2018年托福閱讀練習試題：如何確定恐龍的食物

　　Determining what extinct dinosaurs ate is difficult, but we can infer some aspects of their dietary preferences.

　　要確定已經(jīng)滅絕的恐龍吃什么比較困難，但是我們可以推測出它們喜歡吃什么食物。

　　Traditionally this information has been derived from direct evidence, such as stomach contents, and indirect evidence, such as establishing a correlation between particular body characteristics and diets of living animals and then inferring habits for dinosaurs.

　　傳統(tǒng)上而言，這些信息來自于直接證據(jù)，比如胃里的食物，以及間接證據(jù)，比如通過恐龍?zhí)貏e的身體特征和現(xiàn)今存活的動物的飲食習慣之間建立關系來推斷恐龍的飲食習慣。

　　Animals such as house cats and dogs have large, stabbing canine teeth at the front of the mouth and smaller, equally sharp teeth farther back in their jaws.

　　比如家養(yǎng)的貓和狗這類動物，嘴前部有著尖銳的犬牙，而且后頜有著小一些但同樣尖銳的牙齒。

　　Many of these animals are also armed with sharp claws.

　　而且大多數(shù)這類動物都有著鋒利的爪子。

　　The advantage of teeth and claws as predatory tools is obvious.

　　牙齒和爪子作為捕食工具的優(yōu)勢非常明顯。

　　Now consider animals like cows, horses, rabbits, and mice.

　　然后再看牛、馬、兔子和老鼠這些動物。

　　These animals have flat teeth at the back of the jaw that are analogous to and have the samefunction as grindstones.

　　它們后頜的牙齒扁平，功能類似于磨石。

　　Unlike the meat-slicing and stabbing teeth of carnivores, the teeth of these animals grind and shred plant material before digestion.

　　和食肉動物用于撕碎肉類的利牙不同，這些動物的牙齒會將植物磨碎再消化。