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有关恐龙的四个误解

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What do you call a blind dinosaur?

你们是怎么称呼失明的恐龙的?

A Do-you-think-he-saurus?

一只“你觉得他是恐龙吗?”恐龙?

Hi, everyone, Julie here for Dnews.

大家好,我是朱莉,欢迎收看本期Dnews视频。

Sorry and not sorry, that was kind of lame, but it got us talking about dinosaurs!

说抱歉也抱歉,说不抱歉也不抱歉,这个问题听着是有点鸡肋,但能打开话题让我们探讨起来呀。

The prehistoric reptiles fascinate almost all of us at some point.

恐龙这种史前爬行动物几乎抓住了我们所有人的好奇心。

I bet you know a lot about dinosaurs.

我敢打赌,你肯定对恐龙有很深的了解。

But let's run down a few of the things you might not know about them.

不过呢,今天我要跟大家讨论的是你可能不知道的恐龙的故事。

Let's just get this one out of the way first…

我们先来解决这个问题……

humans and dinosaurs never coexisted.

人类和恐龙从来没有碰过面。

The earliest human fossil we know of dates around 2.8 million years ago.

我们已知的最早的人类化石可以追溯到280万年前。

Whereas the dinosaurs went extinct like 65 million years ago.

而恐龙在6500万年前就已经灭绝了。

So yeah.

没错。

That never happened.

他们从来没碰过面。

But there were little proto-mammals running around with dinosaurs for nearly 150 million years.

不过,有个头很小的原始哺乳动物和恐龙共同生活了将近1.5亿年。

Some little guys looked like mice and weighed as little as 2 grams.

有些长得跟老鼠差不多,体重还只有2克这么点儿。

Others actually ate dinosaurs, yeah.

另外一些则大到能吃下恐龙,没错。

Some of the small species ate dino eggs.

有一些个头比较小的还会吃恐龙蛋。

No, it didnt' cause their distinction.

不,恐龙灭绝并不是这个造成的。

But one study published in the journal Nature described two species, that dined on dinosaurs.

发表在学术期刊《自然》上的一项研究就提到了两种以恐龙为食的物种。

Repenomamus giganticus and Repenomamus robustus, lived in China about 130 million years ago.

它们是生活在距今约1.3亿年前的中国的巨爬兽和强壮爬兽。

Like its name suggests, R. Giganticus, was pretty big for an early mammal, at about 3 feet long.

就像它的名字一样,对于早期哺乳动物来说,身长近3英尺(0.9m)的巨爬兽的体型算相当大的了。

Speaking of big things, some giant Pterosaurs have wingspans over 30 feet long!

说到大,一些体型比较大的翼龙翼展能达到足足30英尺(9m)以上!

And they aren't dinosaurs!

还不是恐龙!

Dinosaurs are terrestrial reptiles, so by definition, pterosaurs, a flying reptile, don't make the cut.

因为恐龙是陆生爬行动物,而翼龙,顾名思义,是一种会飞的爬行动物,所以就不算恐龙。

They did co-exist, but they are separate groups descended from a common ancestor.

它们两个物种倒是的确同时存在过,但它们是从同一个祖先进化成的两个独立群体。

According to Smithsonian magazine, "pterosaur is no more a dinosaur than a goldfish is a shark." Oops.

根据《史密森》杂志的说法,“翼龙不是恐龙,就像金鱼不是鲨鱼一样。”傻了吧?

And one study published in the journal PLOS One found that they didn't use their legs to push off the ground,

发表在综合性期刊PLOS One上的一项研究发现,它们起飞时并不是用脚蹬地的,

they used their wings!

而是用翅膀推地的!

They would run down hill, into a head wind and launch themselves, like a pole vaulter, into the air.

他们会沿着山往下跑,冲着逆风,然后像撑杆跳运动员一样飞向空中。

So yeah..don't call them dinosaurs.

所以,嗯..别叫它们恐龙了。

We know A LOT about dinosaurs,

我们对恐龙的了解已经很多了,

but there are some really enigmatic mysteries that remain.

但还是有一些很高深的谜团一直没有被解开。

Like, what did dinosaurs sound like?

比如,恐龙的叫声是什么样的?

Unfortunately soft tissue doesn't fossilize all that well,

不幸的是,软组织无法很好地记录在化石里,

so we don't have an exact idea of what kind of noises dinosaurs.

所以我们对恐龙的声音并没有一个确切的概念。

Although a recent discovery shed some light on dino sounds.

不过,最近的一项研究发现为这一问题提供了一些线索。

A new species of "terror bird" describe in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

有研究人员在《脊椎动物古生物学》里描述了一种新的“恐怖鸟”,

was found with a nearly complete skeleton…

还是一种骨骇几乎没有任何缺失……

including a voice box!

甚至还有一个语音信箱的鸟!

The researchers think that it used a narrow, low vocalization frequency range, to possibly communicate or find prey.

研究人员认为,它的声音应该是一个音域很窄,发声频率又很低的声音,其用途可能是交流或寻找猎物。

2

Sounds pretty cool and could be the topic of a whole'nother episode .

听起来很酷,说不定还能展开做成一期节目对吧,

and maybe if you were a subscriber you wouldn't miss that episode!

如果你是我们频道的订阅用户,说不定你就不会错过那一集了喔!

Last but not least..we still don't know what killed the dinosaurs.

最后,我们还是不知道恐龙的死是谁造成的。

I mean yeah, we've narrowed it down pretty close.

我的意思是,没错,我们确实已经把范围缩到很小了。

The KT event happened 65 million years ago,

KT事件发生在6500万年前,

when an asteroid struck what is now the Yucatan region of Mexico.

据说当时一颗小行星撞击到了现在的墨西哥尤卡坦地区(恐龙就灭绝了)。

But my favorite hypothesis is that a global firestorm flash fried the dinosaurs.

但我最喜欢的假说是,一场全球性的大火将恐龙全部给烧死了。

I mean a lot of species were already on their way out when the asteroid hit.

我是说,小行星撞击的时候,很多物种本来就已经要灭绝了。

One study published in the journal Nature

《自然》上发表的一项研究称,

suggests that a series of crazy volcanic eruptions that started 250,000 years before the asteroid hit,

小行星撞击的25万年前开始爆发了一系列的大型火山喷发事件,

might have killed a lot of them off.

很多恐龙可能都是那个时候消失的。

As for that asteroid…

至于小行星……

A few years ago, a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research

几年前,《地球物理研究》上发表的一项研究发现,

found that when the asteroid hit, it kicked up a lot dirt into the Earth's atmosphere.

小行星撞击地球时,会扬起很多尘土到地球的大气层。

With as much force as 100 trillion tons of TNT.

撞击的威力相当于100万亿吨TNT。

As the debris rained back down

那些灰尘可能在重新落下的过程中

it could have heated the upper atmosphere to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,482 degrees Celsius).

将地球大气层上层的温度加热到了2700华氏度(1482摄氏度)。

It might have also caused a devastating winter like where nothing green could grow

还可能带来了一个极具毁灭性的冬天,导致一切绿色的东西都无法生长,

so all the dinosaurs starved over months or years.

接下来的几个月甚至是几年的时间里,恐龙没有了吃的(就饿死了)。

OOORRRR this theory suggests that it kicked off a world wide fire storm

还还还还还还还有一种说法是那次撞击引发了全球性的大火,

and the dinosaurs baked to death in a matter of HOURS.

没过几个小时,恐龙们就都被烤死了。

Wiping out 80% of all life on Earth.

地球上80%的生命都被毁灭了。

Which is a really cool idea.

这个想法倒是挺酷的。

It's so...Apocalyptical.

就特别的……有世界末日的味道。

But versions of this story are over ten years old,

但这个说法的各种版本10多年前就已经出现了,

one first appeared in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America in 2004.

最早的版本是2004年发表在《美国地质学会公报》上的一篇文章。

Since then, some holes have been poked in it,

从那以后,这个故事已经被揭穿了好几次,

like one study published in Journal of the Geological Society found that fire storms weren't worldwide.

比如发表在《地质学会》上的一项研究就发现全球性的大火是不存在的。

The heat pulses from the impact wouldn't have set nearby plants on fire,

撞击产生的热浪并不能点燃附近的植物,

but could have done some damage to those further away from the impact site.

但还是有可能对距离撞击地点较远的植物造成一些损害。

Obviously more research is needed.

显然,我们还需要更多的研究。

Personally, I kind of like the idea that what killed the dinosaurs still remains a mystery.

就我个人而言,我还有点喜欢恐龙灭绝之谜不被解开的。

It's one of the most enduring, and frankly fun mysteries in science.

因为这一问题堪称科学界最经久不衰、最有趣的谜团之一。

It keeps us curious.

它让我们一直保持着好奇心。

Scientists learn new stuff about dinosaurs all the time.

科学家们对恐龙的认识一直在更新。

Sometimes they even re-learn old things!

有的时候甚至还能对旧的知识产生新的认识!

Check out this episode as Crystal explains why the name “brontosaurus” could be making a comeback.

Crystal的这期视频就讲述了为什么“雷龙”这个名字或许会卷土重来的原因,不信你可以去看呀。

Everyone's favorate dinosaur that wasn't Brontosaurus excelsus thundered onto the scene in 1879

1879年,古生物学家Othneil Charles Marsh发表了一篇题为“新侏罗纪爬行动物的通知”的论文,

when paleontologist Othneil Charles Marsh published a paper titled "Notice of New Jurassic Reptiles"...

人人喜爱的恐龙,只要不是雷龙,便轰鸣着出现在了历史舞台上。

Alright, guys, what's is your favorite dino fact?

好了,朋友们,你最喜欢的恐龙事实是什么呢?

Let us know down in the comments below.

快来评论区告诉我们吧。

While you're there, don't forget to hit those like and subscribe buttons and keep coming back to dnews.

评论的时候也别忘了点点赞,点点订阅,经常回来看我们的视频。

We've got new episodes everyday of the week.

我们每天都会更新新的内容噢。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
enigmatic [.enig'mætik]

想一想再看

adj. 谜的,莫明其妙的,不可思议的

联想记忆
distinction [dis'tiŋkʃən]

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n. 差别,对比,区分,荣誉,优秀

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prehistoric ['pri:his'tɔrik]

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adj. 史前的
=prehistorical

 
marsh [mɑ:ʃ]

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n. 沼泽,湿地
Marsh:马什(人名)

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vertebrate ['və:tibreit]

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adj. 脊椎的,脊椎动物的 n. 脊椎动物

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ancestor ['ænsistə]

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n. 祖宗,祖先,原种

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definition [.defi'niʃən]

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n. 定义,阐释,清晰度

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terror ['terə]

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n. 恐怖,惊骇,令人惧怕或讨厌的人或事物

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curious ['kjuəriəs]

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adj. 好奇的,奇特的

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shed [ʃed]

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n. 车棚,小屋,脱落物
vt. 使 ...

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