Ancient animals called dinosaurs1
have captured2 the
imagination of millions of people around the world. The
huge dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex has even been in popular
American movies like Jurassic Park. In some movies, Tyrannosaurus
rex3 is shown running at
top speed4 after cars and helicopters5.
The Tyrannosaurus in the movies is a terrible combination
of speed and power.
古生物恐龙俘虏了全世界成千上万人畅想的心灵。巨型恐龙霸王龙甚至出现在类似《侏罗纪公园》这样深受人们欢迎的美国影片中。一些影片中出现了霸王龙飞速追击汽车和直升机的场面。影片中的霸王龙是可怕的速度与力量的化身。
Yet two
biological6 scientists say this is probably
wrong. They are John Hutchinson of Stanford University in
California and Mariano Garcia of Cornell University in Ithaca,
New York. Their research suggests that Tyrannosaurus rex
could only walk slowly. They reported their findings in
the publication Nature.
但是来自加州斯坦福大学的John Hutchinson和纽约伊萨卡区康奈尔大学的Mariano
Garcia两位生物学家指出这种观点可能是错误的，他们的研究表明霸王龙只可能低速行走。《自然》杂志刊登了他们的研究成果。
Mr. Hutchinson and
Mr. Garcia used a biological computer model to study the
bones of the ancient creature7.
They found that the legs of Tyrannosaurus were not strong
enough for the animal to be able to run fast.
两位科学家使用了一种生物电脑模型研究古代恐龙的骨骼。他们发现霸王龙的腿不足以支撑它们高速奔跑。
The meat-eating8
dinosaur weighed9
almost 6,000 kilograms. Mr. Hutchinson says the animal’s
legs would have had to be huge to enable the creature to
run fast. He says its leg muscles would have had to be 85%
of its total weight.
Hutchinson先生说，这种食肉恐龙重达6吨。要支撑高速奔跑，它的腿必须巨大无比，其重量必须达到全身重量的85%。
The findings of the
two biological scientists conflict with current scientific
information about Tyrannosaurus. Until now, scientists believed
that the huge dinosaur could run up to 70 kilometers an
hour. This idea has passed into10
popular culture all the way to the directors of Hollywood
movies.
两位科学家的发现与当今的科学观点完全相反。科学家们至今还相信霸王龙的最高时速能达到70公里。这个观点早已深入人心，好莱坞的导演们也不例外。
Not all scientists
agree with the findings of Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Garcia.
In the last 20 years, scientists who study ancient bones
have linked11 dinosaurs
to birds. Some paleontologists12
believe the bird-like bones of giant13
dinosaurs suggest that some of these ancient creatures were
fast runners. Many paleontologists continue to believe that
the bone structure of Tyrannosaurus shows that it could
run fast.
不是所有的科学家都赞同Hutchinson先生和Garcia先生的观点。最近20年，研究古生物骨骼的科学家们对比研究了恐龙和鸟类。一些古生物学家认为有些恐龙的骨骼和鸟类的骨骼一样是中空的，这意味着恐龙中也有速跑健将。另外一些则坚持认为霸王龙的骨骼结构表明它们能够高速奔跑。
The debate over how
fast some dinosaurs ran probably will continue for some
time. The last Tyrannosaurus rex died about 65 million years
ago. Paleontologists can only know the giant creature from
its mineral fossil14
remains. Tyrannosaurus always will remain a creature of
popular action movies and of the imagination.
有关恐龙奔跑速度的争论可能会持续一段时间。最后一只霸王龙大约死于6500万年前，古生物学家只能从化石中了解它。霸王龙将继续扮演流行动作片中的角色，人们也将继续想象霸王龙的身影。
