VOA慢速英语2014 恐龙在美国博物馆"再生"（在线收听）

Dinosaurs Live Again at an American Museum 恐龙在美国博物馆"再生"

Many millions of years ago, the last dinosaurs lived in what is now the American West. Now, scientists studying dinosaur fossils have documented what happened to the ancient creatures. An exhibit showing some of the results has opened at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

数百万年前，最后的一批恐龙生活在美国的西部。现在，科学家研究恐龙化石来证明这一古生物到底发生了什么。华盛顿特区的史密森尼博物馆公开展列了一些研究结果。

The dinosaurs delight seven-year-old Ella Smith. She says, “They are very old and cool and very big.”

7岁的艾拉·史密斯看着这些恐龙化石，非常高兴。她说：“这些化石很老、很酷、也很大。”

Ella and her mother Paige have found themselves in a room that re-creates the world just before an asteroid struck. Many scientists believe that asteroid destroyed the dinosaurs and nearly everything else.

艾拉和她的妈妈佩琪她们在一个房间里看到重现小行星撞击地球之前的世界。很多科学家认为小行星撞击导致恐龙的死亡，撞击甚至摧毁了所有的东西。

Kara Blond directs exhibitions at the Museum of Natural History. She says Ella and her mother have only seen a preview of what will be shown five years from now in the new National Fossil Hall.

卡拉·布兰德负责自然历史博物馆的展览。她说艾拉和她母亲只看到一个序曲，接下来的五年里，会有一个新的国家化石厅展览。

“The New Fossil Hall will tell the grand sweep of life on Earth over time. This is one little 2,000,000-year part of that. But it gives us a real window into how people understand science and how they interpret the stories.”

“新国家化石厅会向人们展示在一段时间内，地球上生物被席卷横扫的宏伟场面。那只是200万年的历史。但是确实给人们一种了解科学和科学家如何诠释这段历史的一个视角。”

She says a few ancient creatures and their ways of living will be the basis of that exhibit.

她说只有少部分的古生物以及它们的生活方式会构成展览的主要部分。

“We use a couple of our major specimens as the anchors for the story. And we deconstruct the world that they lived in by looking at the mechanics of how they lived, how they ate, who they lived with, what plants they fed on.”

“我们使用了一些主要的物种作为故事的重头戏。我们重建了它们生活的那个世界，通过观看它们如何生存、如何吃东西，与哪些族群共生，以及它们以什么植物为生来了解。”

These dinosaurs existed in what is now the arid – very dry – American West. But in their time the area had a seaway. The deltas extending from that seaway turned out to be a perfect place for the animals to die. Over time, some of their remains became fossils. That is why the area is now rich in fossils.

这些恐龙生活在干旱——非常干旱的美国西部。在那个时代，这片区域有一条海道，从海道向外延伸的三角洲是埋葬动物的最佳地方。随着时间的流逝。一些动物就变成化石。这也就是为什么这片地方盛产化石。

Kay Behrensmeyer set up the exhibition. She says the uncovered remains also document the birds, small mammals and reptiles that survived after the dinosaurs died off.

这个展览由凯莉·比雷姆斯梅尔创办。她说还有一些发现：在恐龙相继死亡后，一些鸟类、小型哺乳动物和爬行动物存活了下来。

“Turtles survived. There are many aquatic ones. If they were hiding out in the water, they had more of a chance to do that to get through. And earthworms, we actually have arrows from earthworms that are an inch or two above the impact layer.”

“乌龟幸存下来，很多水生生物也存活下来。如果它们隐藏在水中，有更大的机会躲过灾难。生活在一到两寸冲积层里的蚯蚓也幸免于难。”

That layer can be seen in a piece of rock in the exhibition area. It shows when the asteroid hit, causing the animals to die.

在展览区，这种土层可以在一块岩石中看到。岩石块展示了小行星撞击地球时，造成一些动物死亡。

Museum fossil hunters continue to send back what they dig up in the field. Some make it to the Fossil Lab, which is behind glass windows in the exhibit. Visitors can watch scientists as they study and prepare the remains.

博物馆的化石“猎手”继续送回一些他们挖掘到的一些化石。一些送到化石实验室，用玻璃隔开展览。参观的游客可以看到科学家在研究这些流传下来的化石。

This is where volunteer Bill King sorts through ancient bones of an ancient crocodile – a land and water animal.

志愿者比尔·金对鳄鱼的骨头进行分类整理，鳄鱼是水陆两栖动物。

“It’s just really interesting. It is like a crime scene investigation, only there wasn’t any crime. It’s just nature and millions of years ago. And we get to do it all, hands on, at no charge.”

“做这件事非常有意思，就好像在调查犯罪现场，只是这里没有任何犯罪。这里调查的是自然和数百万年前的物种。我们得手工做这些活儿，但是没有报酬。”

The flowering of the planet after the dinosaurs shows that the Earth is resilient and can regenerate – be fertile again – over time. But KayBehrensmeyer says human beings are now producing fast changes in the environment. She says that with that knowledge, people need to guard that environment so future regeneration can continue.

恐龙死亡后，地球出现一段繁盛时期，这表明地球随着时间的流逝，能够再次恢复生气，再次富庶。但是比雷姆斯梅尔表示：人类现在对环境做的改变太快了。基于地球有再生能力的了解，人们需要保护环境，这样在未来，地球的可再生、可恢复能力才能继续。

Four-year-old Nathanial Paul is learning that lesson now.

4岁的那桑尔·保罗正在学习地球可再生这一课。

Mike Paul: “Why do you love the dinosaurs so much?”

迈克·保罗：“你为什么这么喜欢恐龙？”

Nathanial Paul: ‘Cause I want to learn more about them.”

那桑尔·保罗：因为我想了解更多关于恐龙的信息。

Mike Paul: “Because you want to learn more about them.”

迈克·保罗：“因为你想了解更多关于恐龙的内容。”

That should please the exhibit’s organizers. They hope visitors leave the museum with greater understanding of creatures that depended on the environment – just like us humans.

这应该会让展览的组织者非常高兴。他们希望参观者在离开博物馆的时候，能够更深刻的了解就像我们人类一样，同样依赖于环境生存的生物的一些知识。