经济学人263:远古动物行为 侏罗纪雨燕

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术
　　Ancient animal behaviour
　　远古动物行为
　　Jurassic lark 1
　　侏罗纪雨燕
　　How the pterosaur caught its supper
　　翼龙是如何逮到晚餐的
　　PALAEOETHOLOGY, working out how long-extinct animals behaved, is a subject whose practitioners 2 can never, definitively 3, be proved right.
　　古行为学，作为一门研究那些早已灭绝的动物的行为的学科，其研究者永远不可能证明自己的理论是确凿无误的，
　　But that does not stop them trying.
　　但这一点从来没有阻止过他们对真相的探索。
　　The latest effort, to be presented later this month to the International Symposium 4 on Pterosaurs in Rio de Janeiro, is an attempt by Michael Habib of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and Mark Witton at the University of Portsmouth, in Britain, to work out how one of the most peculiar 5 of the flying reptiles 6 of the Jurassic earned its living.
　　本月晚些时候，将于里约热内卢举行的国际翼龙目研讨会将展示该领域最新一项研究成果，南加州大学的Michael Habib和普利茅斯大学的Mark Witton进行了该项研究，目的在于弄清楚侏罗纪最神奇的飞行类爬行动物之一是如何捕捉食物的。
　　Anurognathus and its relatives have been known for 90 years.
　　蛙嘴龙及其近亲为人类了解已有90年。
　　They were the size of swifts and until now it had been thought that, like swifts, they chased around the sky after insects—a technique known as hawking 7.
　　它们体型如雨燕般大小，直到今天，人们一直认为它们像雨燕一样在天空中到处疾飞追逐昆虫—即一种被称为飞行捕食的摄食策略。
　　Dr Habib and Dr Witton believe this is wrong.
　　两位博士Habib 和Witton认为这种理论是错误的，
　　They suspect instead that Anurognathus sat in wait for its prey 8, and then sallied forth 9 to intercept 10 it like a surface-to-air missile.
　　他们猜想蛙嘴龙反而是静待猎物，然后像地空导弹一样突然腾空截击。
　　They came to this conclusion by comparing Anurognathus with 36 birds and 20 bats from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
　　在将蛙嘴龙与取自斯密森学会博物馆的36种鸟和20种蝙蝠进行对比后，Habib和Witton做出这一推论。
　　Using a mix of computerised tomography and mundane 11 measurements with callipers, they assessed the lengths, widths, thicknesses, densities 12 and bending potential of the bones of the modern animals and compared them with those gleaned 13 from Anurognathus fossils.
　　他们综合了计算机断层摄影术和使用卡钳的普通测量方法，分析评估了现代动物骨骼的长度，宽度，厚度，密度及弯曲度可能性，并将它们和从蛙嘴龙化石中搜集到的数据进行对比。
　　Anurognathus's mouth, they found, was similar to the mouths of nightjars, which also sally after prey.
　　他们发现，蛙嘴龙的嘴与夜鹰相似，后者也是突袭猎物的。
　　Moreover, the pterosaurs' legs and wings were stronger than those of any comparable bird or bat, reinforcing the idea that they could leap rapidly into the air.
　　另外，翼龙的腿和翅膀要比任何可以相提并论的鸟类和蝙蝠都要强壮，这一点强化了它们可以迅疾腾空的观点。
　　Their conclusion was that Anurognathus did indeed feed by sallying—and probably more effectively than any living creature.
　　两位博士Habib和Witton的结论是，蛙嘴龙的确是突然腾空袭击猎物的—而且它们的狩猎有可能比任何生物都要更高效。
　　1.work out 解决；作出
　　Negotiators are due to meet later today to work out a compromise...
　　谈判人员定于今天晚些时候进行会谈，商定一个折中方案。
　　It took me some time to work out what was causing this.
　　我花了一些时间才弄清此事的起因。
　　2.chase around 向某方向急奔
　　Clive and carol chase around a lot together.
　　克莱夫和卡罗尔两人交往甚密。
　　It was all quite exciting as a slow-motion game of chase around the islands ensued.
　　围着岛屿，慢速追逐，这非常刺激。
　　3.wait for 等候
　　I'll wait for you.
　　我会等你的.
　　But foreign wars don't wait for washington inaugurations 14.
　　但是国外的战争是不会等待华盛顿的就职仪式。
　　4.similar to 跟。。。类似得，与。。。同样的
　　You should see something similar to figure 2.
　　你应该会看到类似图2的内容。
　　Try and visualize 15 this energy as a bright white light similar to that of sunlight.
　　试着想象这一能源，把它当做一种明亮如阳光一样的白光。