Oviraptor托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Oviraptor托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Oviraptor托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a paleontology class.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:As we've discussed,birds are apparently descendants of dinosaurs,and share many commonalities with some dinosaur species,like,uh,feathers and maybe even flight.And of course,egg laying.OK,so,many paleontologists,myself included,have wondered about other similarities between dinosaurs and birds.Since adult dinosaur fossils have sometimes been discovered near,or on top of,nests,we've been looking into dinosaur parenting behavior.MALE STUDENT:Parenting behavior?Well,that sounds so gentle and caring.But dinosaurs were ferocious reptiles—and reptiles don't take care of their young,do they?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,some reptiles incubate their eggs—crocodiles do.And as for popular attitudes toward dinosaurs...well,take the Oviraptor for instance.In the 1920s,a paleontologist discovered the fossil remains of a small dinosaur near a nest containing eggs.He assumed the dinosaur was stealing the eggs,so he named it"Oviraptor."That means"egg thief"in Latin...which fueled the generally negative public image of such dinosaurs.

But by the 1990s,other experts had convincingly made the case that,instead of robbing the nest,the Oviraptor was probably taking care of the eggs.You see,dinosaurs'closest living relatives—birds and crocodiles—display nesting behavior.And dinosaur fossils have been found in postures that we now believe to indicate brooding behavior,that is,sitting on the eggs until they hatch.

So we're curious about the type of care dinosaurs gave to their young.And we'd like to figure out which dinosaur parent,the male or the female,gave the care.MALE STUDENT:Shouldn't the behavior of crocodiles and birds give us some clues,then?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,with crocodiles,it's the female who guards the nest.And with birds,it depends on the species.It can be the male or the female that takes care of the eggs.Or both.In over 90 percent of all bird species,both parents take care of the eggs...and the young birds.MALE STUDENT:But sometimes it's just the male?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,exclusive care by the male parent is much less common,but it does occur.Now for animals other than birds,the care of young by both parents is pretty unusual in the animal kingdom—males contribute to parental care in fewer than 5 percent of all mammalian species.It's even less frequent among reptiles.

And,exclusive care by the male is very rare.So,researchers have wondered about the evolution of male parenting behavior in birds for quite some time.And now there's research showing that,for some of the birds'dinosaur relatives,it's likely that the male parent was also in charge of taking care of the eggs.MALE STUDENT:How did they figure that out?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,first they looked at clutch volume—that's the number of eggs in the nest—of crocodiles,birds,...and three types of dinosaurs,including Oviraptors,that are thought to be closely related to the dinosaur ancestors of birds.

So,when researchers examined fossilized remains of nests,they found that the dinosaurs had larger clutch volumes,more eggs in the nest,that is,than most of the crocodiles and birds that were studied.But,and this is important,their clutch volumes matched those of birds that have only male parental care.You see,bird species in which only the males take care of the nest tend to have the largest clutches of eggs.MALE STUDENT:So,what's the connection between bird and dinosaur behavior?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,researchers now believe,because of this study,that the male parenting behavior of these birds might have its origins in the behavior of dinosaurs.MALE STUDENT:Based only on evidence of clutch volume size?—the number of eggs?FEMALE PROFESSOR:No,there's more.They also examined the fossilized bones of those three types of dinosaurs that were found on or near nests...to determine their sex.You see,adult female birds,during egg production,produce a layer of spongy bone tissue inside certain long bones.And so did female dinosaurs of the kinds that were investigated.This spongy tissue serves as a source of calcium for eggshell formation.But when the dinosaur fossils were examined,there were no spongy bone deposits.MALE STUDENT:Meaning that those dinosaurs on the nests were probably adult males...who wouldn't have needed calcium for making eggshells.FEMALE PROFESSOR:Exactly.And then there's this.Birds like the kiwi,the ostrich,and the emu—they share certain physical characteristics with these dinosaurs,and,interestingly,they also show a consistent pattern of nest care by the male.

二、Oviraptor托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听一节古生物学课上的部分讲座。

女教授：正如我们所讨论的，鸟类显然是恐龙的后代，与一些恐龙物种有许多共同点，比如，羽毛，甚至飞行。当然还有产卵。好吧，所以，包括我在内的许多古生物学家都想知道恐龙和鸟类之间的其他相似之处。由于成年恐龙化石有时在巢穴附近或顶部被发现，我们一直在研究恐龙的养育行为。男学生：育儿行为？听起来很温柔，很有爱心。但恐龙是凶猛的爬行动物，爬行动物不会照顾它们的幼崽，是吗？女教授：有些爬行动物像鳄鱼一样孵卵。至于大众对恐龙的态度……以卵盗龙为例。20世纪20年代，一位古生物学家在一个有蛋的巢穴附近发现了一只小型恐龙的化石遗骸。他；假设恐龙在偷蛋，所以他把它命名为“Oviraptor”。这在拉丁语中是“偷蛋者”的意思……这助长了公众对这种恐龙的负面印象。

但到了20世纪90年代，其他专家令人信服地提出了这样的观点，即产卵猛禽可能是在照顾卵，而不是抢劫巢穴。你看，恐龙的近亲鸟类和鳄鱼表现出筑巢行为。恐龙化石被发现的姿势，我们现在认为表明了孵卵行为，即坐在蛋上直到孵化。

所以我们很好奇恐龙对幼崽的照顾。我们想弄清楚是哪一种恐龙的父母，雄性还是雌性，给予了照顾。男学生：那么，鳄鱼和鸟类的行为不应该给我们一些线索吗？女教授：嗯，对于鳄鱼来说，是女性守卫巢穴。对于鸟类，这取决于物种。可以是雄性也可以是雌性来照顾卵子。或两者。在90%以上的鸟类中，父母都照顾蛋和幼鸟。男学生：但有时只是男性？女教授：好吧，由男性家长单独照顾的情况不太常见，但确实发生过。现在，对于鸟类以外的动物来说，双亲照顾幼崽在动物界是非常不寻常的-在所有哺乳动物物种中，男性对父母照顾的贡献不到5%。在爬行动物中更不常见。

而且，男性的独家护理非常罕见。因此，研究人员很长一段时间以来一直在研究鸟类雄性养育行为的演变。现在有研究表明，对于一些鸟类的恐龙亲戚来说，很可能是雄性的父母也负责照顾蛋。男学生：他们怎么知道的？女教授：首先，他们研究了鳄鱼、鸟类和三种恐龙的巢中蛋的数量，包括卵猛禽，它们被认为与鸟类的恐龙祖先密切相关。

因此，当研究人员检查鸟巢化石时，他们发现恐龙的窝体积更大，窝中的蛋更多，也就是说，比大多数被研究的鳄鱼和鸟类都多。但是，这一点很重要，它们的产卵量与只有雄性父母照顾的鸟类相匹配。你看，只有雄鸟负责鸟巢的鸟类往往拥有最多的卵。男学生：那么，鸟类和恐龙行为之间有什么联系？女教授：研究人员现在相信，由于这项研究，这些鸟类的雄性养育行为可能起源于恐龙的行为。男学生：仅基于离合器体积大小的证据-鸡蛋的数量？女教授：不，还有更多。他们还检查了在巢穴或巢穴附近发现的三种恐龙的化石，以确定它们的性别。你看，成年雌鸟在产卵的过程中，在某些长骨内产生一层海绵状骨组织。被调查的雌性恐龙也是如此。这种海绵组织是蛋壳形成的钙源。但当恐龙化石被检查时，没有海绵状骨沉积物。男学生：这意味着巢穴中的恐龙可能是成年雄性……它们不需要钙来制造蛋壳。女教授：没错。还有这个。像猕猴桃、鸵鸟和鸸鹋这样的鸟类，它们与这些恐龙有着某些共同的身体特征，有趣的是，它们也表现出雄性对巢的一贯照顾模式。

三、Oviraptor托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What does the professor mainly discuss?

A.How the parenting behavior of Oviraptors may have differed from that of other dinosaurs

B.Evidence that parenting behavior in birds may have originated with dinosaurs

C.Physical traits shared by dinosaurs,crocodiles,and birds

D.The changing attitudes of the public toward dinosaurs

Q2:2.What is the professor's attitude toward the name"Oviraptor"?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.It accurately represents the behavior of the dinosaur.

B.It resulted from an incorrect translation of the original Latin term.

C.It was based on a misunderstanding of the fossil evidence.

D.It influenced popular attitudes toward dinosaurs.

Q3:3.According to the professor,what behavior is very rare among reptiles?

A.Parenting of the young by males

B.Laying eggs in a nest

C.Returning to the same nest site year after year

D.Stealing eggs from the nests of other reptiles

Q4:4.What does the professor imply about crocodiles?

A.They provide fewer clues about dinosaur nesting behavior than birds do.

B.They share many behavioral characteristics with birds like the ostrich and the kiwi.

C.They have larger clutch volumes than most dinosaurs had.

D.The female and the male work together to guard their nest.

Q5:5.What is the function of the spongy tissue in the bones of a female bird?

A.It makes the bird more comfortable while sitting on her eggs for long periods of time.

B.It enables female birds to lay more eggs.

C.It strengthens the bird's bones just before she lays her eggs.

D.It serves as a source of calcium for eggshells.

Q6:6.What did researchers conclude after analyzing fossilized dinosaur bones found near nests?

A.Many dinosaurs died before they became adults.

B.Male dinosaurs produced a spongy layer of bone.

C.Male dinosaurs probably took care of the eggs.

D.Female dinosaurs seldom went far from their nests.

四、Oviraptor托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：B

A2:正确答案：CD

A3:正确答案：A

A4:正确答案：A

A5:正确答案：D

A6:正确答案：C

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