英语听力：2013-07-07 《恐龙的战争》3 顽强防御—10

 …19 meters tall and almost 30 meters long. Its neck alone is 4 stories long, a single vertebra almost as tall as a grown man. And a single thighbone weighs over half a ton. 

 

They seem to break all of the rules. There’s nothing like them around today. 

 

Containing over 72 million calories of fresh meat, you’d think Sauroposeidon would be the jackpot for a bloodthirsty carnivore. 

 

They don’t have horns. They don’t have armor. Really, the only antipredator defense¹ they have is sheer size.

 

And size does matter. When a Goliath like this is fully² grown, even the most vicious predators³ keep their distance, even the most ferocious⁴ raptor of the Cretaceous—Deinonychus. At 90 kilos, this raptor pales in comparison to its 50-ton prey⁵. 

 

If we’re talking about a single adult Deinonychus and a single adult Sauroposeidon, the story would go something like this. “Hi! I’m a Deinonychus.” “I’m a Sauroposeidon.” Kuh!

 

But for a Sauroposeidon, reaching full size can take years. To make things worse, fossil evidence shows that juveniles⁶ live alone, separated from the herd⁷ until they reach at least a third of their adult weight. That means for nearly a decade, they wander the forest alone. And that forest is crawling with Deinonychus.

 

Intelligent and well-armed, they hunt on their own or sometimes in packs, they run with a top speed of 65 kilometers per hour.

 

These raptors can take on a youngster. For a young Sauroposeidon, there’s just one solution—get big quickly. And that’s gonna take a lot of…

 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

5 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。

6 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

7 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。