侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第41期:身体被踩的像煎饼一样

 Alone or in a group, this dinosaur's greatest strength was its colossal² bulk.

无论是单独或群体的腱龙，最大的优势来自其庞大的身躯。

But despite its staggering power, the Tenontosaurus had two inherent weaknesses.

但尽管其力量惊人，腱龙仍存在两个致命的弱点。

The first was its small brain.

其一是它的小脑袋。

A comparison of the brain to its body size suggests that these were not intelligent dinosaurs³.

其小脑袋与庞大身躯的对比表明这些恐龙不是很聪明。

But in a fight, things are not always what they appear.

但是战斗是并不总是像看起来那么简单。

The crushed remains⁴ of four Raptors is clear evidence that Tenontosaurus hadn't given in straight away.

四头迅猛龙被压碎的遗骸就是明确的证据，这些腱龙是有办法对抗攻击的。

When you look at the fossil evidence, it suggests that the Raptors were crushed under some pretty impressive weight.

你看到化石上的痕迹便能明白，这些迅猛龙是被超出想像的重量压碎的。

Had the Tenontosaurus crushed him with his foot,

腱龙用脚猛踩迅猛龙时，

I think their bodies would have looked like pancakes because you had all of its weight being focused on that small foot area.

我猜它们的身体会被踩的像煎饼一样，因为腱龙的体重集中在脚上。

But because their bodies were relatively⁵ intact, I think they were either crushed by the tail or, more likely, they were crushed under the weight of this animal.

但由于它们的遗骸相对完整，我猜它们是被尾巴压碎的，或更可能是被这种动物的庞大身躯压碎的。

To help formulate⁶ the hypothesis for this gang killing⁷, paleontologists began to piece together various scenarios⁸ of how the Raptors singled out the plant-eater.

为了重现群体猎杀的画面，古生物学家开始拼凑迅猛龙挑拣草食恐龙的各种场景。

They would probably stalk their prey⁹, maybe one would get up and size up and try to pick out the weakest one, maybe get them all running and getting the slowest one, so then they would take after that slowest one.

它们或许会悄悄跟踪猎物，也许有只会站起来看看它们的体型，选最弱的个体，让它们跑起来找出最慢的，然后对那头最慢的下手。

And maybe they would take turns chasing it around, tiring it.

而且它们可能轮班追逐以消耗猎物体力。

As soon as it was enough where one could jump on its back, all the rest of them would join and it would be curtains for that Tenontosaurus.

待时机成熟，一头迅猛龙便跳到腱龙背上，此时所有的一起出击，腱龙也就到了危机关头。

Like wolves, I suspect, that these animals would attack from different directions.

我觉得它们很像狼，可能会从不同的方向出击。

They would take their chance to come in when the attention of the Tenontosaurus was attracted somewhere else.

腱龙的视线被干扰时，它们会抓住机会从另一侧攻击。

So its key to success was get in there, tear holes in it, rip open that belly¹⁰,

因此它们成功的关键是跳上猎物、撕出伤口、开膛破肚，

and then as more and more of them strike, it just gets weaker and weaker until it collapses¹¹ and then they can come in and feast.

随着攻击者越来越多，猎物变得愈来愈弱直到瘫倒在地，接着它们便开始大快朵颐了。

Under attack from a pack of Raptors, the Tenontosaurus herd¹² would instinctively¹³ scatter¹⁴.

在迅猛龙群的围攻之下，腱龙群本能的四散逃开。

If separated from the group, the lone¹ Tenontosaurus had to rely on anything available, including the environment.

倘若从兽群分散，独行的腱龙只能依靠各种防御武器包括环境。

I think its main way of surviving would be to get in a place where the attackers couldn't come at it from all the sides.

我认为要想能活下来，它就得逃到一个攻击者无法不同方向进攻的地方。

So if it went into like denser¹⁵ vegetation, into the forest, running through the brush to help protect its flanks from attackers.

所以如果腱龙跑进浓密的树丛、跑进森林里或是穿过灌丛，攻击者就很难从侧面袭击。

That would probably be its safest course.

这可能是最安全的策略。

1 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

2 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

3 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》

4 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。

5 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。

6 formulate   

v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述

参考例句：

• He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌，清楚地做了回答。
• I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 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。

10 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

11 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

12 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

13 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

15 denser   

adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时，发现人群相当密集。