How the Dinosaurs Really Died

恐龙是怎么死的

Many scientists and intellectuals think that dinosaurs died when an asteroid smashed into the Earth millions of years ago. However, recently, there has been some controversy over this theory. Some scientists think that it isn't accurate. They think that a tiny insect may have been the biggest factor in the death of these huge creatures. That insect was the mosquito.

许多科学家和知识分子认为恐龙是在数百万年前一颗小行星撞击地球时死亡的。然而，最近，关于这一理论有一些争议。一些科学家认为这是不准确的。他们认为一种微小的昆虫可能是这些大型生物死亡的最大因素。而那种昆虫就是蚊子。

These scientists do think that an asteroid hit the Earth the time of the dinosaurs. But that wasn't what killed all of them. At that time, insects, including the mosquito, were beginning to evolve. Today, we can regulate the number of mosquitoes with pesticides. But that was impossible millions of years ago. The mosquitoes multiplied quickly. And they were certainly not idle. Since there were so many mosquitoes, it was easy for them to bite many of the dinosaurs. When they bit another living thing, the mosquitoes passed along a deadly disease. So the dinosaurs were stricken with the disease. A vastmajority of them, from the vegetarians to the meat eaters, died.

这些科学家确实认为在恐龙时代有一颗小行星撞击地球，但那并不是恐龙灭绝的原因。那时，包括蚊子在内的昆虫开始进化。今天，我们可以用杀虫剂控制蚊子的数量。但这在数百万年前是不可能的。蚊子繁殖很快。他们当然不是无所事事。因为有这么多的蚊子，它们很容易咬到很多恐龙。当蚊子叮咬其他生物时，就会传播一种致命的疾病，所以导致恐龙也染上了这种疾病。所以，他们中的绝大多数，从素食者到肉食者，都死了。

To reinforce this idea, scientists stress how gradually the dinosaurs died. If an asteroid killed them, they would have died very quickly. But the number of dinosaurs decreased slowly. In addition, scientists have found genetic material of mosquitoes in fossils. This material proves that mosquitoes existed back then. Although there may have been other factors, the dinosaurs died mainly because of disease, the scientists say.

为了增强这一观点，科学家们强调恐龙是如何逐渐死亡的。如果它们死于行星撞击地球，应该会很快死去。但是恐龙灭绝的速度却很慢。此外，科学家还在化石中发现了蚊子的遗传物质。这些材料证明蚊子在那个时候就存在。科学家表示，尽管可能有其他因素，恐龙的死亡主要是因为疾病。

No matter how it happened, the dinosaurs' death had a major impact on other living things. Many dinosaurs ate mammals. After the dinosaurs died, mammals were able to evolve and produce offspring. Birds also evolved. Scientists have analyzed the genomes of birds, and they discovered that birds have identical genetic material to some dinosaurs. So there may still be dinosaurs among us after all.

无论如何，恐龙的灭绝对其他生物产生了重大影响。许多恐龙都以哺乳动物为食，它们灭绝之后，哺乳动物得以进化并繁衍后代。鸟类也进化了。科学家分析了鸟类的基因组，发现其遗传物质与一些恐龙相同。所以恐龙可能仍然还是存在的。

核心单词表

accurate adj. 精确的

analyze v. 分析

asteroid n. 小行星

controversy n. 争论

evolve v. 进化

factor n. 因素

genetic adj. 遗传的

genome n. 基因组

identical adj. 相同的

intellectual n. 知识分子

majority n. 大多数

mammal n. 哺乳动物

multiply v. 乘

offspring n. 后代

pesticide n. 杀虫剂

regulate v. 控制

reinforce v. 加强

stricken adj. 受挫折的

vast adj. 广阔的

vegetarian n. 素食主义者

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