Sahara Was the Most Dangerous Place in Earth’s History 撒哈拉曾是地球历史上最危险的地区

张祖平

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”.

化石专家发现了他们认为的地球历史上最危险的地区。这个地区不是犯罪猖獗的地区，也不是战区。它是撒哈拉沙漠中靠近摩洛哥和阿尔及利亚边境的一个地区。

一亿年前，这里是一个恐怖的地区。专家们说，这里到处都是可怕的食肉動物，就像《侏罗纪公园》里的那些动物一样。他们说这是“地球历史上最危险的地区”。

他们的观点建立在远古岩石中发现的化石上。

一位教授称这项研究是“近一个世纪以来关于撒哈拉地区脊椎动物化石的最全面的成果”。他说：“这个地区到处都是极其巨大的鱼……比现在的鱼大五倍。”他说它们有“可怕的”牙齿。

该报告的主要作者尼扎尔·易卜拉欣博士表示，这是一个非常不适合人居住的地区，“在这里，人类时间旅行者活不了多久”。这个地区为“了解非洲的恐龙时代打开了一扇窗”。

（英语原文选自：messagetoeagle.com）

【Notes】

1. fossil [     ] n. 化石

2. expert [     ] n. 专家;行家

3. crime-ridden [     ] adj. 犯罪猖獗的;充满犯罪行为的

4. border [     ] n. 边境;边界;国界

5. predator [     ] n. [动] 捕食者;[动] 食肉动物;掠夺者

6. ancient [     ] adj. 古代的;古老的，过时的;年老的

7. comprehensive [     ] adj. 综合的;广泛的

8. vertebrate [     ] n. 脊椎动物

9. fearsome [     ] adj. 可怕的;害怕的;极大的

10. dinosaur [     ] n. 恐龙