(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Scientists Find Mammoth Bones Near Mexico City
Huge bones have been discovered in a place 50 kilometers north of Mexico City where a new airport is being built.
Scientists, who study the past by examining very old objects, are digging up more and more of these bones. These archeologists have found that the bones belong to the mammoth, the most famous mammal of a cold period in Earth's history known as an ice age.
Archeologists have found the bones of 70 mammoths so far. The latest discovery includes two large skulls, as well as rib and leg bones.
Ruben Manzanilla is the lead archeologist at the site. Manzanilla said that the place once was part of a shoreline with a lot of mud. Lakes likely formed there at the end of the most recent ice age.
"When an animal this size fell here, it got stuck and couldn't escape," he said.
The mammoth bones belonged to a Columbian mammoth, which unlike its relative the woolly mammoth, had little hair. But, it was a powerful creature. Manzanilla believes it weighted about 20,000 kilograms and stood more than 4 meters tall.
Many mammoths likely got stuck in the mud, Manzanilla said. But, he said that evidence at nearby places suggests early human hunters used spears to kill the mammoths. They also may have used traps in the water.
Over 10,000 years ago, central Mexico had many groups, or herds, of mammoths. The bones they left behind led some people to create stories about giants.
Lopez Lujan wrote about some of the stories in the publication Mexican Archeology recently.
In 1519, two local kings showed the Spaniard Hernan Cortes what was probably a mammoth leg bone. They told Cortes that the bone came from terrible, tall men. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier and writer at the time of Cortes, wrote about the incident.
"We were sure there had been giants in this land," wrote Diaz Del Castillo.
I'm John Russell.
重点解析
1.hunters 猎人
The hunters were closing in on the struggling wild boar.
猎人们向在挣扎中的野猪靠拢。
2.terrible 可怕的
She admits her French is terrible.
她承认自己的法语很蹩脚。
3.giants 巨人
The Earth had interesting species at that time which included giants and elves.
地球在那时已经有了有趣的族类，包括巨人族和侏儒族。
4.mammoth 猛犸象
You might already have seen a mammoth in the movies.
你或许已经在电影中见过猛犸象。
5.Scientists, who study the past by examining very old objects, are digging up more and more of these bones.
dig up 挖掘
You would have to dig up the plant yourself.
你得自己把那株植物挖出来。
Yesterday they continued the search, digging up the back yard of a police station.
昨天他们继续搜寻，在一座警察局的后院里挖掘寻找。
6.These archeologists have found that the bones belong to the mammoth.
belong to 属于
Earls, princes, and kings belong to the nobility.
伯爵、亲王和国王属于贵族。
I used to belong to a youth club.
我过去是一个青年俱乐部的成员。
参考译文
墨西哥城附近出土猛犸象遗骸
墨西哥城北部50公里的一处在建机场出土了一堆巨型骨骼。
通过调查非常古老的物种来研究历史的科学家们正在挖掘越来越多的巨型骨头。这些考古学家发现这些骨头属于猛犸象，它是地球历史上冰河时期最著名的哺乳动物。
截至目前，考古学家发现了70具猛犸象的骨骼。最新发现的这批包括两个巨大的头骨以及肋骨和腿骨。
鲁本·曼扎尼拉(Ruben Manzanilla)是该遗址的首席考古学家。曼扎尼拉表示，这个区域曾经是有很多淤泥的海岸线的一部分。湖泊很可能是在最近一次冰河时代末期形成的。
他说，“这类庞大的动物一旦坠入这里，会被困住并且无法逃生。”
这些猛犸象的骨骼属于哥伦比亚猛犸象，与它的近亲长毛猛犸象不同，它们的毛发较少。但是，它是一种强大的生物。曼扎尼拉认为，它重达20000公斤，身高超过4米。
曼扎尼拉表示，许多猛犸象可能被困在淤泥里。但是，他说，附近的证据表明，早期人类猎人使用长矛猎杀猛犸象。他们也可能在水中设置了陷阱。
一万多年前，墨西哥中部生活着许多猛犸象群。它们留下的骨骼让后人创作出巨人的传说。
洛佩兹·卢汉（Lopez Lujan）在最近出版的《墨西哥考古学》上提及了其中的部分传说。
1519年，两位当地国王向西班牙人赫尔南·科尔特斯展示了一根疑似猛犸象腿骨的东西。他们告诉科尔特斯，那块骨头来自于可怕的巨人。贝尔纳尔·迪亚兹·德尔·卡斯蒂略是科尔特斯时代的一名士兵和作家，他对该事件进行了描述。
迪亚兹·德尔·卡斯蒂略写道，“我们确信这片土地上曾经出现过巨人。”
约翰·罗塞尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
