侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第116期:它的前肢为什么这么小

 　　There's no animal living today that has the strength of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

　　如今生活的动物力量没有能匹敌雷克斯暴龙的。

　　To try to come up with something that had that kind of power I don't know how, you know...

　　要想出有那样的力量的东西，我是不知道怎么才…

　　This animal was so strong that there was nothing nothing that could escape if it decided¹ it wanted to eat it.

　　这种动物非常强壮要是它决定要吃什么就没谁能逃脱。

　　And when it ate, it had a mouthful of banana-sized teeth designed to slice through meat and crush bone.

　　它进食时，使用满口香蕉般大小的牙齿，这些牙齿的设计就用来切开血肉咬碎骨头。

　　Its teeth are gigantic.They are thick from side to side.They are not cutting teeth by any means.

　　这些牙齿巨大无比。它们从一侧到另一侧的厚度很大。无论如何不是用来切割的牙齿。

　　These are pulverizing² 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，它们被非常深的牙根固定。

　　The tooth of a dinosaur³ gives us a pretty good indication of its diet.

　　一头恐龙的牙齿能很好给我们指示它的食谱。

　　Now, there's other ways to determine what an animal ate and it has nothing to do with the teeth.

　　现在，还有另外的方法来确定一种动物吃什么，而这跟牙齿完全没有关系。

　　Its poop. Fossilized dung. They call it coprolite.And yes, even that stuff can become fossilized.

　　大便。粪便化石。它们叫做粪化石。是的，即使是那些东西也能变成化石。

　　By slicing it very thin and looking at it under magnification, we can actually see the remains⁴ of what the dinosaur ate.

　　将它切成薄片放大之后进行观察，我们其实能看到恐龙吃下去的东西的残渣。

　　So by looking at the teeth and then looking at the dung, we get a picture of what was happening in between.

　　所以通过观察牙齿再观察粪便，我们想象这其间发生了什么。

　　Its teeth were huge, but its small arms were barely longer than a man's.

　　它的牙齿巨大，不过它的小前臂不比人的长。

　　Tiny as they were, they were useful.

　　尽管很小，它们却很有用。

　　One of the things that people always mention and always think about is:"Why did it have such puny⁵ arms?"

　　人们总是提到总爱琢磨的事情有一件：“它的前肢为什么这么小？”

　　Well, the arms are kind of small.I mean, they are a lit bit bigger than mine.

　　它的前肢的确很小。我是说，它们比我的大一点点。

　　But they were really well muscled.

　　不过上面肌肉很发达。

　　But still, the claws on these hands are huge and they could actually act like meat hooks and perhaps even stabilizing⁶ the prey⁷.

　　而且，这些前肢上面的爪子很大，它们能够像挂肉的钩子一样甚至能稳定住猎物。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 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

3 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。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 puny   

adj.微不足道的，弱小的

参考例句：

• The resources at the central banks' disposal are simply too puny.中央银行掌握的资金实在太少了。
• Antonio was a puny lad,and not strong enough to work.安东尼奥是个瘦小的小家伙，身体还不壮，还不能干活。

6 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

7 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。