英语听力：探索发现 2012-06-01 恐龙是怎样的炼成的—6

 Working out what species this is won’t be possible until the bones are back in L.A., but fossils are fragile and moving them is a risky¹ business. 

 

Ready? One, two, three, move.

 

It has to be 400 pounds at least, right, if no more.

 

Go slowly.

 

The team began the precarious² task of shifting a femur, the single heaviest bone in the dinosaur’s body. 

 

Try to keep in a line, because if we go on the side, it’s just gonna be really difficult. That one should go that way. 

 

Because the fossil is so delicate, it’s been cased in plaster and reinforced with steel bars.

 

When you’re handling bones that are heavy and fragile, that is definitely not an easy process. If, you know, you don’t have the right people, the bones can break. 

 

It will take many more months of work to excavate³ the entire skeleton and get it back to LA for analysis. 

 

Good, good.

 

But to build an exhibition, you don’t have to spend months in the desert digging out bones. There are other places to find fossils. 

 

There are plenty of paleontologists working out in the field and excavating⁴ new fossils, naming new species every year, but there are also scientists here combing through existing collections in dusty storerooms, hoping to make new discoveries from bones that were found decades if not centuries ago. 

 

I’ve come to the natural history museum in Oxford⁵, and I’m here to meet Darren Nash. He’s a paleontologist who looks for new dinosaurs⁶ in the backrooms of museums. There are always a huge number of specimens⁷ behind the scenes, either because they’re incomplete, unglamorous, or unidentified.

1 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

2 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

3 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs.一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。

4 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

5 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

6 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》

7 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》