Metro English-351 - 如果养恐龙吃肉，会怎样？
With the world’s population growing every year, we need to find ways to produce more food. So, if we could bring dinosaurs back from the dead, would you eat them?
随着世界人口的逐年增长，我们需要找到生产更多食物的方法。所以，如果我们能把恐龙复活的话，你会吃它们吗？
How could we bring dinosaurs back from extinction? How much would they need to eat each day? And which dinosaur would be the most delicious? We’re sparing no expense. Things are becoming Jurassic.
我们怎样才能使恐龙从灭绝中复活呢？他们每天需要吃多少食物呢？哪种恐龙最美味呢？我们不惜工本。好像返回了侏罗纪。
Dinosaurs haven’t walked on Earth for 65 million years. But, if we managed to bring them back, could we raise them for food and eat their meat?
恐龙已经有6500万年没有在地球上出现了。但是，如果我们想办法把它们带回来，我们能把它们养大后吃他们的肉吗？
Just like the movie Jurassic Park, we could possibly bring back dinosaurs. Do you know that dinosaur DNA is most closely related to chicken DNA? But, unlike the movies, it wouldn’t be easy to bring dinos back.
就像电影《侏罗纪公园》一样，我们有可能复活恐龙。你知道恐龙的DNA和鸡的DNA最接近吗？但是，和电影不同的是，复活恐龙并不容易。
We would need some dino DNA that hasn’t deteriorated. And unfortunately, that isn’t easy to come by. But let’s say that we did stumble upon some suitable dinosaur DNA. What would be the next steps?
我们需要一些没有变质的恐龙DNA。很不幸，这很难。但假设我们偶然发现了一些合适的恐龙DNA，那下一步做什么？
Well, scientists have been trying to resurrect woolly mammoths by sequencing their DNA from a frozen specimen. Then, they synthesized its genes and placed them into an Asian elephant embryo, as 99% of their genomes are similar.
是的，科学家们一直试图通过对冷冻标本的DNA测序来复活长毛象。然后，他们合成了它的基因并将它们放入亚洲象胚胎中，因为它们99%的基因组是相似的。
We could do the same thing to bring back dinosaurs, but we’d use a chicken egg instead. Then, we’d leave it under a heater and see if a dinosaur hatches. If it were a dinosaur, we’d treat it just like other farm animals we raise. And we’d need to feed that hungry dinosaur baby. So, how much would a dinosaur need to eat?
我们可以用同样的方法把恐龙复活，但我们会用一个鸡蛋来代替胚胎。然后，我们把它放在加热器下，看看恐龙是否能孵化出来。如果恐龙出来了，我们会像对待其他家畜一样对待它。我们得喂饱那个饥饿的恐龙宝宝。那么，恐龙需要吃多少呢？
Well, if you’ve watched Jurassic Park, you know that dinosaurs come in a range of shapes and sizes. So it depends on what the dinosaur’s diet is. For instance, herbivores like the Brachiosaurus, could weigh 4 kg (8 lb) at birth. And within a few months, they could easily weigh 10 times more.
哦，如果你看过侏罗纪公园，你就会知道恐龙有各种形状和大小。所以这取决于各种恐龙的饮食需求。例如，像腕龙这样的食草动物，出生时体重可达4公斤（8磅）。在几个月内，它们的体重轻轻松松就会增加10倍。
Once it becomes an adult, this plant-eating giant would weigh in at a whopping 35-56 metric tons (77,000-123,000 lb). That’s about the same as 120 head of cattle. And it would need to eat 400 kg (880 lb) of food per day. That’s the same as 16 dairy cows eat.
一旦它成年，这个以植物为食的巨兽将重达35-56公吨（77000-123000磅）。这和120头牛差不多。它每天需要吃400公斤（880磅）的食物。这和16头奶牛吃的一样。
But let’s not forget how much meat that dinosaur would give you. You’d have quite a feast. And talking about meat, which dinosaur do you think would taste the best? Well, it’s hard to know, as no one alive today has ever tried dinosaur meat.
但别忘了那只恐龙会带给你多少肉。你会吃得很丰盛的。说到肉，你觉得哪种恐龙味道最好？这个很难有答案，因为当今世人从来没有吃过恐龙肉。
But if we compare it to the meats we enjoy, the most delicious tend to be from herbivores, the plant-eating animals. Like our Brachiosaurus. So, something like the infamous T. rex might taste a little different.
但是，如果我们把它与我们喜欢的肉类相比，最美味的往往是来自草食动物，即以植物为食的动物。就像我们的腕龙。而臭名昭著的霸王龙的味道可能就差点儿意思了。
We know that dinosaurs are distant relatives of birds. And fast-moving dinosaurs would mainly consist of white meat. So a T. Rex might taste like an ostrich. But maybe you prefer to eat seafood. In that case, you might want to try eating dinosaurs that had marine diets, they might have fishier flavor.
我们知道恐龙是鸟类的远亲。快速移动的恐龙主要组成就是白肉。所以霸王龙可能尝起来像鸵鸟。但也许你更喜欢吃海鲜。那样的话，你可以试试那些海洋中吃海味的恐龙，它们或许有些海鲜味道。
And here’s one thing you probably hadn’t even thought of. Recent studies have shown that some dinosaurs, like T. rex, had feathers. So if we did raise them for food, imagine plucking a dinosaur that big.
还有一件事你可能还没想到。最近的研究表明，一些恐龙，如霸王龙，是有羽毛的。所以，如果我们真的把它们当作食物来饲养的话，想象一下，怎么去拔掉那么大的恐龙羽毛。
One Tyrannosaur fossil had feathers that measured an incredible 1m (39 in) long. So, it would be a bit different from plucking a chicken. But before we get too carried away, we’d better say that bringing back dinosaurs is not very likely.
一块暴龙化石上的羽毛长达1米（39英寸），令人难以置信。所以，这和拔鸡毛就有一点点不同了。但是，我们先别只顾得高兴，我们要说，把恐龙带回来的可能性可不太大哟。
And if we were to do it, there would be other consequences. And maybe some that we couldn’t handle. Just like in Jurassic Park, things could get out of hand pretty quickly. But, if you think about it, we’re already eating dinosaurs. Or at least their very distant relative, the chicken. They might be smaller, but they sure taste good.
如果我们这么做，还会有其他后果。而且其中一些是我们无法处理的。就像在侏罗纪公园，事情很快就会失控。但是，如果你仔细想想，我们已经在吃恐龙了。或至少在吃他们的远亲，鸡了。它们可能个头比较小，但味道确实不错。