張祖平

Fossil1 experts2 found what they think is the most dangerous place in the history of Earth. It is not a crime-ridden3 area or a war zone. It is an area of the Sahara Desert near the Morocco-Algeria border4.

It was a scary place 100 million years ago. The experts said it was full of scary predators5， like those from Jurassic Park. They said it was the “most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth”.

They? base? this? on? fossils? found in ancient6

rocks.

A professor called the research“the most comprehensive7 piece of work on fossil vertebrates8 from the Sahara in almost a century”. He said， “This place was filled with very large fish...five times larger than todays.” He said they had “fearsome9” teeth.

Dr. Nizar Ibrahim， lead author of the report， said it was a place people cant live， “where a human time-traveler would not last very long”. It provides “a window into Africas age of dinosaurs10”.

化石專家發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們認(rèn)為的地球歷史上最危險(xiǎn)的地區(qū)。這個(gè)地區(qū)不是犯罪猖獗的地區(qū)，也不是戰(zhàn)區(qū)。它是撒哈拉沙漠中靠近摩洛哥和阿爾及利亞邊境的一個(gè)地區(qū)。

一億年前，這里是一個(gè)恐怖的地區(qū)。專家們說，這里到處都是可怕的食肉動物，就像《侏羅紀(jì)公園》里的那些動物一樣。他們說這是“地球歷史上最危險(xiǎn)的地區(qū)”。

他們的觀點(diǎn)建立在遠(yuǎn)古巖石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的化石上。

一位教授稱這項(xiàng)研究是“近一個(gè)世紀(jì)以來關(guān)于撒哈拉地區(qū)脊椎動物化石的最全面的成果”。他說：“這個(gè)地區(qū)到處都是極其巨大的魚……比現(xiàn)在的魚大五倍?！彼f它們有“可怕的”牙齒。

該報(bào)告的主要作者尼扎爾·易卜拉欣博士表示，這是一個(gè)非常不適合人居住的地區(qū)，“在這里，人類時(shí)間旅行者活不了多久”。這個(gè)地區(qū)為“了解非洲的恐龍時(shí)代打開了一扇窗”。

（英語原文選自：messagetoeagle.com）

【Notes】

1. fossil [?????] n. 化石

2. expert [?????] n. 專家;行家

3. crime-ridden [?????] adj. 犯罪猖獗的;充滿犯罪行為的

4. border [?????] n. 邊境;邊界;國界

5. predator [?????] n. [動] 捕食者;[動] 食肉動物;掠奪者

6. ancient [?????] adj. 古代的;古老的，過時(shí)的;年老的

7. comprehensive [?????] adj. 綜合的;廣泛的

8. vertebrate [?????] n. 脊椎動物

9. fearsome [?????] adj. 可怕的;害怕的;極大的

10. dinosaur [?????] n. 恐龍