英语听力：2013-05-17 完美捕食 Perfect Predators —7

 Attacking another T-Rex may seem like suicide, but a creature with such a voracious¹ appetite has to find food by any means. 

 

Cannibalism² is the rule. It’s not the exception. If you’re a carnivore and there’s meat there, you take advantage of it. 

 

In fact, paleontologists have found ample evidence of cannibalism in the bones of these giants. 

 

We find tooth marks on the bones of T-Rex and parts of the bones missing on the T-Rex, and clearly they were eaten by another T-Rex. There’s nothing else that could have bitten those bones in half. 

 

Tyrannosaurus Rex is powerful and intelligent. But it’s also slow, lumbering³, and ponderous⁴, a predator⁵ that occasionally has to scavenge to survive. However, the age of dinosaurs⁷ is all about adaptation, and for one carnivorous killer⁸, survival means swapping⁹ size and muscle for speed, agility¹⁰, and razor-sharp weaponry. 

 

It’s a creature that proves that, in this prehistoric¹¹ world, death can come in any size. 

 

Deinonychus is a raptor, a birdlike predator covered in feathers. It’s 1.5 meters high, 3 meters long, and weighs 100 kilograms, tiny by dinosaur⁶ standards. Deinonychus is a hunter equipped with tools unlike any animal in the world today. Teeth, claws, speed … it has it all. 

 

Deinonychus, you have an animal that has very nasty sharp teeth and lots of them. And if that weren’t enough, it has enormous inner claws on its feet, as if it just couldn’t get enough weaponry. 

 

Deinonychus is more than just a well-armed carnivore. It’s intelligent. This predator can stalk a meal, plan out an attack, then take down prey¹² with deadly precision, even one of the largest plant eaters of all time, sauroposeidon. Its name means “lizard earthquake god”, and it can grow up to 19 meters in height and 50 tons in weight.

 

1 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

2 cannibalism   

n.同类相食；吃人肉

参考例句：

• The war is just like the cannibalism of animals.战争就如同动物之间的互相残。
• They were forced to practise cannibalism in order to survive.他们被迫人吃人以求活下去。

3 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

4 ponderous   

adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的

参考例句：

• His steps were heavy and ponderous.他的步伐沉重缓慢。
• It was easy to underestimate him because of his occasionally ponderous manner.由于他偶尔现出的沉闷的姿态，很容易使人小看了他。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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》

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 swapping   

交换，交换技术

参考例句：

• The slow swapping and buying of horses went on. 马匹的买卖和交换就是这样慢慢地进行着。
• He was quite keen on swapping books with friends. 他非常热衷于和朋友们交换书籍。

10 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。

11 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

12 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。