1月16日午间英语新闻：我国科学家在云南发现2.44亿年前“奇异罗平龙”

>244-million-year-old marine reptile fossil found in China's Yunnan
我国科学家在云南发现2.44亿年前“奇异罗平龙”

Chinese paleontologists have discovered the fossil of a new marine reptile species, dating back 244 million years, in Luoping County, Southwest China's Yunnan province. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday. 
中国古生物学家在中国西南的云南省罗平县发现了一种据今2.44亿年新的海洋爬行动物的化石。这项研究发表在1月5日（周四）的《科学报告》学术期刊上。

The species, Luopingosaurus, is a lizard-like marine reptile. It is known as a pachypleurosaur with a long, pointed mouth, reaching more than half a meter in length. 
该物种被命名为“奇异罗平龙”，是一种类似蜥蜴的海洋爬行动物。它被称为肿肋龙，嘴长而尖，身长超过半米。

The long snout, accounting for over half of its head, facilitated the reptile to catch prey as it could largely reduce resistance during chases in the water, said Shang Qinghua, a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 
中科院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所研究员尚庆华说，奇异罗平龙的吻端很长，超过头长的一半，能帮助它们捕捉猎物。因为在水中追逐快速游动的猎物时，这一特征能减少阻力。

The discovery provided new insights into the early evolution of pachypleurosaur, Shang added. 
尚庆华补充说，这一发现为了解肿肋龙类的早期演化提供了新的见解。

According to the study, the reptile's forelegs had multiple phalanges, making its flippers more flexible when changing direction in the water. The discovery also represented the oldest fossil evidence of Sauropterygia with multiple phalanges. 
根据这项研究，这种爬行动物的前肢有多根趾骨，使其在水中改变方向时脚蹼更加灵活。这种多指节现象在肿肋龙类中是首次发现，代表了多指节型鳍龙类迄今已知最古老的化石证据。　

The study also indicated that during the evolutionary process, the lateral grasping ability of pachypleurosaurs for small fish and other prey is gradually increasing, but the efficiency of swallowing after grasping is gradually decreasing. 
该研究还表明，在演化过程中，肿肋龙对小鱼和其他猎物的侧向抓取能力逐渐增强，但抓捕后的吞咽效率却逐渐减弱。

During the Triassic period, Luoping was in a shallow marine environment, and the middle Triassic fossil bank found in the area is called the Luoping Biota. Once home to invertebrates, fish and a variety of marine reptiles, the Luoping Biota provides a new and early window on recovery and radiation of Triassic marine ecosystems around 10 million years after the great extinction at the end of the Permian period. 
在三叠纪时期，罗平处于浅海环境中，在该地区发现的中三叠纪化石库被称为罗平生物群。罗平生物群曾经是无脊椎动物、鱼类和各种海生爬行动物的共同家园，在二叠纪末期生物大灭绝之后约1000万年，为三叠纪海洋生态复苏和辐射提供了一个新的早期窗口。

The first named marine reptile discovered in China was also a pachypleurosaur, the Keichousaurus, found in 1957. 
在中国发现的第一个命名的海洋爬行动物也是一种肿肋龙，即1957年发现的贵州龙。

重点词汇：
reptile
英/ˈreptaɪl/ 美/ˈreptaɪl/
n.爬行动物；（非正式）卑鄙的人
adj.爬行动物的

vertebrate
英/ˈvɜːtɪbrət/ 美/ˈvɜːrtɪbrət/
n.脊椎动物
adj.脊椎动物（有关）的；有脊椎的

phalanges
英/fæˈlændʒiːz/ 美/fəˈlændʒiz/
n.趾骨；指骨（phalanx 的复数）

Triassic
英/traɪˈæsɪk/ 美/traɪˈæsɪk/
adj.三叠纪的，三叠系的
n.三叠纪；三叠纪岩石

> Construction milestone for China's first deep-sea floating wind power platform
我国首座深远海浮式风电平台主体完工

China's first deep-sea floating wind power platform, invested in and built by the China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), has completed its floating body assembly, Tuesday's edition of Science and Technology Daily reported.
《科技日报》1月2日报道称，由中国海油投资建造的我国首个深远海浮式风电平台“海油观澜号”日前完成浮体总装。

It marks an important step in the construction of the world's first offshore wind power project, with a water depth of over 100 meters and an offshore distance of over 100 kilometers, said the newspaper.
这标志着全球首座水深超100米、离岸距离超100公里的“双百”海上风电项目建设取得重要进展。

The platform will be installed in an offshore oil field 136 kilometers from Wenchang, in China's southern island province of Hainan -- where strong winds and big ocean waves posed a huge challenge to the design of the wind power platform.
“海油观澜号”平台将安装于距海南文昌136千米的海上油田海域。该海域风急浪高，这对风机平台的设计提出了巨大的挑战。

According to the newspaper, after the project begins operations, the electricity generated by the turbine will be connected to the power grid of the offshore oilfield group for oil and gas production, with an annual power generation capacity of 22 million kilowatt hours -- saving 7.73 million cubic meters of fuel gas and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 22,000 tons.
据报道，项目投产后，风机所发电力将接入海上油田群电网用于油气生产，年发电量可达2200万千瓦时，节约燃料气773万立方米，减少二氧化碳排放2.2万吨。

Li Nan, a senior researcher with CNOOC, said that floating wind power has broad application prospects. It can be used not only for local consumption and power supply for offshore facilities, but also to develop marine pastures, seawater hydrogen production, marine tourism and marine mineral resources.
中国海油集团能源经济研究院海洋经济研究室资深研究员李楠表示，浮式风电应用前景广阔，不仅可以就地消纳，为远海设施供电，还可协同发展海洋牧场、海水制氢、海洋旅游、海洋矿产资源开发。

重点词汇：
pasture
英/ˈpɑːstʃə(r)/ 美/ˈpæstʃər/
n.牧场，牧草地；生活状况，个人发展的机遇
v.放牧；（牛、羊等）在草地上吃草