It may be the most important find in dinosaur hunting in recent years. Previously unknown dinosaurs from a critical gap in their history, and possible forefathers to the greatest carnivores ever to walk the Earth. And an amazing discovery — skeletons stacked one on top of the other, piled four and five deep, in pits of death. How did they end up together, frozen in time, for 160 million years?
這可能是近年來，探尋恐龍行動的最重要發現。我們不曾見過的恐龍，填補了恐龍史上的空白處。牠們可能是地球有史以來最大肉食性動物的始祖。這是一項驚人的發現──有四、五隻相疊成堆的恐龍骸骨，埋藏在死亡之坑內。牠們為什麼會一起被埋在這裡，進而保存了一億六千萬年？
It would have been a quiet time in a dinosaur Eden. A panorama of mysterious ancient creatures go about the business of life in the Jurassic, until their world is changed forever. The Earth begins to tremble. The sky darkens, animals stampede and catastrophe strikes. In their last desperate moments, some voracious dinosaurs will turn on each other. But in the end, they are all doomed. The Gobi Desert in northwestern China is one of the largest deserts in Asia. This arid landscape is eerily like Mars and about as hospitable. But for dinosaur hunters, it’s a goldmine. Here, time and wind and sand have scoured away the present and taken paleontologists deep into the past, where they are meeting remarkable creatures. Creatures that speak to them of an age that has long been silent, nearly 100 million years before giants like Tyrannosaurus Rex strode the world.
當時可能是恐龍伊甸園的太平時期。各式各樣的神祕遠古生物在侏羅紀時期兀自過著日子，後來牠們的世界丕變，大地開始震動，天空變暗，動物逃竄，大災禍降臨。在死前的絕望時刻，有些貪婪地相互攻擊，但最後都逃不了一死。中國西北部的戈壁沙漠是亞洲最大的沙漠之一，這片乾燥地域詭異如火星，也同樣不適宜居住。但在恐龍獵人眼中，這兒有如金礦，時間、風和沙讓人忘了現在，引領古生物學家深入往昔，看見驚人的生物。與他們對話的生物來自我們一直不瞭解的年代，牠們出現的時間比雷克斯暴龍等巨獸早了近一億年。
Dr. Xu Xing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. James Clark of George Washington University are leading the search for new dinosaurs. Dr. Xu believes the fossils are a missing link. For a very long time, the great jigsaw puzzle of the dinosaur record has been lacking vital pieces — right in the center of everything. The dinosaurs made their first appearance during the Triassic, with turkey-sized predators like Coelophysis. Then came the second age, the Jurassic, when dinosaur evolution went wild and started creating giants. At the end comes the Cretaceous, where the giants ruled, like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. But in between, in the middle of the Jurassic, there has long been a frustrating blank spot in the dinosaur record, where very few fossils have been found.
中國科學院的徐星博士及喬治華盛頓大學的詹姆斯•克拉克博士，負責領導這項探尋新種恐龍的計畫。徐博士認為這些化石是失落的環節。有很長一段時間，巨大的恐龍紀錄拼圖一直少了居關鍵位置的重要幾塊。恐龍出現於三疊紀，當時虛形龍等掠食性恐龍大小有如火雞。到了接下來的侏羅紀，恐龍開始劇烈演化，出現了體型龐大的種類。最後是白堊紀，如雷克斯暴龍和三角龍的巨大恐龍稱霸地球。但介於中間的侏羅紀中期，長久以來在恐龍史上是一片空白，這段時期已出土的化石數量很少。
Lost somewhere in the blank spot in the middle of the Jurassic lies the answer to this riddle: how did some dinosaurs go from one era to the next? Clues are emerging from the rocky outcrops of the Gobi. Ever since excavations began here in 2001, the creatures have just kept coming. New species, most of them carnivores, and all from the lost age. Paleontologists are stunned at the number of species they’ve dug up, including many previously unknown: A new stegosaur — a tree-grazing sauropod with a nine-meter neck, a new long-toothed pterosaur — a flying reptile, new raptors and even a little mammal-like reptile. They’ve also stumbled upon a remarkable mystery unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.
探索侏羅紀中期的空白時期，便可解開這道謎題：有些恐龍是如何跨足下個年代？線索自戈壁沙漠的岩石露頭浮現。自二００一年此地挖掘工作展開以來，學者不斷發現動物骸骨，他們挖到新種恐龍，其中多數屬肉食性恐龍，牠們全來自那個空白年代。古生物學家對於出土的恐龍種類數量感到驚訝，其中包括許多前所未見的種類：新種劍龍、擁有九公尺長頸，專吃樹葉的蜥腳龍、屬於會飛爬蟲動物，滿口長牙的新種翼龍、新種迅猛龍，甚至是狀似哺乳動物的小型爬蟲動物。科學家還遭遇一道前所未見的驚人謎題。
Tune in this afternoon at 4pm to learn more about this prehistoric mystery.
今日下午四點敬請鎖定本節目，一同深入了解這段史前奧秘。
Photographer Franziska Stuenkel likes to take spontaneous urban shots, so she needs a nimble camera that is ready to go when inspiration strikes: her German-made Leica M11. “I have to be very quick and discreet,” said the Berlin-based artist who captures reflections of people walking past windows, their contours merging with the shapes behind the glass. Stuenkel’s compact Leica is the perfect camera for the job, the 51-year-old told AFP. Famous for its pocket-sized and retro-style devices, the Leica brand is celebrating a milestone as it marks 100 years since its first commercial camera was presented to the public. The
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