霸王龍 過來見見你的中國老表
Tyrannosaurus rex, meet your Chinese cousin.
霸王龍，過來見見你的中國老表。Researchers recently said that the remains of a long-nose tyrannosaurid species, the Qianzhousaurus sinensis, were found in southern China near the city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi province. The carnivore was probably alive during the late Cretaceous period, scientists say, some 66 million years ago.
研究人員最近表示，華南地區江西贛州市附近發現了一種長鼻子霸王龍――虔州龍的遺骨。科學家說，這種食肉動物可能生存在大約6,600萬年之前的白堊紀晚期。The news has captured global headlines, especially given the vividness of the new critter's nickname, the Pinocchio Rex, after its big nose. The news also raised hope among scientists that it might help them better understand the history of Asia's predatory, long-snouted dinosaurs.
圖爲藝術家做的效果圖，圖中是兩隻虔州龍在獵食。消息引起了全球媒體的關注，更何況這一新發現物種還因爲它的大鼻子獲得了一個生動的綽號：匹諾曹霸王龍。消息還引起科學家的希望：它或許會幫助他們更好地理解亞洲掠食性長鼻子恐龍的歷史。
According to University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, the world is in the middle of a 'renaissance' in dinosaur discovery, with China helping lead that charge. By some estimates in recent years, a new dinosaur is named on average every two weeks.
據芝加哥大學(University of Chicago)古生物學家保羅・塞雷諾(Paul Sereno)說，世界正處於恐龍發現的“復興期”，中國等國處於前沿。據近些年的一些估計，平均每兩個星期就有一種新的恐龍被命名。Such a renaissance, Mr. Sereno says, is being driven by 'increased searching and increased knowledge and awareness about fossils by the public, especially in places like the countryside in China and the U.S.' In the same week that the 'Pinocchio Rex' was announced, a new early bird dinosaur from China was also named, says Philip D. Mannion, a junior research fellow at the Imperial College London with expertise in sauropod dinosaurs.
塞雷諾說，這場復興背後的一個推動力量，是“搜索工作增加，以及公衆對化石的知識和認識增加，特別是在中國和美國的鄉村地區”。倫敦帝國理工學院(Imperial College London)專攻蜥腳類恐龍的初級研究員菲利浦・曼尼恩(Philip D. Mannion)說，在“匹諾曹霸王龍”公佈的同一個星期，一種來自中國的早期鳥類恐龍也被命名。Globally, T-rex -- along with brontosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops -- may be the best-known dinosaurs out there, and no surprise. As Mr. Mannion says, most such A-list dinosaurs were discovered in North America in the late 19th century or early 20th century and had some of the earliest quality mounted specimens, which quickly gave them a latch on the public imagination. (Though England had previously launched displays of dinosaurs in the 1850s, they were often, at best, fanciful in their approach toward science.)
2013年10月，中國香港，香港科學館(Hong Kong Science Museum)門外展出一具炳靈大夏巨龍的模型。在世界範圍內，霸王龍――以及雷龍、劍龍和三角龍――可能是最知名的已發現恐龍，這並不令人奇怪。正如曼尼恩所說，大部分這類重要恐龍都是19世紀末20世紀初在北美髮現的，並被做成第一批優質標本架標本，很快俘獲公衆的想象。（雖然英國在之前的19世紀50年代就曾舉辦恐龍展覽，但在科學方法上，這些展覽常常充其量也只是幻想。）As China continues to discover ever more dinosaurs, here's a quick list of some that you might not have learned about as a child--a sort of People's History of Dinosaurs, Part I, if you will:
鑑於中國發現的恐龍越來越多，下面簡單列出一些你在童年時期可能沒有聽說過的恐龍，姑且稱爲“人民恐龍史：第一章”吧：The Zizhongosaurus, discovered in Sichuan's Zizhong county, meaning 'lizard from Zizhong': a large-bodied, long-necked herbivorous dinosaur.
資中龍(Zizhongosaurus)，發現於四川省資中縣，意思是“來自資中的龍”，是一種大體型、長脖子的食草恐龍。The Chungkingosaurus, found near modern Chongqing (which used to be spelled Chungking), and resembles a stegosaurus, with a spiky, plated back.
重慶龍(Chungkingosaurus)，發現於現代重慶的附近，背上有釘子和甲片，形似劍龍。The Lanzhousaurus, an herbivore with unusually large teeth, discovered in the northwest Gansu region in 2003.
蘭州龍(Lanzhousaurus)，食草動物，牙齒不一般的長，2003年發現於西北的甘肅地區。The Xiaosaurus, or dawn lizard, a swift runner and sharp-clawed herbivore from what's today Sichuan province, discovered in excavations that began in 1979.
曉龍(Xiaosaurus)，意思是拂曉時的龍，跑動迅速，爪子尖利。這種食草恐龍來自今天的四川省，是在1979年開始的發掘過程中發現的。Then there's the Xinjiangovenator, meaning Xinjiang hunting dinosaur, an Early Cretaceous creature that was established as a new species in 2005 and whose name would sound especially good in a kid's book. (No relation to this Governator.)
然後還有新疆獵龍(Xinjiangovenator)，爲白堊紀早期生物，2005年被確認爲一種新物種，要是放在童書裏面，它的名字將會特別好聽。（跟“州長俠”(Governator)沒有關係。）For dinosaur hunters, China -- with its vast areas of countryside, much of it being excavated for development -- offers some of the world's best prospects. In the case of the so-called Pinocchio Rex, it was discovered by some workers digging a new industrial park. (It's not just dinosaurs, either: a man recently stumbled on a Song dynasty relic after relieving himself on the side of a road.)
在尋找恐龍的人看來，中國擁有巨大的鄉村地區，很多地區又在爲了發展而開挖，所以擁有世界上發現恐龍的最好前景。匹諾曹霸王龍就是一些工人在一個新的工業園開挖的時候發現的。（同樣不只是恐龍：一名男子前不久在路邊方便的時候偶然發現了一處宋代遺蹟。）Though China's exploration of its dinosaur past has mostly boomed in the past two decades, Mr. Mannion says it has quickly caught up to North America in terms of numbers of species being discovered. 'It's not as well sampled as North America, but despite a shorter time in study, it's getting to a similar number of species in North America -- it's at least rivaling it,' he says. He cites places such as northeastern China's Liaoning province as having some particularly good instances of preserved fossils, adding that such fossilized feather discoveries have helped scientists make key breakthroughs in their understanding of the origin of both feathers and birds.
曼尼恩說，雖然中國對其恐龍化石的勘察主要興旺於過去20年，但在發現物種數量方面，它已經迅速趕上北美。他說：“其標本製作趕不上北美，但是，儘管研究時間更短，發現的物種卻與北美相近，至少是平起平坐。”他說，中國東北遼寧省等地擁有一些特別不錯的保存完好的化石，而且這類化石羽毛的發現已經幫助科學家在理解羽毛及鳥類起源方面取得了關鍵性的突破。So in the future, rather than My T-Rex Has a Toothache, maybe authors will be writing things like 'My Xiaosaurus Has a Stomachache,' instead. Lulu and the Lanzhousaurus has a pretty good ring, too.
所以在將來，童書作者可能就不再寫《我的霸王龍牙齒痛》(My T-Rex Has a Toothache)，而是寫《我的曉龍肚子痛》了，《露露養雷龍》(Lulu and the Brontosaurus)變成《露露養蘭州龍》，聽起來也是很帶感的。
