侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第72期:巨齿鲨竟无法转弯

 　　Megalodon, fossils are found in the kind of geologic¹ deposits that form pretty close to shore.

　　能在离海岸非常近的地质沉淀物中，发现巨齿鲨的化石。

　　So, as far as we know, it was not a deep water kind of species or an open ocean, we call pelagic species.

　　所以就我们所知，它不是我们称作远洋物种的深海物种或是外海物种。

　　And that makes sense because its prey², things like marine³ mammals and other large marine vertebrates that would have shared its ecosystem,这合情合理，因为它的猎物，像是海洋哺乳类动物和其它大型海洋脊椎动物，这些和它在同一生态系统的生物，probably lived in coastal⁴ environments where there was up welling and more nutrient⁵ supply in a biologically richer environment.

　　很可能生活在海岸环境里，那里有涌升流是个有着更多营养供应的生态上更富有的环境。

　　It takes a lot of hundred pound seals to feed a 50 ton Megalodon.

　　要想填饱五十吨巨齿鲨的肚子得要很多头上百磅重的海豹。

　　He's not gonna waste his time chasing those hors d'oeuvres.

　　它不会把时间都浪费在追逐这些小点心身上。

　　He's out looking for whales and giant squid and other large sharks.

　　它要去寻找鲸和巨乌贼以及其它大鲨鱼。

　　Megalodon is such a monstrous⁶ shark.

　　巨齿鲨真是个可怕的鲨鱼。

　　It is estimated that he had to eat one fiftieth of his own body weight each day.

　　据估计它每天要吃下的食物达到自己体重的五十分之一。

　　That means everyday Megalodon needed to find food equivalent to the size and weight of an elephant.

　　那意味着巨齿鲨每天要找到的食物大小和重量相当于一头大象。

　　To do this, it would employ hunting skills honed over millions of years, skills still used by Great Whites today.

　　要想做到这点，它就需要数百万年磨练出来的狩猎技巧，这些今天仍是大白鲨的杀手锏。

　　When Megalodon hunted, it would probably stalk prey, perhaps from below.

　　当巨齿鲨狩猎时，它会跟踪猎物，可能是从下方。

　　It would seek the largest prey probably available to it.

　　它会寻找能找到的最大猎物。

　　Once it selected a prey item it would start accelerating towards it, and this would not be an explosive, short distance acceleration⁷, it'd be acceleration over a fairly long distance.

　　一旦确定了目标它就会加速冲过去，这不会是短距离爆发性的冲刺，是在相当长距离上的加速。

　　When it made its final rush, reached its peak speed it really couldn't make a sharp turn.

　　当到了冲刺末端，达到最高速度时它根本没有办法做急转弯。

　　If the prey darted⁸ to one side, it couldn't follow as easily as smaller fish could.

　　如果猎物冲向一侧，它没法像较小的鱼类那样轻易地跟上。

　　Comparing the tooth size of the Megalodon and a Great White shark speaks volumes.

　　把巨齿鲨的牙齿大小跟大白鲨的进行比较就说明了很多。

　　This is a bottom tooth of a Great White, probably a specimen⁹ that was about 13 to 15 feet long.

　　这是一颗大白鲨下面的牙齿，样本体长大概四米左右。

　　This is its prehistoric¹⁰ cousin, Megalodon, and you can see a little discrepancy¹¹ in the tooth size here.

　　这是它的史前亲戚，巨齿鲨，你能在这里看出一点牙齿大小的差异。

　　And to add to their lethal¹² ability, they had an endless supply of these knife-like teeth.

　　为这致命能力添砖加瓦的，还有它们有无限量的这种刀一般的牙齿的供应。

　　We know that, in some extreme cases, sharks in captivity¹³ in aquariums¹⁴ will replace each tooth in each position on the jaw¹⁵ every maybe 8 to 10 days.

　　我们知道，在一些极端情况下，在水族馆里面豢养的鲨鱼大概每八到十天就会换掉口中各处的所有牙齿。

　　They will literally¹⁶ go through tens of thousands of teeth per shark in a single lifetime, that's one of the really important reasons why shark teeth are so common in the fossil record.

　　在每条鲨鱼的生命历程中确实会长出上万颗牙齿，这也是鲨鱼牙齿在化石记录中非常普遍的原因之一。

 

1 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

2 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。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

5 nutrient   

adj.营养的，滋养的；n.营养物，营养品

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The roots transmit moisture and nutrient to the trunk and branches.根将水分和养料输送到干和枝。

6 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

7 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

8 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

10 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。

11 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

12 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

13 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

14 aquariums   

n.养鱼缸，水族馆( aquarium的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Biotope aquariums represent the natural environments of ornamental fish. 生态鱼缸表现出观赏鱼的自然生活环境。 来自互联网
• There are aquariums in many cities in the world. 世界上好多城市有水族馆。 来自互联网

15 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。

16 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。