“Look how big its feet are,” Eric pointed. “How did they find all the bones?” Dana rasied her hand. “ Do you want to know a secret?” Miss Bennett, the museum guide, said in a low voice. “Those are not real dinosaur bones!” she whispered.
“看看它的脚有多大。”艾日克喊。
小荷作文网 www.zww.cn “他们怎样找到所有的骨头的？”黛娜举着手问。
小 荷 作文网 www.zww.cn “你们想知道这个秘密吗？” 班尼特小姐—博物馆的解说员低声对他们说，“那些不是恐龙的真骨头！”
“But…but…but,” Eric stuttered. “So dinosaurs never existed?” Carol asked timidly. “Of course they existed!” Miss Bennett laughed. “But those bones are not the original bones. Follow me and I will explain.”
“但……但……但是，”艾日克结结巴巴。
“难道恐龙不存在么？”卡萝胆怯地问。
“当然存在了！”班尼特小姐笑着说。“但那些骨头不是真的骨头。跟我来，我会解释的。”
“First, who knows where those bones came from?” Miss Bennett asked. “From dead dinosaurs?” Eric answered. “They come from fossils!” Carol said. “You are both right. The dinosaur’s dead bones became fossils.”
“首先，谁知道这骨头是从哪里来的？”班尼特小姐问。
“是来自死了的恐龙？”艾日克说。
“它们来自化石！”卡萝说。
“都说对了，死了的恐龙的骨头变成了化石。
“Let’s think about this dinosaur. Usually when a dinosaur dies, it decays. Or another animal eats it. But sometimes the dinosaur is buried before it gets destroyed.”
“我们想想这只恐龙吧。通常，一只恐龙死后，它的尸体会腐烂，或者让另一只动物吃掉。但有时恐龙受到破坏之前就已经被埋起来了。“
“Slowly the flesh and skin of dinosaur rots away. Only the hard shell or bones are left. Then, more and more things like mud and sand cover the bones. The mud and sand, which are called sediment, press down on the bones. The sediment has water in it. The water has minerals.”
“慢慢地，恐龙的肉体和皮肤腐烂了。只有硬壳或者骨头存了下来。然后，更多更多的像泥和沙子类的东西盖在了骨头上。泥和沙子叫做沉淀物，压在了骨头上面，沉淀物里面有水，水里面有矿物质。”
“The minerals soak into the remains. The minerals slowly replace the bones of the dinosaur. The remains become hard like rocks. Then they become fossils.”
“矿物质渗入了遗体，它慢慢替换了恐龙的骨头，遗体变得跟石头一样坚硬，然后变成了化石。”
“This takes a very long time. It takes thousands and thousands of years for the sediment to form heavy layers. These heavy layers turn into sedimentary rocks. So most fossils are found in these rocks.
“这需要很长时间，需要花好几千年才能让沉淀物形成厚层。这些厚层变成了沉积岩。所以，大部分的化石是在这些沉积岩里找到的。”
“Let’s try a simple experiment,” Miss Bennett said as she held up her hand. “Pretend like your hand is a dead dinosaur.”
“我们试做一个更简单的实验吧，”班尼特小姐举起她的手说，“假如你的手是死了的恐龙。”
“Suddenly, your hand is covered in sand and mud. Each time you press down on your hand, imagine it is being covered by more layers of sand and mud. Imagine this to go on for thousands, even millions, of years!” “Ouch! My hand hurts, Miss Bennett!”
“忽然，你的手给沙子和泥盖住了。每次你把你的手放到另一只手上，想像它被更多的沙子和泥盖住了。想像过了千年后会怎么样，甚至百万年后怎么样！”
“班尼特小姐，我的手疼！”
“It took many years for the dinosaur bones to become hard as rock. But finally, they were dug out of their rock. They had to be very careful not to break the rock.”
“很多年后，恐龙的骨头和石头一样硬了。终于，它们从沉积岩里被挖了出来。挖化石的人要非常小心，不能把化石弄碎了。”
“Finally after they cleaned the rock, what did they find?” “A fossil!” “Our handprint is not the actual hand. But we can still see that it was a hand. In the same way, fossils are not the actual bones of a dinosaur.”
“最后，把沉积岩搜索完了，他们找到了什么东西？”
“化石！”
“我们的手印，它不是真的手。但我们还是能看见它是一个手。一样的，化石并不是恐龙真正的骨头。”
“Is that why you said those dinosaurs bone are not real?” called out Eric. “Remember, the original bones are replaced by rock-like minerals,” Miss Bennett explained. “So fossils are just a model of the original bone. Like this. And those dinosaur bones out there are models of fossils.”
“那就是为什么您说那边恐龙的骨头不是真的吗？”艾日克喊。
“记住，原先的骨头被会变成石头的矿物质代替，”班尼特小姐解释，“所以化石是原先骨头的模型。就是说，那边的恐龙骨头是化石的模型。”
“Thank you, Miss Bennett,” the children said together. “We learned a lot today.” “Come back anytime! There is still more to learn about the world of fossils.”
“班尼特小姐，谢谢您，”孩子们说，“我们学了很多知识。”
“无论何时你们都能再来！学习关于化石世界的内容还多着呢。”
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