VOA标准英语2009年-Colorado Museum Makes No Bones about R

 

Rocky Mountain museum is creating its own Jurassic adventure bone by bone

Joseph Mok | Washington, DC 07 December 2009

Dinosaur¹ researchers have made giant strides in recent years, however they know that the vast majority of dinosaur specimens³ have yet to be discovered

The gigantic brachiosaurus … the fierce and deadly tyrannosaurus … the fast and nimble velociraptor.

There are more than 1,000 known types of dinosaurs⁴, with an estimated 2,000 more yet to be discovered, according to paleontologists - dinosaur experts.  We visit the nation's capital to learn more about the giant creatures that populated the earth millions of years ago.
 
The U.S. state of Colorado is an ideal destination for anyone interested in hunting for dinosaur fossils.  Like Wyoming, its neighbor to the north, Colorado has its own facility devoted⁵ to restoring dinosaurs to their original form, the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. 

 "What we are trying to do is to present an incomplete specimen² in a complete way. Because if you just have random⁶ bones lying around, it's hard for someone to come in and look at it and understand what the animal looked like in its entirety. And, by filling in the blanks, they see the real material that [has] been used in the reconstruction⁷, but they also see what the animal looks like in its entirety." Anthony Maltese, curator of the center said.

The Colorado center restores about four to five dinosaur specimens every year.  To ensure accuracy, it uses the actual fossilized skeletal bones to the greatest extent possible when constructing the model.  But sometimes the restorers have to use silicone to fill in for the real thing. However, occasionally even they are stumped⁸, and when that happens they have to consult other experts, many of whom are found at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. 

Since the 19th century it has systematically⁹ collected all varieties of fossilized skeletons.   The museum not only has a display area open to the public, but also has an archival collection of more than one million specimens taking up three floors.   Matthew Carrano is curator of dinosaur exhibitions at the Smithsonian.

"We are a national museum, but also an international museum.  Everybody really tries to come to Washington once in their lives if they live in the country.  But we also get many, many thousands of (international) tourists as well," Carrano said. "It is very important to us that in our exhibition halls we reflect not just the local character of what we have but the international characters."

When he is not planning the displays, curator Carrano does his own scientific research.  His latest study is this skull¹⁰ bone of ceratosaurus , a large predatory dinosaur.  "Our ceratosaurus is a unique specimen. It is the original specimen of ceratosaurus, the very first one that was found," he explained. "The one that led paleontologist Othniel Marsh¹¹ to create the name ceratosaurus."

"It's a meat-eating dinosaur. It would have lived in the Late Jurassic period about a 140, 150 million years ago. For more than a hundred years, it was the only specimen ever discovered of this dinosaur. Everyone who knew about paleontology knew about this specimen because it was the only one. In the last 20 or 30 years there have been a couple more specimens. But it's a very, very rare dinosaur," Marsh said.

Though dinosaur researchers have made giant strides in recent years, they know they have much more to learn.  After all, they believe that the vast majority of dinosaur specimens have yet to be discovered.

 

1 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。

2 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

3 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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》

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

7 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

8 stumped   

僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说

参考例句：

• Jack huffed himself up and stumped out of the room. 杰克气喘吁吁地干完活，然后很艰难地走出房间。
• He was stumped by the questions and remained tongue-tied for a good while. 他被问得张口结舌，半天说不出话来。

9 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

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 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。