英语听力：探索发现 2012-05-23 恐龙是怎样的炼成的—2

 Here in Crystal Palace in south London, you can still see the first dinosaur¹ exhibition that was ever built anywhere in the world. The sculptures were unveiled in 1854. It was the start of an obsession² that we’ve never got over. But it wasn’t long before the science behind these reconstructions⁴ had lost credibility. Even by the end of the 19th century, our ideas about dinosaurs⁵ had changed so much that these models were already looked upon with scorn. 

 

This megalosaurus for instance is a shame walking on all four legs, but we now know he would have be bipedal if he would have stood on just his hind³ legs and his forelegs would have been quite small and lifted it right up off the ground. When the first iguanodon was discovered, only one thumbone was found. So paleontologists thought it must have been a horn. But an iguanodon didn’t have a horn. It was easy to walk amongst these massive models and to laugh at the 19th-century idea of what a dinosaur was like. We now know so much more. We’ve worked at a phenomenal amount about dinosaurs. But how have we done that? How do you start to get close to animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago?

 

From 19th century London to 21st century Los Angeles, 150 years after the first ever dinosaur exhibition, I want to know how we can be sure that we’re now getting it right. So I’ve come to L.A.’s museum of natural history.

 

The museum is undergoing major redevelopment at the moment. At central visual is a multi-million-dollar dinosaur exhibit. Luis Chiappe is director of the museum’s dinosaur institute and curator of the new exhibition.

 

Hello, Louis. Hello.

 

How are you? 

 

I’m very well. Nice to meet you.

 

Likewise. 

 

He’ll be packing the exhibition with everything we know about dinosaurs from the smallest to the biggest with the latest science on how they looked, moved and interacted.

1 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。

2 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

3 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

4 reconstructions   

重建( reconstruction的名词复数 )； 再现； 重建物； 复原物

参考例句：

• Multicolored reconstructions have been formed using (black and white) volume holographic plates. 利用黑白体积全息片已经做成了彩色重建象。
• The method gives ways to evaluate collision speed in traffic accident reconstructions. 该模型为交通事故再现推算碰撞速度提供了有效实用的方法。

5 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》