But feathers are so fragile that they usually rot away without a trace.
但是羽毛很脆弱，通常很快就腐烂掉，不会留下痕迹。
Not only can ivory be made into MATS, but feathers have also been woven into beautiful garments.
不仅只有象牙能做成席子，羽毛也能做成美丽的外衣。
For example, the ostrich has plumage that is so constructed that the feathers are long but not too dense.
例如，鸵鸟的羽毛构造使它的羽毛长而不密。
The find helps cement the dinosaur-bird connection, but it also casts new light on the mystery of why nature invented feathers in the first place.
这一发现有助于巩固恐龙和鸟类之间的联系，但它也为自然界最初为什么会产生羽毛这一谜题提供了新的线索。
But me, I stood calm and reached into the maelstrom, plucking black feathers one by one for the waxy headdress I dreamed I'd make.
而我呢，我平静地站着，把手伸进乱群之中，为自己梦想制作的那个光滑的头饰，一根一根地拔下这些黑色的羽毛。
But it does suggest feathers may have helped promote life in the trees, even for creatures that could not actually fly.
但是，这的确说明对于居于树上、即使是那些根本不能飞的树栖生物来说，羽毛可能真的有助于它们的生活。
Their wings are not always obvious, but, as she told the incredulous man from the Daily Telegraph, angels sometimes show off their golden feathers to her.
“他们的翅膀并非总是那么明显。”但是她告诉满腹狐疑《每日电讯报》的记者说，天使经常向她炫耀他们金色的羽毛。
So perhaps the question to ask, say some scientists, is not how birds got their feathers, but how alligators lost theirs.
因此，有科学家表示，研究者需要探讨的问题并非是鸟类如何获得羽毛，而应该是鳄鱼如何丧失羽毛。
And of course they aid flight-but not always, as ostriches and penguins, which have feathers but do not fly, demonstrate.
当然，羽毛还能辅助飞行——但这也并非绝对，鸵鸟和企鹅虽然也拥有羽毛，但却不会飞行。
Fossils from north-eastern China show animals that had feathers but clearly could not have flown, as well as ones that look like proper birds.
中国东北发现的化石表明，有羽毛的动物很显然并不会飞行，同样那些看起来和鸟一模一样的动物也不会飞。
More elaborate dinosaur feathers had already been found, but "these structures were novel," says Xu, of Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
虽然科学家们已经发现了更为精细的恐龙羽毛化石，但徐星表示，北票龙的这些羽毛结构依然堪称新奇。
More elaborate dinosaur feathers had already been found, but "these structures were novel, " says Xu, of Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
虽然科学家们已经发现了更为精细的恐龙羽毛化石，但徐星表示，北票龙的这些羽毛结构依然堪称新奇。
But blue feathers result from refraction, a prism-style splitting of light inside a feather.
但是蓝色羽毛是靠折射光形成的，那是羽毛中一些类似棱镜的结构将蓝色光分离了出来。
A steamy jungle covered it, but not with plants. This covering seemed to be made of peacock feathers, full of eyes and shimmering colors.
一片雾气笼罩着这一切，好像是孔雀的羽毛一般，满是眼睛的形状和华丽的颜色。
But white and black limb feathers might have helped Anchiornis escape predators.
但是翼膀和肢臂处翼尖黑色的白羽毛可能能够帮助赫氏近鸟逃脱肉食动物的掠捕。
This revealed, not only that the dark pigment molecules were an intrinsic part of the chemical matrix of the birds' feathers, but that they were perfectly preserved for up to 120 million years.
这次研究成果，不仅指出了黑色素分子是鸟类羽毛的化学组分中固有的成分，还说明这些成分可以完美地保存1亿2000万年。
It had feathers and other traits of living birds but also vestiges of a reptilian past, such as teeth in its mouth, claws on its wings, and a long, bony tail.
始祖鸟拥有羽毛，它身上既有现代鸟类的特征，也有远古爬行动物的痕迹，例如口中有牙齿，翅膀上有爪子，还有一条硕长的骨质尾巴。
Birds evolved from dinosaurs, but the origin of their feathers may trace back even deeper in time, to the common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, like the fossil at left.
鸟类是从恐龙进化而来的，但羽毛的起源则要追溯到更为久远的上古时代，恐龙和翼手龙的共同祖先才是羽毛出现的源点，例如上图左边的这块化石。
But trace imprints found in other fossilised feathers (despite an absence of carbon) may indicate the original presence of melanosomes that have since been lost to oxidation.
而其他羽毛化石(尽管缺乏碳元素)中找到的痕迹，也许能显示已经因氧化而消失的黑色素体的原始存在。
One cannot also help but wonder if maybe Obama’s success will quietly, unwittingly, ruffle some deep feathers by recalling some color issues within the black community.
人们不禁要想象，奥巴马的胜利可能会让人们回想起黑人社会里的那些肤色问题，并悄无声息地改变一些根深蒂固的特征。
Its body was dark gray, but its limb feathers were white with black tips.
它的翼膀和肢臂处则是翼尖黑色的白羽毛。
But Hunca Munca had a frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda's bolster, she remembered that she herself was in want of a feather bed.
可是亨卡忙卡心思节俭。她把露欣答的长枕头里的羽毛扯出一半，然后记起来她自己正缺一张羽毛床垫。
Not twigs, leaves or even feathers, but its own saliva.
不是树枝、树叶甚至羽毛，是它自己的唾液。
Not twigs, leaves or even feathers, but its own saliva.
不是树枝、树叶甚至羽毛，是它自己的唾液。
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