考研英語時文賞讀（58）：是誰殺死了巨齒鯊？

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　The sharks that roam today’s oceans can be fearsome, but they don’t really compare to some of the species that dominated the seas millions of years ago.

　　如今游弋在海洋中的鯊魚可能令人生畏，但它們與數百萬年前主宰海洋的某些物種相比，實在是小巫見大巫。

　　The megalodon — a massive shark that is thought to have died out around 2.6 million years ago — has left plenty of fossils behind for researchers to find, but determining what exactly killed the species off has proven a big challenge.

　　巨齒鯊—一種被認為在260萬年前滅絕的巨型鯊魚，留下了大量化石供研究人員尋找究竟是什么殺死了它，如今這卻被證明是一個巨大的挑戰(zhàn)。

　　As LiveScience reports, new research was presented recently at the annual American Geophysical Union conference that suggests the shark could regulate its body temperature similar to some species of modern sharks. However, the ancient shark’s much higher body temperature may have been its downfall.

　　據生命科學網站報道，最近美國地球物理聯合會的年度會議上一項新的研究表明，這種鯊魚可以像某些種類的現代鯊魚一樣調節(jié)體溫。然而，這種古老鯊魚體溫要高得多，這可能是它滅絕的原因。

　　Determining the body temperature of an animal that hasn’t existed for millions of years is tough but not impossible. Clues to the shark’s body temperature were found in its teeth. Isotope bonds form differently depending on the temperature and the teeth of the megalodon suggest its body temperature was very high.

　　確定一種已經滅絕數百萬年的動物的體溫是困難的，但并非不可能。這種鯊魚的牙齒中有它的體溫線索。不同同位素鍵的形成取決于溫度，巨齒鯊的牙齒表明它的體溫非常高。

　　The shark’s size was the key to its dominance, but it was so large that its body temperature may have rivaled that of whales.

　　這種鯊魚的體型是其稱霸海洋的關鍵，但它的體型如此之大，以至于它的體溫可能可以與鯨魚相匹敵。

　　If the creature was keeping its body temperature as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, its metabolism would likely have demanded that it consume a huge amount, and as global temperatures change, it’s likely that the sharks just couldn’t keep up.

　　如果這種生物的體溫一直保持在104華氏度這么高，那么它的新陳代謝很可能需要消耗大量的熱量，而隨著全球氣溫的變化，這種鯊魚很可能沒法保持體溫。

　　As the shark’s prey moved to new, cooler areas, the massive predators would have felt a serious pinch. It’s also likely that new predators began to out-hunt the large sharks, putting even more strain on the species.

　　當這種鯊魚的獵物轉移到新的、較冷的地區(qū)時，作為大型掠食者，它會感到嚴重的生存壓力。也有可能是有新的捕食者開始捕殺這種大型鯊魚，給這個物種帶來更大的生存壓力。

　　（文共273個詞，紐約郵報）

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