纪录片《巨龙的奥秘》 第19期 史无前例的发现

Currie and his team pounced¹ on this unique site and started digging. And it was worth it.

Currie和他的研究小组赶到这个地点，开始挖掘。他们得到了回报

What they found were the remains² of several giant tyrannosaurs, all together in one place.

他们发现数只暴龙的遗骸都埋在同一个地方

One after another, they kept unearthing³ the bones of these huge carnivores dinosaurs⁴.

他们一具接着一具地挖出这些巨型食肉动物的骨骼

I don't know if Brown actually ever did a head count, but the minimum number of animals in this quarry⁵ is definitely 12.

我不知道Brown以前有没有数过，化石场中的恐龙数量确切的说是12只

12 large meat-eating dinosaurs buried in the same place. It was an unprecedented⁶ find.

12只大型食肉恐龙埋在同一个地方，这是一个史无前例的发现

Phil Currie had found the site that he had dreamed of. But there was more.

Philip Currie找到了他做梦都想找到的地方，但是这里还有更大的惊喜

As they examined the bones they had collected,

他们检测挖出的骨骼后发现

it was clear that the dinosaurs they had excavated⁷ were of every age, from babies up to fully⁸ mature adults.

这些恐龙显然包括了各个年龄层，从小恐龙到成年恐龙

It looked like a pack.

看起来像是一个族群

The range of material is such that we can see that the smallest individual found in the bone bed was about four meters long.

我们从化石场挖出的标本中最小的个体大约有4米长

And the largest individual found in the bone bed is about 11 meters long. So it's a pretty big range in size for this animal.

最大的约有11米长。可见体型变化幅度很大

They had found a whole pack of tyrannosaurs.

他们找到了一个恐龙家族

Here at last was proof to carry that the giant meat-eaters were not solitary⁹ creatures, that the traditional image was wrong.

这些证据至少说明，大型食肉恐龙并不是独居动物，传统的观念是错误的

Instead, the mega-carnivores may really have lived and hunted in groups.

相反，大型食肉恐龙很可能是在一起生活和狩猎

If that was true, then down in South America,

倘若这是事实，再回想一下南美洲

packs of Giganotosaurus might indeed have attacked prey¹⁰ as enormous as the immense Argentinosaurus.

一群南方巨兽龙很可能也会攻击像阿根廷龙这般巨大的猎物。

1 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

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 unearthing   

发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露

参考例句：

• And unearthing the past often means literally and studying the evidence. 通常，探寻往事在字面上即意味着——刨根究底。
• The unearthing of "Peking Man" was a remarkable discovery. “北京人”的出土是个非凡的发现。

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 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

6 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。

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 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

10 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。