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Lesson40 Feathered Dinosaur.
有羽毛的恐龍。
Two summers ago, a farmer in northeast China was digging in a dried-up lake. He dug up some strange-looking fossilized bones. He wondered: Could these be the remains of ancient dragons?
兩年前，中國(guó)東北的一位農(nóng)民在一個(gè)已經(jīng)干涸的湖床挖地時(shí)，挖出了一些樣子很奇怪的化石。他想，這是不是古代龍的遺骸呢？
Not quite. The bones actually belonged to an ancient meat-eating dinosaur named Sinosauropteryx prima. The creature, which was close to the size of a large chicken, lived about 120 million years ago.
并非如此。這些骨頭其實(shí)是古代一種名叫中華鳥(niǎo)龍的肉食恐龍的化石。中華鳥(niǎo)龍，大小接近一只體型稍大的雞，生活在距今一億兩千萬(wàn)年前。
Size may not have been the only thing this dinosaur had in common with the chicken. Scientists announced that Sinosauropteryx might have had tiny feathers!
身體大小可能不是中華鳥(niǎo)龍和雞唯一的相似之處。科學(xué)家們宣稱(chēng)中華鳥(niǎo)龍可能長(zhǎng)有微小的羽毛。
Many scientists had wondered whether some dinosaurs had any feathers. But feathers are so fragile that they usually rot away without a trace. Luckily, the Sinosauropteryx fossils showed a lot of detail. "I had been skeptical of the claim that the dinosaur had feathers," says Canadian scientist Phil Currie. "Boy, was I impressed!"
很多科學(xué)家一直在思考恐龍是否長(zhǎng)有羽毛。但是羽毛很脆弱，通常很快就腐爛掉，不會(huì)留下痕跡。幸運(yùn)的是，中華鳥(niǎo)龍化石顯示了很多這方面的細(xì)節(jié)。“我過(guò)去一直懷疑恐龍長(zhǎng)有羽毛這種說(shuō)法”，加拿大科學(xué)家費(fèi)爾·賈利說(shuō)，“哦，這真是令人難忘。”
Not everyone is convinced. Some bird's experts suggest that the feather-like structures may be bits and pieces of scales.Whatever they are, they are not the right size and shape for flying. They may have been used to keep the dinosaur warm or help it attract a mate.
并不是所有人都相信這一點(diǎn)。有些鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)專(zhuān)家說(shuō)這些羽毛狀的結(jié)構(gòu)可能是鱗的碎片。不管它們是什么，都不具有適于飛行的尺寸和形狀，可能是用來(lái)保暖或者增加吸引配偶的魅力。
When and why feathers first appeared on the earth is just one puzzle scientists hope to solve by studying the area where the fossils were found. "These beds date to a time when modern mammals, flowering plants, and birds were invented," says Alan Brush, bird expert at the University of Connecticut. "The discovery of this site is just as important as going to Mars."
科學(xué)家們通過(guò)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)這些化石的地方，希望能找到羽毛最早什么時(shí)候和為什么在地球上出現(xiàn)這個(gè)謎題的答案。“這些湖床可以追溯到現(xiàn)代哺乳動(dòng)物、有花植物和鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)最早出現(xiàn)的年代”，康涅狄格大學(xué)的鳥(niǎo)類(lèi)專(zhuān)家艾倫·布魯斯說(shuō)，“發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)遺址的重要性相當(dāng)于探索火星。”
dinosaur
恐龍
fossilize
使成化石
