侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第20期:霸王龙糟糕的口腔卫生

 　　When Witmer studied the skull¹, he saw that there were serrated ridges² in the teeth.

　　维特莫研究其颅骨时，看到牙齿里有锯齿状的脊状隆起。

　　The ridges are remarkably³ similar to those of another animal with a deadly bite, a Komodo dragon.

　　这些隆起跟另一种撕咬致命的动物非常相似——科莫多龙。

　　Another interesting attribute about the teeth of Tyrannosaurus Rex, is that the serrations on the teeth,霸王龙的牙齿另一个有趣的特点是，牙齿上的锯齿状凸起，the fine little ridges, perhaps actually lodged⁴ little bits of flesh from a previous meal and that rotting of that flesh would've produced a great deal of bacteria.

　　细小的隆起里面可能会留下上一顿美餐的肉屑，这些肉腐烂后会产生大量细菌。

　　What we're talking about here is really bad oral hygiene⁵.

　　我们说的可真是很糟糕的口腔卫生。

　　Now, in today we actually have animals, the Komodo dragon, this large gigantic lizard⁶, that actually has what we call a septic bite.

　　如今我们确实有这样的动物，比如科莫多龙这样的巨大蜥蜴，这种攻击被我们称为败血一咬。

　　That, actually, when it bites an animal, it, in a sense, infects it with the bacteria in its mouth.

　　其实就是当它撕咬别的动物时把口腔里的细菌感染给该动物。

　　Equipped with these features it seems unlikely that any creature would attack a Tyrannosaurus Rex, even a juvenile⁷.

　　有了这些特点的武装，看来好像没有什么动物会攻击雷克斯暴龙，哪怕是尚未成年的。

　　So to determine who would attack this T-Rex, paleontologists had to get a complete picture of how T-Rex lived, and fought.

　　要确定这头霸王龙遭到谁的攻击，古生物学家必须要获得霸王龙生活和战斗的全景。

　　The first step was to study its environment.

　　第一步是研究其生活环境。

　　When we look at the Cretaceous environments of this part of the world, it's not all that different than environments that we still have today.

　　我们在了解白垩纪时期世界的这部分环境时，发现跟现在我们有的没那么大区别。

　　When we look at the plants, when we look at the climate and so on,我们研究了植物，也关注了气候等，

　　we could assume that we were looking at something that looks very similar to what we see in the Gulf⁸ States, climate wise and everything else-wise.

　　能够推测我们要面对的环境跟现在墨西哥湾各州非常接近，无论是气候还是其它方面。

　　Fossilized plants found near the skeleton revealed that the young T-Rex lived in an area near conifer, pine and magnolia trees.

　　在骨骸附近发现的化石植物揭示，年幼的霸王龙生活的地区附近有针叶林松树和木兰树。

　　They also discovered prehistoric⁹ ash, which suggests that volcanic¹⁰ activity occurred on a regular basis.

　　人们还发现了史前火山灰，表明那时的火山活动频繁发生。

　　But in the investigation¹¹, scientists discovered something else.

　　不过在调查中，科学家们还发现了别的信息。

　　Bones of prehistoric crocodiles and fish were found nearby.

　　附近还有史前鳄鱼和鱼类的骨骸。

　　This suggests that the T-Rex's body had been washed into a river during flooding.

　　这说明霸王龙的尸体被洪水冲入了一条河流。

　　Evidence of a violent earth that could change without warning.

　　这是狂暴地球突发剧变的证据。

　　After studying its environment, the investigation looked to the behaviour of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

　　在研究了环境之后，调查还要关注雷克斯暴龙的行为。

　　Using evidence found in the bones and study from modern animal behaviour,通过在骨骸上找到的证据和对现代动物行为的研究，scientists piece together how these huge dinosaurs¹² hunted, fought and raised their young.

　　科学家们推断出了这种庞大恐龙是怎样狩猎、战斗和抚育后代的。

　　Tyrannosaurus Rex was the ultimate aggressor.

　　雷克斯暴龙是终极攻击者。

　　There's nothing that Tyrannosaurus Rex was afraid of including its biggest prey¹³ item, Triceratops,雷克斯暴龙无所畏惧，包括它们最大的猎物——三角龙，which had these big formidable horns and frill to protect its neck.

　　三角龙有可怕的大角和保护颈部的褶皱。

　　But there were no other dinosaurs around that would even give Tyrannosaurus Rex a second thought about its own safety.

　　不过周围没有别的恐龙会让雷克斯暴龙对自身安全有所顾虑。

 

1 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。

2 ridges   

n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊

参考例句：

• The path winds along mountain ridges. 峰回路转。
• Perhaps that was the deepest truth in Ridges's nature. 在里奇斯的思想上，这大概可以算是天经地义第一条了。

3 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

4 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

6 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

7 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。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 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。

10 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 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》

13 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。