【英语语言学习】飞龙

Robyn Williams:

Australia has some of the finest living dinosaurs² in the world. Yes, I mean birds. Our birds were among the first purveyors of birdsong in ancient history, so the science suggested earlier this year, despite what David Attenborough has aid about our main tendency to squawk. We have the lyrebird, that great mimic³, we have the most intelligent birds, the crows, magpies⁴ and parrots, and we have some of the most abundant populations of birds in every category and place. So why then don’t we have a matching range of real fossil dinosaurs? Are they still hidden? Well, John Pickrell has a new book to explore some of these questions and more. It is called Flying Dinosaurs – How fearsome reptiles⁶ became birds. He is the editor of Australian Geographic⁷.

John Pickrell: Imagine, if you will, a world filled with billions of dinosaurs. A world where they can be found in thousands of shapes, sizes, colours and classes in every habitable pocket of the planet. Imagine them from the desert dunes⁸ of the Sahara to the frozen rim⁹ of the Antarctic Circle – and from the balmy islands of the South Pacific to the high peaks of the Himalayas.

The thing is, you don’t have to imagine very hard. In fact, wherever you live, you can probably step outside and look up into the trees and skies to find them, for birds are dinosaurs and they are all around you. Dinosaurs didn’t die out when an asteroid¹⁰ hit the Earth 66 million years ago.

Everything I was told as a child was wrong.

The idea takes some getting used to. On the face of it, birds don’t seem that similar to dinosaurs – they’re small, bright, quick and covered with feathers, whereas the dinosaurs I was told about as a kid were hefty, lumbering¹¹ beasts, scaly¹² and reptilian¹³, much more like a crocodile than a bird. But the clues were there all along if only we knew what we were looking for. Theropod dinosaurs (the bipedal, carnivorous variety) share more than 80 small features of their skeletons with birds – far more than either share with any other group of animals.

An early clue to the link between theropods and birds came with the discovery of the first fossil of Archaeopteryx in a Bavarian quarry¹⁴ in 1861. It has been called the most important fossil ever found, not least because of what it tells us about dinosaurs.

Labelled the ‘first bird’ this prehistoric¹⁵ animal had wings and feathers, but also the long bony tail and teeth of a reptile⁵. Its similarity to Compsognathus, a small dinosaur¹ found in the same German limestones¹⁶, was striking, and was even remarked upon at the time by British evolutionary¹⁷ biologist Thomas Henry Huxley.

But at this time it was only two years since Charles Darwin had unveiled his theory of evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species, and it seems the world wasn’t yet ready for the revelation of the link between dinosaurs and birds.

That connection would remain largely obscured until 1964, when Yale University palaeontologist John Ostrom stumbled upon the fossils of several lithe¹⁸, athletic¹⁹ and deadly-looking dinosaurs called Deinonychus in the badlands of Montana. Ostrom resurrected the idea that Archaeopteryx was closely related to theropod dinosaurs such as Deinonychus, and so began the ‘dinosaur renaissance’ of the 1970s, which saw leading experts redefine dinosaurs as intelligent, speedy, warm-blooded creatures that were similar to birds.

The idea that birds were the direct descendants of dinosaurs still had its detractors, but much of the opposition²⁰ fell away in 1996, when the fossil of a little dinosaur from China shook the very foundations of palaeontology.

Sinosauropteryx was undoubtedly²¹ a dinosaur, but the fossil clearly showed that it was covered in a fuzzy down of protofeathers that later studies revealed would have been ginger-coloured. This was the first of the feathered dinosaurs to be discovered, but whole flocks of feathered dinosaurs have since burst onto the scene, and we now have evidence for feathers of some kind in more than 40 species. Most hail from the 100–145-million-year-old Early Cretaceous rocks of China’s north-eastern Liaoning Province, which preserve fossils in remarkable²² detail.

Discoveries of feathered dinosaurs are coming thick and fast these days. Just in the past few weeks alone, there have been announcements about a new 'four-winged' species Changyuraptor yangi a new fossil specimen²³ of the Archaeopteryx, and a feathered Siberian species, Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus.

Every new fossil is a small pebble²⁴ of proof in an avalanche²⁵ of evidence confirming that birds are the descendants of the theropod dinosaurs and that these animals were incredibly bird-like.

Beyond confirming the dinosaur–bird link, the fossils have offered clues about how feathers evolved in the first place, and how they might have been used for flashy display purposes and insulation²⁶ long before they ever helped any creature become airborne.

There is now good evidence that most carnivorous theropod dinosaurs, even fearsome and well-known types — such as Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus — had feathers, and that they used them for a variety of functions.

Feathers are so intimately entwined in our minds with flight that this idea takes some getting used to. Nevertheless, animals with flight feathers can't have appeared from nowhere, so it makes sense that the earliest feathers had another purpose entirely²⁷.

The majority of the new feathered dinosaurs have been discovered in north eastern China and Mongolia, but a smattering of finds come from elsewhere in the world, from places such as Germany, Madagascar and North America.

Though most of the dinosaur species for which we have confirmed evidence of feathers hail from China, we can actually be pretty sure that dinosaurs all over the world had feathers.

This is because the species from China with feathers come from all over the family tree of carnivorous dinosaurs and some of them are early members of lineages that had descendents all over the world.

The reason we can see feathers on many fossils from the north-eastern Chinese province of Liaoning is because there is a very unusual level of preservation²⁸ there. More than 90 per cent of fossils in the rest of the world preserve just hard tissues, such as teeth and bones – but those in Liaoning often have soft tissues such as internal organs as well as skin impressions and delicate and beautiful traces of feathers surrounding them. The unusual level of preservation in fossils in Liaoning is to do with the very fine-grained volcanic²⁹ ash that preserves the animals.

Perhaps some of the most exciting new discoveries, however, are those that hint at how dinosaurs did eventually take to the skies. We now know that the dinosaurs most closely related to birds were small predatory species, a number of which, such as Microraptor, Anchiornis and Xiaotingia – quite incredibly – had four wings and a long feathery tail. Their hind³⁰ limbs and tails had flight feathers of the kind we see only on the forelimbs of modern birds, so it’s likely they used them to glide³¹ between the trees of China’s swampy³² Cretaceous forests.

We also now know that dinosaurs were bird-like in many other aspects of their physiology³³ and behaviour too. From nesting, brooding and sex, to metabolism³⁴, development and even the diseases that afflicted³⁵ them, many of the traits found in birds today were inherited from the dinosaurs. The boundary between dinosaurs and birds has become utterly³⁶ blurred³⁷.

Along with the new fossils, and renewed interest in dinosaurs, have come fresh interpretations³⁸ of how dinosaurs lived their lives. In 1993 when the film Jurassic Park hit cinemas, nobody could have predicted that we might know something about the sounds that dinosaurs made and the colours they were decked out in, but clever new methods have begun to probe these kinds of details too.

Starting in 2010 a whole series of studies have been able to make educated guesses about the colour of dinosaur feathers by looking at tiny structural³⁹ details of fossilised feathers under the microscope. In the feathers of living birds, pigments⁴⁰ are packaged up in tough little parcels which vary in shape depending on the colour – and it turns out the same was true in prehistoric feathered animals too. In terms of vocalisations, we can be pretty sure that dinosaurs didn’t make the kind of mammal-style throaty growls⁴² and roars which Hollywood typically depicts⁴³ them as having had. This is because neither birds, nor crocodiles – which are the closest living relatives to dinosaurs today – have vocal⁴¹ cords as mammals do. The true sounds that dinosaurs made may be much more like the sounds of birds, but slowed down and deepened to approximate the sounds coming from much larger animals.

It may surprise you to hear, that we have learnt more about dinosaurs in the two decades since Jurassic Park than during the whole of history up to that point.

The 1990s seemed like a golden age of dinosaur discovery, but fossil finds since then have dwarfed⁴⁴ it. Around one new species is currently discovered every week, many in China, but others in South America, Mongolia and Africa. There’s so much new knowledge it’s hard to keep up, but one thing’s for certain – if you love dinosaurs, this a great time to be alive.

This may lead you to wonder how Australia fits into this picture of new dinosaur discovery and could our continent ever yield feathered dinosaurs? The answer is that perhaps it already has. A fossil site near the town of Koonwarra in Victoria’s Gippsland has rocks made of fine-grained sediments⁴⁵, and a very unusual level of preservation for Australia.

Starting in 1961, a series of 12 fossilised feathers were found here all dating to between 115 and 118 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period. It was assumed these were bird feathers, but in light of all the new discoveries from China it is now just as likely that they are dinosaur feathers.

Researchers led by Dr Tom Rich at Museum Victoria in Melbourne now have plans to return to the site to search for the remains⁴⁶ of entire feathered dinosaurs in 2017.

Australia and Antarctica are the continents in the world with the least dinosaur fossils. Australia has only around 17 known species and many of these were described from single fragments of bone. More species of dinosaurs have been found in single quarries⁴⁷ in China than have been found on our entire continent.

Australia’s landmass is geologically ancient and it’s also flat and heavily weathered, which means it’s very difficult to find dinosaurs here. The best places to find fossils are in mountain ranges and hills were freshly exposed rocks are eroding⁴⁸ away, but these fossil hunting sweet spots are few and far between Down Under.

There’s no doubt that part of the reason we have so few dinosaurs is because of Australia’s unusual geology, but limited funding for museum scientists and palaeontologists is also part of the reason too. As a nation we have no more than a handful of vertebrate palaeontologist spread very thinly over a vast area.

In comparison China has an army of diggers out there right now and that is why their stunning⁴⁹ fossils have fuelled the current golden age of dinosaur discovery.

If Tom Rich is able to secure the funding for his Gippsland expedition in 2017 then there’s a chance of finding incredible feathered dinosaur fossil in Australia too – and what a coup⁵⁰ for scientific discovery that would be.

Robyn Williams: It certainly would, but could we wait that long, or continue to depend on so few palaeontologists? I think I know the answer to that. John Pickrell edits Australian Geographic magazine and his new book is called Flying Dinosaurs – How fearsome reptiles became birds.

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 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》

3 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

4 magpies   

喜鹊（magpie的复数形式）

参考例句：

• They set forth chattering like magpies. 他们叽叽喳喳地出发了。
• James: besides, we can take some pied magpies home, for BBQ. 此外，我们还可以打些喜鹊回家，用来烧烤。

5 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

6 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

9 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

10 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

11 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。

12 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

13 reptilian   

adj.（像）爬行动物的；（像）爬虫的；卑躬屈节的；卑鄙的n.两栖动物；卑劣的人

参考例句：

• The chick is ugly and almost reptilian in its appearance. 这只小鸡长得很丑，看起来几乎像个爬行动物。 来自辞典例句
• Being from Orion do Zetas contain DNA from the Reptilian race? 齐塔人是从猎户座而来，DNA来自爬虫族吗？ 来自互联网

14 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

15 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。

16 limestones   

n.石灰岩( limestone的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The isotopic signatures of most ancient limestones indicated the same process. 大多数古代石灰岩的同位素特征说明了同样的过程。 来自辞典例句
• There are four principal types of limestones. 石灰岩有四种主要类型。 来自辞典例句

17 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

18 lithe   

adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的

参考例句：

• His lithe athlete's body had been his pride through most of the fifty - six years.他那轻巧自如的运动员体格，五十六年来几乎一直使他感到自豪。
• His walk was lithe and graceful.他走路轻盈而优雅。

19 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

20 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

21 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

22 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

23 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

24 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。

25 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

26 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

27 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

28 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

29 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

30 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。

31 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

32 swampy   

adj.沼泽的，湿地的

参考例句：

• Malaria is still rampant in some swampy regions.疟疾在一些沼泽地区仍很猖獗。
• An ox as grazing in a swampy meadow.一头牛在一块泥泞的草地上吃草。

33 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

34 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

35 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

36 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

37 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

38 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

39 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

40 pigments   

n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls. 古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。 来自辞典例句
• The original white lead pigments have oxidized and turned black. 最初的白色铅质颜料氧化后变成了黑色。 来自辞典例句

41 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

42 growls   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• The dog growls at me. 狗向我狂吠。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The loudest growls have echoed around emerging markets and commodities. 熊嚎之声响彻新兴的市场与商品。 来自互联网

43 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

44 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

45 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

46 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

47 quarries   

n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石

参考例句：

• This window was filled with old painted glass in quarries. 这窗户是由旧日的彩色菱形玻璃装配的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They hewed out the stones for the building from nearby quarries. 他们从邻近的采石场开凿出石头供建造那栋房子用。 来自辞典例句

48 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

49 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

50 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。