侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第150期:死去犀牛标本藏玄机

 　　The first thing you notice is this big lumpy mass on the end of its nose, we call that a boss.

　　最先会注意到的是在它鼻子末端巨大的肿块状物，我们称之为圆凸。

　　Well, some paleontologists believe that it housed a gigantic horn like the horn of a rhinoceros².

　　有些古生物学家相信它有巨大的角，就像犀牛角那样。

　　With almost every known dinosaur³, their horns are made of bone, but in the case of pachyrhinosaurus, we think that, that horn could have been made of either hair or keratin like our fingernails and that stuff decomposes⁴ when the animal dies.

　　在几乎所有的已知恐龙里，它们的角都是骨质的，不过对于肿鼻角龙，我们认为它的角要么是毛发构成的要么是像指甲那样的角蛋白，在动物死去后，那些物质会腐烂分解掉。

　　1012.jpg

　　A closer study of a modern rhinoceros would reveal that their horns attach differently to the skull⁵ than they did in Pachyrhinosaurus.

　　对现代犀牛的进一步研究表明了它们的角与头颅的连接方式与肿鼻角龙的并不一样。

　　We actually got specimens⁶ of rhinoceros that had passed away in zoos and looked very closely at exactly how the horn attaches to the bone.

　　我们分析了在动物园里死去犀牛的标本，仔细地研究了它们的角与骨头连接的方式。

　　The result of that shows that the structure that we see here in this rhino¹ is actually not what we find in Pachyrhinosaurus.It's a very different kind of structure.

　　结果表明我们在这头犀牛这里看到的结构其实和在肿鼻角龙身上看到的不同。是两种区别很大的结构。

　　Behind the boss, protecting the neck and shoulders, Pachyrhinosaurus sported its other distinguishing feature, a bony headdress called a frill.

　　在圆凸后面，肿鼻角龙还有另一个独特的结构保护着颈部和肩部，一个骨质的头饰，称为褶边。

　　The frills were clearly functional⁷ because, I mean, this was something that was passed on from generation to generation.

　　褶边显然有用，因为这个可是一代代遗传下来的。

　　It may have started off as a species recognition, sexual display mechanism⁸, but both male and female have it, so I'm sure in the end it helped in terms of protection.

　　可能一开始是种类区分、性别展示手段，但是雌性和雄性都有，所以我认为它肯定有保护作用。

　　If you're going to bring down a Ceratopsian, you're not going to be able to get it by the neck because there's nothing to grab on there but solid bone, that's this thick.

　　要是想放倒一头肿鼻角龙的话，那么从颈部下手肯定不行，因为那里没有可以抓住的东西，除了坚硬的骨头，那骨头有这么厚。

　　By studying the bones at the site, paleontologists found another clue.

　　通过对化石场的骨头进行研究，古生物学家们发现了另一线索。

　　This herd⁹ consisted of all ages from the very young to full grown adults.

　　这群恐龙中，从非常幼小的到完全成年的，各种年龄段都有。

　　This cross section gave clues of how the Arctic dinosaurs¹⁰' horn physically¹¹ changed as they got older.

　　这一情况能让我们知道北极恐龙的角在物理上如何随着年龄增长而变化。

　　One of the things that's really interesting when we look at these nasal bosses in these different Pachyrhinosaurs is that no two are alike, they're all different.

　　我们在观察不同肿鼻角龙的鼻部圆凸时，确实有趣的事情之一是，没有哪两个是相似的，它们全都不一样。

　　That difference would tell a lot potentially about the animal's age, maybe about its sex, but also about its general health.

　　那个区别能告诉我们很多信息，可能关于动物的年龄，也许能表明它的性别，但也许也关于它的大致健康情况。

　　These are all the kinds of parameters¹² that animals are using to judge, whether it's a female judging a potential father for her children or potentially males sizing each other up for battle.

　　这些都是动物们相互判断时所使用的参考量，不管是雌性在选择未来孩子的父亲还是雄性在战斗时相互估量。

1 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

2 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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》

7 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 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。

10 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》

11 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。

12 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。