　　拟狮和短面熊这样的巨大的掠食者，逐渐无法在较暖的气候下喂养自己，不过它们仍是地球上出现过的一些最大最凶猛的哺乳动物。

　　The trap cave still holds thousands of bones, many have yet to be dug up.

　　陷阱地穴中仍有无数骨头，很多仍有待于挖掘。

　　It's one of the richest fossil finds in North America, and one of the greatest sources of mammal fossils in the world.

　　这里是北美化石最富集之地之一，也是世界上哺乳动物化石的最大来源之一。

1 vibrations   

n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动

参考例句：

• We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
• I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了，她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

3 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

4 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

9 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》

10 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。