英语听力：2013-05-05 完美捕食 Perfect Predators —2

 The jaws¹ of T-Rex are infamous² and lethal³, housing sixty teeth with some as long as 30 centimeters. Its skull⁴ is constructed of 64 bones designed to be light but strong. It’s 16 times stronger than the jaws of an alligator⁵. The front teeth are dagger-shaped, with serrated edges designed to tear flesh. The larger side teeth are rounded, perfect for crunching⁶ bone. Solidly anchored into muscle, they could withstand pressure from any direction. 

 

We have a pretty good idea of how it killed its prey⁷. It seems to have just walked right up to them, taken a bite, and whatever happens happens. 

 

Unlike many dinosaurs⁸, they wouldn’t just take the flesh of the carcass. They basically eat most of the carcass.

 

T-Rex’s huge legs and pelvis make up half its total body weight. Its tail weighs almost a ton. This is because it has to balance out nearly half a ton of head and jaws. Their head is two thirds muscle, which power jaws capable of enough force to bite through a steel oil drum. 

 

All that muscle delivers a bite strong enough to defeat the toughest prey of the Cretaceous. 

 

T-Rex’s teeth are among the bluntest teeth, bluntest, least sharp of the whole family of Tyrannosaurs. Those teeth are designed to crush, to penetrate⁹ thick layers of armor, and muscle, in a crushing, massive hemorrhaging blow. 

 

The muscles in T-Rex’s neck are nearly as powerful as the muscles of its legs. At half a meter thick, they’re strong enough to lift a hippo or bring down the most well-armed, best-defended herbivore nature has ever produced, Triceratops. 

 

The best way to attack Triceratops is with a long-barreled, 75 millimeter antitank gun.

1 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。

2 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

4 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。

5 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

6 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》

7 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。

8 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》

9 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。