英国新闻听力 科学家计算出剑龙“苏菲”体重

It’s one of the best known of all the dinosaurs². Yes, it’s the stegosaurus, the one with a series of intimidating³ sharp plates protruding⁴ from its back. Well, the National History Museum here in London recentlymanaged to get one that’s eighty per cent complete. And now scientists have worked out its body mass. Andnow as Jonathan Amos reports, it’s giving them unprecedented⁵ insights into the life of this iconic prehistoric⁶ creature.

Ask people to name some dinosaurs and stegosaurus will surely be on the list. As well as that line of bonyplates along its spine⁷, it had spikes⁸ on the end of its tail, a fearsome creature that lived 150 million years ago. But as recognizable as this dinosaur¹ has become, just how it lived its life is something of a mystery, because so few fossils survive. London’s stegosaurus, nickname Sophie, is changing all that. Her preservation⁹ is superb. And scientists can now report in the journal Biology Letters that they know her weight, 1.6 tons. Sophie was a juvenile¹⁰. She’d been much bigger if she’d live into adulthood¹¹. Armed with the new data, the team is next trying to work out how Sophie ate and moved.

If we want to estimate how fast an animal runs, we need body mass. So yes, we are really glad that we’ve been able to kind of get hold on this very early on.

Lipstick¹² may not be the most obvious weapon of war. But it seems the supply of cosmetics¹³ was a high priority for the British government during The Second World War. Julie Peacock has been to a new exhibition which shows beauty was seen as a duty.

This part of the exhibition is called “Beauty is duty”. What does that mean?

I think what the section tells us is about the pressure that is put upon women in the Second World War to carry on looking good. If you do not look your best, basically you are giving over to the enemy. And we’re standing¹⁴ just now in front of a big graphic¹⁵ wall which has some of their adverts¹⁶. It’s this idea of still having some control over your day-to-day life and the war not completely destroying your access to these things. I think what this reminds us is the impact upon personal lives. And so what it shows you and reminds you is just how far the impact of the war went on daily ordinary life. And that really is what this exhibition is about. 

它是最著名的恐龙之一。是的，它就是剑龙，背上长满尖锐吓人的板状物。近日，伦敦国家历史博物馆获得了一具完整度达80%的恐龙化石。现在，科学家已计算出它的体重。据乔纳森·阿莫斯报道，该恐龙化石让科学家们史无前例地洞察到这种典型史前生物的生活状态。

请人们说出几个恐龙的名字，他们一定会说出剑龙。除了脊柱两旁并排长满骨板，剑龙尾巴末端还长有尖刺，这种庞然大物生活在1.5亿年前。虽然这种恐龙为大多数人所知，但它的生活方式却是个谜，因为留存至今的剑龙化石少之又少。伦敦一具昵称为索菲的剑龙则改变了这一切。它能保存到现在简直太好了。如今，科学家们可以在杂志《生物学报》上发表报告，称他们已经知道索菲的体重——1.6吨。苏菲是一只年轻的恐龙，如果它能长到成年，体形会更大。新数据在手，科研团队下一步将努力研究苏菲进食和活动的习惯。

如果我们想估算出一个动物跑多快，我们需要知道它的体重。所以，没错，我们很高兴这么快就拿到了数据。

口红可能不是最明显的战争武器，但二战时期，英国政府似乎非常重视化妆品的供应。日前，朱莉·皮考克参观了一个新展览，主题为“美丽即责任”。

这一部分展览叫做“美丽即责任”，什么意思呢？

我认为这一部分想告诉我们二战中女性所承受的压力，即她们要继续保持美丽。如果你不把最美的一面展现出来，基本上就输给了敌人。我们刚才驻足观看的大图片墙，上面有一些化妆品的广告。它要表达的就是人们依然能够控制自己的日常生活，战争没有彻底影响人们获取化妆品。在我看来，它提醒我们的是战争对个人生活的影响。所以，这个展览向你展示的、以及提醒你的是战争对普通人日常生活影响的深远程度。这才是此次展览的举办的意图。

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 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》

3 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

4 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

7 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

8 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

10 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

11 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

12 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

13 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

16 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。