081 化石的世界

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" Look how big its feet are!" Eric pointed

“看它的脚多大啊！”埃里克指着说。

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" How did they find all the bones?"

“他们是怎么找到所有这些骨头的？”

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Dana raised her hand

丹娜举起了手。

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All the kids in the class were looking at a dinosaur exhibit

全班的孩子都在观看一个恐龙展览。

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" Do you want to know a secret?"

“你们想知道一个秘密吗？”

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Miss Bennett, the museum guide, said in a low voice

博物馆导游贝内特小姐低声说。

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" Those are not real dinosaur bones!"

“那些不是真的恐龙骨头！”

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" But... but... but," Eric stuttered

“可是……可是……可是，”埃里克结结巴巴地说。

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" So dinosaurs never existed?" Carol asked timidly

“那么恐龙从来就不存在吗？”卡罗尔怯生生地问。

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" Of course they existed!" Miss Bennett laughed

“它们当然存在过！”贝内特小姐笑了。

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" But those bones are not the original bones

“不过那些骨头并不是原始的骨头。

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Follow me and I will explain."

跟我来，我来解释一下。”

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The class followed her into another room

全班同学跟着她进入了另一个房间。

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" First, who knows where those bones came from?" Miss Bennett asked

“首先，谁知道那些骨头是从哪里来的？”贝内特小姐问道。

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" From dead dinosaurs?" Eric answered

“来自死去的恐龙？”埃里克回答。

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" They come from fossils!" Carol said

“它们来自化石！”卡罗尔说。

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" You are both right

“你们两个都说对了。

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The dinosaur's dead bones turned into fossils."

恐龙的尸骨变成了化石。”

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Miss Bennett switched on a projector

贝内特小姐打开了一台投影仪。

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She pointed at the dinosaur on the screen

她指向屏幕上的恐龙。

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" Look at this dinosaur

你们看这只恐龙。

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Usually, when a dinosaur dies, it decays or another animal eats it

通常，恐龙死后，尸体要么会腐烂，要么会被其他动物吃掉。

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But sometimes the dinosaur is buried before it gets destroyed

但有时候，恐龙在遭到破坏之前就被埋起来了。

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Slowly the flesh and skin of the dinosaur rot away

慢慢地，恐龙的肉和皮都腐烂掉了。

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Only the bones are left

只留下了骨头。

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Then more and more mud and sand cover the bones

然后，越来越多的泥沙覆盖住这些骨头。

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The mud and sand, which are called sediment, press down on the bones

这些被称为沉积物的泥沙，会向下挤压骨头。

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The sediment has water in it

沉积物中含有水分。

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The water has minerals

水中含有矿物质。

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The minerals soak into the dinosaur bones

这些矿物质会渗透进恐龙的骨头里。

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Slowly the bone material is replaced by the minerals

骨骼的物质慢慢被矿物质取代。

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The bones become hard rock

骨头就变成了坚硬的岩石。

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Now they are fossils

这时候，它们就成了化石。

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This process takes a very long time

这个过程需要非常漫长的时间。

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It takes thousands and thousands of years for the sediment to form heavy layers

沉积物要经过成千上万年才能形成厚重的岩层。

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These heavy layers turn into sedimentary rock around the fossils

这些厚重的岩层在化石周围变成了沉积岩。

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So most fossils are found in this rock."

所以，大多数化石都是在这种岩石里发现的。”

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When the slide show was over, Miss Bennett gave everyone a slab of clay

幻灯片放完后，贝内特小姐给每个人发了一块黏土板。

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" Let's try a simple experiment,"

“我们来试个简单的实验，”

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she said as she held up her hand

她说着，举起了自己的手。

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" Place your hand on the clay

“把手放在黏土上。

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Pretend that your hand is a dead dinosaur covered with sand and mud

假装你的手是一只死去的恐龙，被沙子和泥土覆盖着。

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Press down on your hand and imagine it is being covered by more layers of sand and mud

向下压你的手，想象它正被更多层的沙子和泥土覆盖。

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Imagine the sediment keeps pressing for thousands, even millions of years!"

想象这些沉积物持续挤压了几千年，甚至几百万年！”

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" Ouch! My hand hurts, Miss Bennett!" Eric said

“哎呦！我的手疼，贝内特小姐！”埃里克说。

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Everyone laughed, and Miss Bennett continued her explanation

大家都笑了，贝内特小姐继续她的讲解。

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" It took many years for the dinosaur bones to become fossils

“恐龙骨骼变成化石需要很多年的时间。

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Finally scientists dug the fossils out of the sedimentary rock

最终，科学家们将化石从沉积岩中挖掘出来。

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They had to be very careful not to break the rock

他们不得不非常小心，以免弄碎岩石。

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After they cleaned the rock, what did they find?" asked Miss Bennett

他们清理完岩石后，发现了什么？”贝内特小姐问道。

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" A fossil!" everybody answered

“化石！”所有人回答。

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They all held up their slabs of clay

他们都举起了自己的黏土块。

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On each one was a handprint

每一块上都有一个手印。

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" Your handprint is not your actual hand," said Miss Bennett

“你们的手印不是你们真正的手，”贝内特小姐说。

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" But we can still see that it was a hand

“但我们仍然能看出那是一只手的形状。

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In the same way, fossils are not the actual bones of a dinosaur."

同样，化石也不是恐龙真正的骨骼。”

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" Is that why you said that the dinosaur bones we saw are not real?" called out Eric

“这就是为什么您说我们看到的恐龙骨骼不是真的吗？”埃里克大声问道。

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" Yes, you are right." Miss Bennett nodded

“是的，你说得对。”贝内特小姐点了点头。

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" Remember, the original bones are replaced by rocklike minerals," Miss Bennett explained

“记住，原始骨骼会被像岩石一样的矿物质取代，”贝内特小姐解释道。

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" So a fossil is just a model of the original bone, like your handprint

“所以化石只是原始骨骼的一个模型，就像你们的手印一样。

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And the dinosaur bones in the exhibit are models of the fossils."

而展览中的恐龙骨骼则是那些化石的模型。”

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" Thank you, Miss Bennett," the children said together

“谢谢您，贝内特小姐，”孩子们齐声说道。

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" We learned a lot today."

“我们今天学到了很多。”

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" Come back anytime!" Miss Bennett waved

“随时欢迎再来！”贝内特小姐挥手道。

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" There is still more to learn about the world of fossils."

“关于化石世界，还有很多东西可以学习呢。”