侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第139期:地球刚刚度过一次冰期

 　　This makes hunting for the Mega Lion nearly impossible.

　　这就让拟狮的捕猎有了极大难度。

　　Without heavy cover to hide his body, he is unable to get close enough to ambush¹ his prey².

　　没有严实的掩护来遮挡住它身体，它就没法靠近猎物伏击它的猎物。

　　His weakness is his size and his inability to run down faster prey.

　　它的弱点就是它的体型和无法追赶较快的猎物。

　　Two apex³ predators⁴ occupying the same space is unusual.

　　两种顶级掠食者在同一地区生活并不寻常。

　　Possibly, they lived during different eras?

　　它们可能是来自不同时期吗？

　　We find both lions and short face bears at Rancho La Brea and other sites around the North American continent.

　　在拉布雷亚沥青坑和北美大陆的其它地点，我们都发现了拟狮和短面熊。

　　That indicates that at least at times, they shared the same territory.

　　这表明起码在某一时段，它们分享同一片领地。

　　The discovery of both lion and bear in the La Brea Tar⁵ Pits proves without any doubt that these two predators lived at the same time in the same place.

　　在拉布雷亚沥青坑发现了拟狮和短面熊，毫无疑问证明了这两种掠食者生活在同一时期同一地区。

　　And as added proof, the bones of both have been carbon dated and this proves that they lived together.

　　作为附加证据，两者的骨头都做过碳同位素测年，这也证明了它们曾一起生活。

　　The trap cave was probably on a migration⁶ trail, a place where both beasts would have hunted.

　　地穴陷阱可能就在迁徙路线上，这两种动物都曾在这里捕猎。

　　It's a site where, for the last 100,000 years, animals have been simply dropping in, and so many of them have dropped in that we have excavated⁷ about 5% of deposit and gotten over 40,000 bones.

　　这个地点，在持续的十万年里，动物们不断失足坠入，掉下去的动物非常之多，我们仅仅挖掘出其中百分之五就有了超过四万块骨头。

　　And amongst the bones, we've gotten complete skeletons of the American lion and the short-faced bear.

　　在这些骨头里面，我们有美洲拟狮和短面熊完整的骨架。

　　But knowing that these two gigantic animals hunted in the same terrain⁸ only deepened the mystery.

　　不过知道这两种巨型动物在同一地区狩猎只会加深谜团。

　　It's very rare for two top predators to hunt in the same territory.

　　两种顶级掠食者在同一地区狩猎，是非常少见的现象。

　　Then, another clue came to light.

　　但是又有一条线索浮现出来。

　　Paleontologists went back 10,000 years, and examined an earth that had just come out of an Ice Age.

　　古生物学家回溯到一万年前，发现当时的地球刚刚度过一次冰期。

　　What they found was a world in turmoil⁹.

　　他们发现的是一个混乱的世界。

　　We can look at the geological record of earth at that time and see that there were dramatic climate changes taking place.

　　我们可以看一看那一时期地球的地质记录，能够看到当时正发生着剧烈的气候变化。

　　One of the most amazing pieces of evidence is found in solid rock.

　　最奇妙证据之一发现于坚固的岩石。

　　It shows that huge glaciers¹⁰ had been slowly moving southward for thousands of years, but then receded¹¹ at an alarming rate.

　　它表明巨大的冰川已经缓慢地向南部推进了数千年，然后又以惊人的速度后退。

　　This is pretty clear evidence that the environment was not only changing, it was changing very rapidly.

　　这是很明确的证据，表明环境不仅在改变而且在急速改变。

1 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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》

5 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

6 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

7 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

9 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

10 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

11 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。