英语听力：2013-04-10 恐龙之战之极限生存 Extreme Survivors—10

 One could imagine that the conflict between Tyrannosaurs and Triceratops may have been one of the greatest combats that nature has ever had. 

 

And this well-protected herbivore is everywhere. In fact in the Late Cretaceous, Triceratops outnumbered Tyrannosaurs ten to one. Their success is down to one reason. 

 

A single thrust of the brow horn could penetrate¹ right into the cardiac chamber² or the lungs. 

 

If you’re gonna put a meter-long horn into a chest cavity of a T-Rex, the chance of you doing some damage are pretty great.

 

Tyrannosaurus Rex is stabbed in the eye. 

 

The key element for any predator³ is to go in, make the kill, get what they need, and do it without injuring himself.

 

For a carnivorous predator, losing an eye could be fatal. Back at the nest, the chicks are guarded only by the male. Over him, a Quetzalcoatlus senses blood. On the ground, one parent is down and the other faces starvation. For a vulnerable baby T-Rex, the situation couldn’t get much worse.

 

Sauroposeidon is the tallest land animal of all time. At 17 meters high and 30 meters long, it would dwarf⁴ any living creature today. But despite these mammoth⁵ proportions, its brain is tiny, weighting just over 100 grams. 

 

The brain size of Sauroposeidon would probably be about the size of a cheeseburger. 

 

It probably had the smallest brain size to body size of any big animal that’s ever lived.

 

Big, dumb, brute⁶. 

 

A Sauroposeidon’s brain is a thousand times smaller than its body, just 1/8 of the brain capacity of a T-Rex. And its cerebrum, where strategic thinking takes place, is barely developed.

1 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 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。

4 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

5 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

6 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。