侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第19期:霸王龙的三个利器

 　　Its size made T-Rex look impressive, but modern scientific has revealed three unique features that made it a killing¹ machine.

　　如此体型的霸王龙是庞然巨物，不过现代科学揭示出了它的三个特征使之成为猎杀机器。

　　The first was his eyesight.

　　第一是它的视力。

　　In 2006, Dr. Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University scanned the brain cavity of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

　　在2006年，俄亥俄大学的劳伦斯·维特莫博士扫描了一头雷克斯暴龙的颅腔。

　　It's an important piece of the puzzle.

　　这是拼图中的重要一块。

　　We now know that T-Rex had powerful binocular vision.

　　现今我们知道霸王龙有着出色的双目视觉。

　　From the CAT scan information, we can get a sense of the relative size of particular parts of the brain.

　　根据CT扫描的信息，我们能够了解到大脑特定部分的相对大小。

　　The part of the brain associated with vision, the optic lobes²,包括与视觉相关的那部分大脑叫做视叶，

　　the part of the brain associated with the sense of smell, or the part of the brain associated with hearing.

　　与嗅觉相关的那部分大脑，或是与听觉相关的部分。

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　　Like an eagle, Tyrannosaurus Rex had binocular vision.

　　和鹰一样，雷克斯暴龙也有双目视觉。

　　This gave it the ability to maintain focus on a moving target.

　　这让它能保持对移动物体的聚焦。

　　In a fight, it had no trouble keeping its opponent with its line of sight.

　　在战斗中，它能轻易地让对手处于其视线之内。

　　T-Rex almost certainly had a pretty good visual field overlap³, meaning it had pretty extensive binocular vision.

　　几乎可以肯定，霸王龙视野有很大幅度的重叠，这意味着它有较强的双目视觉。

　　What we see in the brain is that indeed the brain is structured to, in a sense, process that visual information.

　　我们看到的大脑构造其实在一定程度上是用来处理这种视觉信息的。

　　Its second feature - tremendously powerful jaws⁵.

　　它的第二个特点是异常有力的双颚。

　　With a bite force of over 3,000 pounds per square inch, it's among the strongest in the animal kingdom, twice the strength of a Great White shark.

　　它的咬合力达到每平方厘米两百多公斤，这在动物王国里名列前茅，力度是大白鲨的两倍。

　　What controlled the teeth and the damage those teeth inflicted⁶ were the jaw⁴ muscles, and T-Rex just has expanded the back of the skull⁷.

　　它靠颚肌控制牙齿，用牙齿造成破坏，霸王龙的颅骨后部有明显扩展。

　　So it has a lot of musculature, so that it has the power to actually drive those teeth right through bone.

　　所以它有很多肌肉组织，这样能够有力量驱使这些利齿咬穿骨头。

　　This unbelievable power in its jaws separate it from all other dinosaurs⁹ and all the other living animals as well.

　　它的双颚力量难以置信，这让它不同于任何其它恐龙，也和所有现存动物大相径庭。

　　It's third, and most dangerous asset was its incredibly massive teeth.

　　它的第三个，也是最危险的财富是它大得难以置信的牙齿。

　　No other creature, before or after, has ever had spikes¹¹ designed like these.

　　像这样的尖刺设计可谓前无古人，后无来者。

　　T-Rex had to use those teeth to crunch¹² right through bone.

　　霸王龙要用这些牙齿压碎骨头。

　　And so it couldn't have narrow teeth the way the other carnivorous dinosaurs did.

　　所以它不能像其它肉食恐龙那样拥有窄牙。

　　It had to make teeth that were really, really wide, and would have been incredibly damaging to anything that it bit.

　　它必须要有非常宽大的牙齿，使得被咬中的都会遭到严重损坏。

　　These are pulverizing¹³ teeth, these could pierce through flesh, they could shatter bone, and they're anchored by extremely deep roots.

　　这些牙齿仿佛粉碎机一般，能够撕开血肉，也能咬碎骨头。这些牙的牙根非常之深。

　　They're unlike any other predatory dinosaur⁸'s tooth.

　　它们跟其它掠食恐龙的牙齿都不一样。

　　Look at the tooth of any predatory dinosaur, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, even Raptors,看看任何掠食恐龙的牙齿，异特龙、角鼻龙、甚至迅猛龙，you'll find that their teeth are more blade-like and are serrated on front and back, very common.

　　就会发现它们牙齿更像刀刃，前后都有锯齿，这都很常见。

　　But look at the tooth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and now you're looking at a railroad spike¹⁰.

　　不过看看雷克斯暴龙的牙齿，就好像是铁路道钉一般。

　　But those teeth may have held something even worse than just a massive bite.

　　不过这些牙齿也许还有比凶猛一咬更糟的功能。

 

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

3 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

4 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

5 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

6 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

7 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

8 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。

9 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》

10 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

11 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

13 pulverizing   

v.将…弄碎( pulverize的现在分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎

参考例句：

• Marcus had proved his prowess in the ring by pulverizing all challengers. 拳击台上，马科斯彻底击败了所有挑战者，从而证明了他高超的本领。 来自互联网
• Its large caliber enables fast and pulverizing of material. 进料口径大可快速粉碎进料。 来自互联网