侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第70期:巨大的鲸之杀手

 　　Over the last several hundred years, thousands of prehistoric¹ whale bones have been found with deep gashes² sliced into them.

　　在过去数百年间，人们发现了数千块史前鲸骨上面划有深深的沟痕。

　　They're found on ribs³, vertebra, tail flukes and flipper⁴ bones, and some of them are over 9 inches long and in some cases, 3 inches deep.

　　在鲸的肋骨、脊椎骨尾叶和鳍肢骨上都有发现这些沟痕，有些长近9英寸有些深度近3英寸。

　　The force to drive teeth that deep into bone would have been staggering.

　　能把牙齿咬入骨头那么深的力量可是相当惊人。

　　But even more importantly, the size of the animal who could inflict⁵ an injury of that nature would have been unimaginable.

　　不过更重要的是，能够造成那种性质的伤害的动物其体型真是难以想象。

　　The evidence points to a top predator⁶ whose scale is almost unimaginable - a giant monster who roamed the seas.

　　证据指向一种顶级掠食者，它有着几乎无法想象的庞大身躯——一个在海中游荡的巨怪。

　　Somewhere out there was a giant whale killer⁷.

　　在大海里的某处有着巨大的鲸之杀手。

　　Next to many of these injured bones, paleontologists found something else.

　　在很多这些有伤痕的骨头的旁边，古生物学家们发现了别的东西。

　　Triangular⁸ shaped teeth, which were absolutely enormous.

　　三角形的牙齿，数量绝对庞大。

　　They had serrated edges which could used to cut through the flesh of large prey⁹.

　　它们边缘呈锯齿状可以用来切割大型猎物的肉。

　　When they tried to fit the teeth with the gashes in the bones, they discovered a match.

　　古生物学家们试着把牙齿放进骨头上的裂缝，发现完全吻合。

　　So if we look at this bone there's an asymmetrical¹⁰ cut in it and the only way this tooth will fit in is in this position,如果我们看看这些骨头，它上面有不对称的切痕，这种牙齿唯一能跟这吻合的就是这种姿势，because we have the upper surface of the cut is very flat... the lower surface is sloped.

　　因为我们看到切口的上表面很平整，而下表面则有斜坡。

　　And the tooth will only fit in, in that position.

　　牙齿只能用姿势才能正好插入。

　　And there's no other animal produces a bite with that asymmetry¹¹.

　　没有别的动物能够咬得那么么不均匀。

　　The teeth belonged to the giant shark. Megalodon.

　　这些牙齿来自巨大的鲨鱼。巨齿鲨。

　　Megalodon the name itself literally¹² means long tooth.

　　巨齿鲨这个名字字面意思为“长牙”。

　　And it's a little bit of misnomer¹³ because it really is more than just long, it's huge.

　　其实有一点儿不妥，因为这些牙齿可不仅仅是长，而是巨大。

　　So this is a Megalodon tooth.

　　这是一枚巨齿鲨的牙齿。

　　It looks much like a modern Great White tooth.

　　看起来很像现代大白鲨的。

　　The edges are serrated like a steak knife, very blade like.

　　边缘像牛排刀一样有锯齿，很像刀刃。

　　Megalodon could reach a mind-blowing 15 meters or more in length, three times the size of a Great White and about the size of a modern private jet.

　　巨齿鲨的体长能达到惊人的十五米甚至更长，是大白鲨体长的三倍相当于一架现代私家喷气机。

　　This animal is so huge. It is so enormous.

　　这种动物太大了。它是那么庞大。

　　If Megalodon existed at the time when man existed, we would not have been able to venture into the ocean,如果大白鲨生活在人类存在时，我们根本就不敢冒险下海，because we couldn't build a ship big enough to deter¹⁴ him from attacking it.

　　因为我们造不出够大的船能免遭它的攻击。

 

1 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。

2 gashes   

n.深长的切口（或伤口）( gash的名词复数 )v.划伤，割破( gash的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The classmates' hearts ached for him and they begged him to wear gloves to prevent any more gashes. 同学们都心疼他，劝他干活时戴上手套，免得再弄破手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He stripped himself, and I counted twenty-seven separate scars and gashes. 他脱去衣服，我在他身上数出了二十七处瘢痕和深深的伤口。 来自辞典例句

3 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

4 flipper   

n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢

参考例句：

• The seal's flipper is homologous with the human arm. 海豹的鳍肢与人类的手臂同源。
• It's almost like a flipper action as she kicks down. 她向下踢腿时有鱼鳍的效果。

5 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

6 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

9 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。

10 asymmetrical   

adj.不均匀的，不对称的

参考例句：

• Most people's faces are asymmetrical.多数人的脸并不对称。
• Folds may be gentle and symmetrical,or sharp and asymmetrical.褶皱可以是平缓而对称的，也可以是陡峭而非对称的。

11 asymmetry   

n.不对称；adj.不对称的，不对等的

参考例句：

• These bands must introduce longitudinal asymmetry in the planetary albedo.这些云带必定引起行星反照率的经向不对称性。
• In any event the asymmetry is clear enough.总之，不对称是非常明显的。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 misnomer   

n.误称

参考例句：

• Herbal"tea"is something of a misnomer because these drinks contain no tea at all.花草“茶”是一个误称，因为这类饮料里面根本不含茶。
• Actually," Underground "is a misnomer,because more than half the shops are above ground.实际上，“ 地下 ” 这个名称用之不当，因为半数以上的店铺是在地面上的。

14 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。