(单词翻译:单击)
Recording Two
录音二
The partial skeletons of more than 20 dinosaurs and the scattered bones of about 300 more have been discovered in Utah and Colorado at what is now the Dinosaur National Monument.
在美国犹他州和科罗拉多州发现了20多只恐龙的部分骨骼和大约300多只恐龙零散的骨骼，现在它被称为国家恐龙化石保护区。
Many of the best specimens may be seen today at museums of natural history in the largest cities of the United States and Canada.
现在，人们可以在美国和加拿大最大城市的自然历史博物馆里看到许多最好的标本。
This dinosaur pit is the largest and best preserved deposit of dinosaurs known today.
这个恐龙坑是目前已知的最大、保存最好的恐龙沉积物。
Many people get the idea from the massive bones and the pit wall that some disaster, such as a volcanic explosion or a sudden flood, killed a whole herd of dinosaurs in this area.
许多人从这些巨大的骨头和恐龙坑上得到的想法是，某种灾难，比如火山爆发或突发洪水，在这个地区杀死了一群恐龙。
This could have happened, but it probably did not.
这可能确实发生过，但也可能没有发生。
The main reasons for thinking otherwise are the scattered bones and the thickness of the deposit.
之所以存在另一种可能，主要是因为零散的骨头和沉积物的厚度。
In other deposits where the animals were thought to have died together, the skeletons were usually complete and often all the bones were in their proper places.
在其他被认为是恐龙群体死亡的沉积物中，它们的骨骼通常是完整的，而且通常所有的骨头都处于该在的位置。
Rounded pieces of fossil bones have been found here.
人们在这里发现了圆形的骨骼化石。
These fragments got their smooth round shape, though, rolling along the stream bottom.
这些碎片沿着河底滚动，形成了光滑的圆形。
In a mass killing, the bones would have been left on the stream or lake bottom together at the same level.
在大规模屠杀中，这些骨头会被留在溪流或湖底的同一水平面上。
But in this deposit, the bones occur throughout a zone of sandstone about 12 feet thick.
但在这一沉积物中，骨骼分布在大约12英尺厚的砂岩地带。
The mixture of swamp dwellers and dry land types also seems to indicate that the deposit is a mixture from different places.
沼泽生物和旱地生物的混合似乎也表明，沉积物是来自不同的地方。
The pit area is a large dinosaur graveyard, not a place where they died.
这个恐龙坑区域是一个巨大的恐龙墓地，而不是它们死亡的地方。
Most of the remains probably floated down on eastward flowing river until they were left on a shallow sandbar.
大部分遗骸可能是顺着向东的河流漂流而下，最后被留在了一个较浅的沙洲上。
Some of them may have come from far away dry land areas to the west.
其中一些可能来自遥远的西部干旱地区。
Perhaps they drowned trying to cross a small stream or washed away during floods.
也许他们在试图穿过小溪时淹死了，或者在洪水中被冲走了。
Some of the swamp dwellers may have got stuck in the very sandbar that became their grave.
一些沼泽生物可能被困在了沙洲里，那里就变成了它们的坟墓。
Others may have floated for miles before being stranded.
还有一些可能在搁浅前漂流了数英里。
Even today, similar events take place when floods come in the spring.
即使在今天，当春天洪水来袭时，类似的事件也会发生。
Sheep, cattle, deer are often trapped by rising waters and often drown.
绵羊、牛经常因水位上升被困，经常被淹死。
Their dead bodies float downstream until the flood recedes and leaves them stranded on a bar or shore where they lie half buried in the sand until they decay.
他们的尸体顺流而下，直到洪水退去，他们被困在沙洲或岸边，一半埋在沙子里，直到腐烂。
Early travelers on the Missouri River reported that shores and bars were often lined with the decaying bodies of Buffalo that had died during spring floods.
早期在密苏里河上的旅行者报告说，岸边和沙洲上经常有在春季洪水中死去的腐烂的水牛尸体。
19. Where can many of the best dinosaur specimens be found in North America?
19. 在北美哪里可以找到许多最好的恐龙标本?
20. What occurs to many people when they see the massive bones in the pit wall?
20.当许多人看到恐龙坑里巨大的骨头时会想到什么?
21. What does the speaker suggest about the large number of dinosaur bones found in the pit?
21. 关于恐龙坑内发现的大量恐龙骨骼，说话者暗示了什么?
