侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第126期:干旱时期压力已至极限

 　　During times of drought, animals are stressed to the limit.

　　在干旱时期，动物们的压力已至极限。

　　Normal behavior is basically thrown out the window and it becomes a no holds bar fight for survival.

　　通常的行为都已不再适用，这已经变成了没有限制的生存斗争。

　　If Utahraptor and Gastonia happened to meet and I think they would have tended to avoid each other but if environmental factors such as extreme drought, food deprivation¹, that sort of things forced an unpleasant interaction, I would tend to think that, like all predators², Utahraptor would be forced to assess the health conditions of the Gastonia.

　　如果犹他盗龙和加斯顿龙偶遇，我觉得它们一般会避开对方，不过要是环境因素是极度干旱食物匮乏，那样的事情会导致一次不愉快的碰面，我会认为犹他盗龙和所有掠食者一样会被迫评估加斯顿龙的健康情况。

　　But with Gastonia, it's very tough to figure out a place where there was a chink in the amour.

　　不过就加斯顿龙来说，很难弄清楚它的身上哪块护甲有裂缝。

　　But there was one piece of evidence that puzzled experts.

　　不过有一个证据让专家们困惑。

　　The Gastonia skeleton had no marks or gashes³ in the bone.

　　加斯顿龙的骨架骨头上没有沟痕或印记。

　　Dinosaur⁴ expert George Blasing has an answer.

　　恐龙专家乔治·布雷兴知道答案。

　　The reason why there were no bite and claw marks on the bones of the Gastonia is because its body was so well protected by body armor.

　　加斯顿龙骨头上没有咬痕和爪痕的原因是它的身体被体甲保护得非常好。

　　Even something as powerful as Utahraptor cannot bite through that armor to reach the bone below.

　　即使像犹他盗龙这么强壮的东西也无法咬穿其铠甲碰到下面的骨头。

　　And to make matters worse, that body amour was covered in a protective sheath of keratin.

　　雪上加霜的是，那个体甲上覆盖着保护性的角质鞘。

　　So even if the raptor was able to leave bite marks in that keratin sheath, we would never see 'em because the keratin covering decomposes⁵ when the Gastonia dies, and that leaves behind no evidence whatsoever⁶.

　　所以就算迅猛龙能够在角质鞘上留下咬痕，我们也不会看到它们，因为角质层在加斯顿龙死后就会变质分解不会有任何证据留下来。

　　Only the belly⁷ and legs of the Gastonia lacked amour.

　　加斯顿龙只有腹部和腿部没有装甲。

　　It protected these soft spots from predators by hugging the ground.

　　它通过靠近地面移动来保护这些柔软部分免受掠食者之害。

　　The Utahraptor was far more intelligent than the Gastonia, but was it smart enough to figure out a way to reach its vulnerable underbelly?

　　犹他盗龙要比加斯顿龙聪明得多，但是它是否足够聪明能有办法够到加斯顿龙脆弱的下腹呢？

　　If we look at the physical strength comparing Utahraptor and Gastonia, Gastonia comes out ahead.

　　如果我们在身体强壮程度方面，把犹他盗龙和加斯顿龙进行对比，加斯顿龙更占优势。

　　Utahraptor is strong, but it's a lightly built bird-like predatory animal.

　　犹他盗龙很强壮，不过它是体型较轻类似鸟类的肉食动物。

　　Gastonia is a very solidly built animal.

　　而加斯顿龙的构造非常结实。

　　It has to be physically⁸ strong to carry all that body armor.

　　它得足够强壮才能撑起这全身铠甲。

　　So, it's going to be, in just terms of sheer muscle mass, by far the more powerful of the two.

　　所以，这将是，仅从肌肉量来说，目前它（加斯顿龙）是两者中更有力量的。

1 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

2 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》

3 gashes   

n.深长的切口（或伤口）( gash的名词复数 )v.划伤，割破( gash的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The classmates' hearts ached for him and they begged him to wear gloves to prevent any more gashes. 同学们都心疼他，劝他干活时戴上手套，免得再弄破手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He stripped himself, and I counted twenty-seven separate scars and gashes. 他脱去衣服，我在他身上数出了二十七处瘢痕和深深的伤口。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 decomposes   

腐烂( decompose的第三人称单数 )； （使）分解； 分解（某物质、光线等）

参考例句：

• The debris slowly decomposes into compost. 这些垃圾慢慢地分解成了堆肥。
• Plastic is a substance that hardly decomposes in the nature. 塑料是一种在自然中极难降解的物质。

6 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

7 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。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。