(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Scientists Study Complete Dinosaur Skeleton
The first complete dinosaur skeleton was found in southern England in 1858. The bones belonged to a creature called Scelidosaurus.
The early British paleontologist Richard Owen incompletely described its body in papers that were published in 1861 and 1863. But for years, scientists did not pay much attention to Scelidosaurus.
That has now changed. Scientists have recently finished several careful studies of the dinosaur's remains.
The findings suggest the creature had an unusual build.
University of Cambridge paleontologist David Norman recently published his fourth study on the Scelidosaurus. It appeared in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London.
Norman wrote that "this animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research." He added that until the discovery, "dinosaurs had only been known from scraps of bone and some teeth."
Scelidosaurus lived about 193 million years ago. It was an early member of the evolutionary family that led to the dinosaur group called ankylosaurs. Ankylosaurs were armored dinosaurs. Their bodies were so strong that they are sometimes called the tank dinosaurs.
Scelidosaurus was about 4-meters-long. It had four legs and ate plants. It was covered in bony plates with hard, pointy spikes.
The one that died near what is now West Dorset, England was probably the victim of a flood. It probably drowned in the sea, with its body becoming buried in sand and dirt.
"It has lain in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London - researchers knew of it by name but it was not at all well understood," Norman said.
I'm John Russell.
重点解析
1.Skeleton 骨架；骨瘦如柴的
He is reduced to a skeleton because of illness.
他病得人都变柴了。
2.understand 理解
It would be nice to have someone who really understood me, a friend
要是有个真正理解我的人、有个朋友就好了。
3.dinosaur 恐龙
Several dinosaur skeletons have been discovered in the area.
这个地区发现了几个恐龙的骨骼。
4.evolutionary 进化的；发展的
As for spinosaurus, diet was just the tip of the evolutionary iceberg.
对于棘龙来说，饮食只是进化的冰山一角。
5.Norman wrote that "this animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research."
at a crucial time 关键时刻
We are at a crucial time in history.
我们正处在历史的危急时刻。
We are meeting at a crucial time.
我们是在关键的时刻召开会议。
6.The bones belonged to a creature called Scelidosaurus.
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
科学家研究完整的恐龙骨架
1958年，第一具完整的恐龙骨架在英格兰南部被发现。这些骨头属于一种名叫肢龙（Scelidosaurus）的生物。
早期的英国古生物学家理查德·欧文(Richard Owen)在1861年和1863年发表的论文中对其身体进行了不完整的描述。但多年来，科学家们并没有对肢龙给予过多关注。
而现在情况发生了变化。科学家近期完成了对这具恐龙遗骸的几项细致的研究。
结果显示，这种生物的体型有些不寻常。
剑桥大学的古生物学家大卫·诺曼（David Norman）近期发表了其对肢龙的第四份研究报告。该研究发表在伦敦林奈学会的动物学杂志上。
诺曼写道:“这种动物是在恐龙研究历史上的一个关键时刻被发现的。”他补充说，在这次发现之前，“人们只通过骨骼碎片和部分牙齿来了解恐龙。”
肢龙生活在一亿九千三百万年前。它是进化家族的早期成员，最终形成了甲龙这一恐龙群。甲龙是装甲恐龙。它们的身体非常强壮，有时被称为“坦克恐龙”。
肢龙大约有4米长。它有四条腿，以植物为食。身体上覆盖着一层又硬又尖的尖刺。
在现今的英格兰西多塞特附近死亡的一只恐龙可能死于洪水。它可能是在海里淹死的，身体被沙子和泥土掩埋了。
诺曼说：“这只恐龙被收藏在伦敦的自然历史博物馆里，研究人员只知道它的名字，但对它的了解却并不充分。”
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！
