Sahara Was the Most Dangerous Place in Earth’s History 撒哈拉曾是地球歷史上最危險的地區(qū)

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的地區(qū)。這個地區(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地區(qū)。

一億年前，這里是一個恐怖的地區(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“地球歷史上最危險的地區(qū)”。

他們的觀點建立在遠古巖石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的化石上。

一位教授稱這項研究是“近一個世紀(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。

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

（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