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【在生活中學習語言】《中英對照讀新聞》T-rex is chicken’s relative／暴龍是雞的親戚
◎陳成良

A group of scientists including N.C. State University paleontologist Mary Schweitzer have discovered new scientific evidence that the cowardly chicken has a ferocious relative : Tyrannosaurus rex, the meat-eating dinosaur that stood 15 to 20 feet tall.

包括北卡羅萊納州立大學古生物學者瑪莉．史懷哲在內的一群科學家，已經發現新科學證據，證明懦弱的雞有個凶猛親戚：暴龍。這種肉食性恐龍站立時高達15至20呎。

In recent years scientists have hypothesized that birds descended from dinosaurs, but that theory was based on an analysis of their similar bone structures, said Schweitzer. But the study, published in the latest issue of the journal Science, provides corroborating data.

近年科學家已假設鳥類源起於恐龍，但那個理論是根據對牠們相似的骨架所作之分析，史懷哲說。不過刊登在最新一期「科學」期刊的這項研究提供了確證資料。

The linchpin was soft tissue samples that Schweitzer obtained from the leg bone of a T-rex discovered in Montana in 2003. Scientists at Harvard used protein fragments from that sample to determine the similarities, at the molecular level, between the extinct dinosaur and today’s chicken.

其關鍵是史懷哲從一支於2003年在蒙大拿州發現的暴龍腿骨取得的軟組織樣本。哈佛大學科學家利用來自樣本的蛋白質碎片，以分子層面來判定該種已滅絕恐龍與今日雞隻之間的相似度。

"It validates our previous idea," Schweitzer said. The same techniques were used to show, as expected, that the mastodon was a relative of today’s elephants.

「它證實了我們先前的觀點，」史懷哲說。一如預料，相同的技術也用來顯示乳齒象是今日大象的親戚。

The important thing, scientifically, is having a tool to trace molecular evolution, which Schweitzer said is the key to the tree of life.

就科學而言，重要的是擁有了一種追蹤分子演化的工具，史懷哲說，這是生命之樹的關鍵。

Dictionary 新聞辭典

descend from：片語，起源於；是…的後裔。例句︰She is descended from a distinguished family.（她系出名門。）

linchpin：名詞，關鍵。例句：Controlling wages is the linchpin of the Government’s policies.（控制工資是政府政策的關鍵。）

來源：自由時報
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