雅思课外读物--Missing link in tyrannosaur family tree discovered

Brains, Then Brawn?

The finding suggests that tyrannosaurs first evolved their distinct senses and brain structure, and then grew in size much later. In fact, tyrannosaurs' smarts may have made it easier for them to take over for the allosauroids, an earlier group of big-bodied, carnivorous(肉食的)dinosaurs that went extinct(灭绝的)some 94 million years ago. “It’s the head-first mode of evolution,” says Sues. “The brains[are] for the operation, and then you develop the bulk.”

But the team’s work is far from over, given that they have only one surefire(确定的)Timurlengia specimen(标本): the braincase. “It’s like trying to solve a murder with one clue,”says Brusatte. “More than any other experiment or analysis, we just need morefossils.”

In the meantime, all paleontologists know for sure is that Timurlengia was no sensory slouch(笨拙的).

“I think all we can say is that they weren’t as dumb as their predecessors(前任，前辈),” says Carr.

Vocabulary

species 物种

dinosaur 恐龙

oddball 奇怪的人或物

resemble 与......相似

preserve 保存

fragment 碎片

curveball 曲线球;难以把握的人或物

weirdo 奇怪的人或物

untangle 揭开谜团

scamper 惊慌地奔跑

margin 边缘

intimidating 令人害怕的

predator 捕食者

stem from 来源于......

olfactory 嗅觉的

emit 散发出

sparse 稀少的

dissolve 溶解

excavation 挖掘;出土

endow 赋予

carnivorous 食肉的

extinct 灭绝的

surefire 确信的

specimen 标本

slouch 笨拙的

predecessor 前任;前辈

Comprehension Questions

1. What is the name of the newly discovered species of tyrannosaur? why is it described as an "oddball" by some scientists?

2. In what sense is Timurlengia the "missing link" in tyannosaur family?

读真题，记词汇

1. Baleen species, on the other hand, appear to have some related brain structures but it is not known whether these are functional. (剑4T1P2)

参考译文：另一方面，鲸须类动物似乎有一些相关的脑结构，但其脑结构是否会有任何功用还是个未知数。

2. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.(剑5T1P3)

参考译文：他们列出了一系列我们担忧的问题：自然资源正在枯竭，人口不断增长，粮食越来越少，物种大批灭绝，地球的空气污染和水污染越来越严重。

3. For example,vision is obviously more useful to inhabiting clear open waters than to those living in turbid rivers and flooded plains.(剑4T1P2)

参考译文：例如，与那些生活在浑浊的河里以及河漫滩上的生物相比，视觉对生活在开阔水域的物种会更有用。

4. Trace amounts of nickel and sulphur are usually present in the raw materials used to make glass, and nickel can also be introduced by fragments of nickel alloys falling into the molten glass.(剑5P4T2)

参考译文：微量的镍和硫通常出现在制作玻璃的原材料中，熔化过程中镍合金碎片也会增加玻璃的镍含量。

5.However, the major problems of the travel and tourism industry that have hidden, orobscured, its economic impact are the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself.(剑10T3P1)

参考译文：然而，旅行以及旅游产业隐藏在经济效益后的主要问题，是这个产业本身的多样性和脆弱性。

6. A violent eruption can blow the top few kilometers off a mountain, scatter fine ash practically all over the globe and hurl rock fragments into the stratosphere to darken the skies a continent away.(剑4T3P2)

参考译文：一次激烈的火山喷发会将山顶掀到几千米开外，让火山灰弥漫到全球，并且能将岩屑抛掷到平流层从而覆盖一片大陆之外的天空。

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