侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第154期:牙齿适合用来切肉

 　　It was a species of Tyrannosaur.

　　这是暴龙的一种。

　　That suggested to us, well, maybe these Tyrannosaur teeth are in fact from animals that are trampling¹ the bodies of these things as they eat them.

　　那就表明，也许这些暴龙牙齿是它们踩着这些尸体进食的时候留下的。

　　The final line of evidence came from the bones themselves because we started finding tooth marks of Tyrannosaurs on the Ceratopsian bones.

　　最后一条线索来自骨头本身，因为我们开始在角龙骨头上面发现暴龙的齿痕。

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　　There was no question at that point in time that the Tyrannosaurs were definitely eating the bodies of those Pachyrhinosaurus shortly after they died.

　　毫无疑问在那一时期暴龙绝对会在那些肿鼻角龙死后立马吃掉它们的尸体。

　　A closer inspection² of the shape of the teeth and the number of serrations pointed³ to the member of the Tyrannosaur family that was responsible for the attack - the most deadly predator⁴ of its time, Albertosaurus.

　　对牙齿形状的进一步检验以及齿痕的齿数都指出暴龙家族的成员要对这起攻击负责，它是当时最致命的掠食者，阿尔伯特龙。

　　Albertosaurus was a top predator of the Tyrannosaur species.

　　阿尔伯特龙是暴龙中的一种顶级掠食者。

　　This meat-eater lived a few million years before its larger and better known cousin, T-Rex.

　　这种肉食者比它的更大更出名的表亲霸王龙要早几百万年。

　　So if the T-Rex is the SUV or Mack truck version, Albertosaurus was the sports car.

　　所以要是霸王龙是休旅车或麦克卡车版的话，阿尔伯特龙就是跑车版。

　　The same basic design, but sleeker⁵, more elegant, and almost certainly faster as an adult.

　　同样的基本设计，但是更流畅优雅，成年后肯定会更快。

　　Albertosaurus measured 9 meters long, stood 3 meters tall at the hips⁶, and weighed as much as 3 tons.

　　阿尔伯特龙长达九米，站起来髋部高达三米，重量可达三吨。

　　The carnivore had five key Tyrannosaur features that made it a fearsome predator.

　　这种肉食动物有五种关键的暴龙特点使之成为可怕的掠食者。

　　First and foremost, Albertosaurus possessed⁷ a powerful set of jaws⁸ and about 70 dagger-like teeth, sharp both at the point and along the sides.

　　首先是最重要的，阿尔伯特龙有一副有力的双颌，还有七十枚匕首般的牙齿，其尖端和两侧都很锋利。

　　They were clearly used to slice through, rather than crush their prey⁹.

　　它们很明显是用来切穿猎物而不是压碎猎物的。

　　Their teeth were recurved which means they start to point backwards¹⁰ and they were also very blade-like and had serrated edges.

　　它们的牙齿后弯曲，这意味着它们开始指向后方，它们也是很像利刃边缘呈锯齿状。

　　It's pretty unique because they're perfectly¹¹ adapted for slicing meat but not necessarily for crunching¹² bone.

　　这非常独特，因为它们非常适合用来切肉，而不是去咬碎骨头。

　　The second key Tyrannosaur feature was binocular vision, giving it keen depth perception.

　　它的第二个关键特征是双目视觉，让它有很好的深度感。

　　Tyrannosaurus like Albertosaurus generally had a very good sense of vision.

　　阿尔伯特龙这样的暴龙一般都有非常敏锐的视觉。

　　A very important part of that relates to how the inner ear, the motion detectors¹³ of the head, relate to the sense of vision.

　　那其中很重要的一部分与内耳，这个脑袋里的运动感受器，如何与视觉关联有关。

　　What that shows us is that Tyrannosaurs just like Albertosaurus would be able to move their eyes and their heads and their necks quickly to track prey.

　　那告诉我们像阿尔伯特龙这样的暴龙能够迅速地移动双眼、头部和颈部来跟踪猎物。

1 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。

2 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

5 sleeker   

磨光器，异型墁刀

参考例句：

• As tight as a corset, the new speed suits make the wearer sleeker and more streamlined. 这种新型泳衣穿起来就像紧身胸衣，可使穿着者身形光滑，更具流线型。
• When he became leaner and faster, his digital doppelganger also became sleeker and more fleet-footed. 当真科比变得更瘦并且更快，他的虚拟兄弟也变得灵动飞快。

6 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

8 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

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 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技