时差N小时 恐龙也会得癌症?

If you think that cancer is only found in humans, or that it's a modern disease, think again. Scientists have not only found cancer in many other animals, they have found it in dinosaurs² that lived more than 65 million years ago. Wondering if fossils could tell us something about ancient cancer, scientists traveling with a portable x-ray machine scanned ten-thousand dinosaur¹ vertebrae of over 700 museum specimens³.

如果你认为癌症只会出现在人类身上，或者它只是一种现代疾病，那么你需要从新审视一下这个问题了。科学家不仅发现其它很多动物患有癌症，而且还发现生活在距今6500万年前的恐龙也有癌症。考虑到能够通过化石来了解古代癌症，科学家用便携式X光仪对700个博物馆标本近1万件恐龙脊椎骨进行了扫描。

These included many popular dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus. Much to their surprise, they found that only one group suffered from cancer-the hadrosaurs, or “duck-billed” dinosaurs. 29 benign⁴ tumors were found in the tail bones of 97 animals. These were mostly hemangiomas or tumors of the blood vessels⁶.

经过扫描的恐龙化石包括许多我们比较熟悉的恐龙，比如剑龙，三角恐龙和暴龙。另科学家十分惊奇的是，仅有一组恐龙是癌症的受害者——它就是鸭嘴龙。研究人员在97个恐龙的尾骨里发现了29个良性肿瘤块。它们大多是血管瘤或是脉管瘤。

Doctors find the same type of tumors in humans today. One Edmontosaurus also had a malignant⁷ tumor⁵. Why did duck-Billed dinosaurs have cancer and not the others? Scientists aren't sure. They thought that if hadrosaurs were long-lived, they would have a greater chance of developing cancer, but they lived relatively⁸ short lives. These twenty-five foot long herbivores needed plenty to eat, so diet was another thing scientists considered.

医生们在今天的人类身上也发现了这类肿瘤。在一个爱德蒙托龙身上还发现了恶性肿瘤。为什么鸭嘴龙会患上癌症，而不是其它的恐龙呢？这一点科学家也不得而知。科学家认为，如果鸭嘴龙存活的时间很长，那么它们患癌症的几率会很大，但它们存活的时间相对较短。这些25英尺长的草食动物需要吃很多东西，因此科学家把它们的饮食作为另一个考虑因素。

Maybe conifers were to blame. Hadrosaurs ate plenty of them and they did contain known carcinogens. The trouble is, other conifer eaters didn't exhibit the same cancer. The cause of hadrosaur cancer remains⁹ a mystery today, but dinosaur fossils are helping¹⁰ unlock secrets of diseases millions of years old. Who knows what else they'll reveal.

也许罪魁祸首是针叶树。鸭嘴龙要吃很多针叶树叶，这些针叶树确实含有已知的致癌物。但问题是，其它吃针叶树的恐龙并没有患同样的癌症。鸭嘴龙的癌症病因至今还是个谜，但恐龙化石帮助我们揭开了隐藏了百万年之久的秘密. 谁知道它们还会揭示什么呢?

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 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 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

5 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

6 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 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。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。