Why I Like Dinosaurs 缘何爱恐龙

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"I like Tyrannosaurus rex1） best because he kills and eats all the others，" says a tiny angelic-looking child. "I'd like to have one as a pet." Jamie Moss， aged six， and her brother Adam， aged eight， are waiting patiently in line to see the dinosaurs exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

Engulfed2） by the heaving3） mass of human bodies which packs out4） the central hall， the Moss family from Sunbury-on-Thames seems remarkably calm. All around them， a monstrous queue snakes5） back and forth upon itself. Harassed6） officials juggle7） with rope barriers to keep the flow of visitors from becoming a stampede8）. As this wildly successful exhibition celebrates its first birthday， there is no sign of a let-up9） in the growing dinomania10） of the British public.

This year promises to unleash11） still more childlike passion for these overgrown reptiles. Steven Spielberg's new blockbuster movie Jurassic Park opens here in July， telling the story of a herd of excitable dinosaurs who escape from a futuristic theme park. The merchandising12） bandwagon13） has already started to roll14）. Toyshops are filling up with Fisher-Price Dino Roars and battery-operated brontosauruses15）. Computer games and Jurassic breakfast cereal are to follow. The Natural History Museum isn't resting on its laurels16）， either. The Dinosaurs exhibition has transformed its fortunes in a single year （visitors up by 100，000， shop sales up by 24 per cent）. So what is it about dinosaurs which still appeals to the child in all of us？

The children queuing for the Dinosaurs show today have plenty of suggestions. "What I really like about dinosaurs，" says nine-year-old Richard Howe， "is that you get really， really tiny ones as small as an ant，" （he screws up his face17） tightly） "and also great big huge ones bigger than this museum". His arms fly out and hit his mother in the stomach. Leaping up and down at her side， Daniel， eight， has an even better answer. "It's because，" he bellows18）， "they've got teeth as big as carving knives and T. rex has 600 of them and he tears everything to bits." "Oh shut up，" says cousin Lindsey， aged nine. "Some dinosaurs are nasty and some aren't. Lots of them are vegetarians." In her notebook she has listed the names stegosaurus19）， brontosaurus， megalosaurus20）―nearly all neatly and correctly spelled.

Inside the exhibition at last， the mysterious attraction of children to dinosaurs gets curiouser and curiouser. In their Nintendo21） T-shirts， small boys are darting22） from fossil to fossil. The air is filled with a birdlike jabber23） of voices. "I like scary things，" explains a tiny girl on her father's shoulders with her head wedged24） inside the jaws of a lifesize tyrannosaurus. Elsewhere， a row of goggling25） faces take in the animatronic26） centrepiece. Three dino-thugs with kangaroo bodies and lizard heads are biting lumps out of a diplodocus27）. "Look， mum， it's trying to get up，" murmurs an awestruck28） boy. "Look at all the blood. Poor dinosaur."

It doesn't take a child psychologist to tell you that kids identify emotionally with the trials and triumphs of these weighty brutes. Professor Elizabeth Newson， of the Developmental Psychology Department of Nottingham University also explains their attraction in terms of sheer29） size. "Children often say they love big animals like elephants and dinosaurs. They seem to represent a marvellous mixture of the sinister and the cosy30）-frightening， but also round and solid and reassuring like grandparents or guardians." Psychologist Dr. David Messer of the University of Hertfordshire inclines towards the fantasy-versus-reality explanation. "There's a tension between the fact the dinosaurs were real once but are also pretend creatures like fairytale dragons，" he points out. "That makes them irresistible for both children and adults."

Many grown-ups do seem to preserve this childhood love affair. Mike Howgate has been collecting dinosaur memorabilia31） since he fished his first plastic triceratops32） from the bottom of a box of Shreddies33） as a child in the Fifties. He also runs the newly founded Dinosaur Collectors' Club from his front room in Wood Green， north London. "Dinosaurs have got their teeth into me，" he confesses. "They're just so weird， all covered with plates and spikes and three times taller than a bus. It's amazing to think that they were alive and once stomping about in Surrey and the Isle of Wight." He thinks a lot of adults were turned on to dinosaurs in the Seventies when the theory that they were the tragic victims of an eco-disaster first became popular.

“我最喜欢霸王龙，因为他能杀死并吃掉其他所有的恐龙，”一个长得像个天使似的小孩说，“我真想养一只恐龙当宠物。”六岁的杰米・莫斯和她的哥哥――八岁的亚当――正在自然历史博物馆耐心地排着队，等着看恐龙展。

博物馆的中央大厅里挤满了人，来自泰晤士河畔森伯里镇的莫斯一家淹没在这熙熙攘攘的人群中，看起来异常平静。在他们四周，长龙般的队伍来回摆动。疲惫的工作人员竭力保持着隔离绳的平稳，以阻止涌动的人潮挤成一团。今天是这场大获成功的恐龙展开展的一周年纪念展，这场愈演愈烈的恐龙热在英国公众中丝毫没有减弱的迹象。

对于这些巨型爬行动物，今年（编注：本文写于1993年）人们有可能还会释放出更多天真烂漫的激情。史蒂文・斯皮尔伯格的新片巨制《侏罗纪公园》即将于7月在这里（编注：指伦敦）上映，将会讲述一群易受刺激的恐龙从一座未来主题公园逃离的故事。与之相关的文化衍生品的大潮已经开始涌来。玩具店里摆满了费雪公司生产的“巨吼”恐龙和电池驱动的迷惑龙。相关的电脑游戏和侏罗纪谷物早餐也将很快面世。自然历史博物馆也没有满足于其已取得的成就。这场恐龙展在仅仅一年之内就改变了其财政状况（参观者增加了10万人次，馆内商店的销售额上升了24%）。那么，恐龙身上到底有什么东西仍能深深吸引我们所有人内心的那份童真呢？

今天排队等着看恐龙展的孩子们提供了许多参考答案。九岁的理查德・豪说：“我特别喜欢恐龙的原因是你可以看到非常非常小的恐龙，像蚂蚁一样小，”（他把自己的小脸皱成一团）“也可以看到超级大的恐龙，比这个博物馆都要大。”他旋即张开双臂比划着，一下子打到了他妈妈的肚子。八岁的丹尼尔在妈妈身边又蹦又跳，给出了一个更好的答案。“这是因为，”他吼叫着说，“它们的牙齿像切肉刀那么大，霸王龙有600颗这样的牙齿，可以把所有东西都撕得粉碎。”“噢，闭嘴吧你，”他的堂姐、九岁的林赛说，“有的恐龙很凶猛，有的就不是。它们有很多都是素食恐龙。”她的笔记本里罗列着各种恐龙的名字――剑龙、迷惑龙、斑龙，几乎全都拼写得工工整整，准确无误。

我们终于进入了展厅，在这里，恐龙对儿童的那种神秘的吸引力变得“越来越奇怪” （译注：curiouser and curiouser的说法源自《爱丽丝漫游奇境》）。小男孩们穿着任天堂文化T恤衫，从一个化石边冲到另一个化石边。展厅里到处是他们如鸟儿般唧唧喳喳的声音。“我喜欢可怕的东西。”一个骑在父亲肩上的小女孩这样说道，她把自己的脑袋挤进了一只真龙大小的霸王龙嘴巴里。另一处挤满了一排小脑袋，孩子们眼睛瞪得大大的，盯着最抢眼的电子动画恐龙看。动画中，三只长着袋鼠身体、蜥蜴脑袋的残龙正从一只梁龙身上撕咬下一块一块的肉。“看啊，妈妈，它想要站起来呢，”一个又惊又怕的小男孩低声咕哝道，“看它流了那么多血，可怜的恐龙。”

无需儿童心理学家告诉你，你也能明白：孩子们正在感同身受地体验着这些凶猛的庞然大物所经历的考验与所取得的胜利。诺丁汉大学发展心理学系的伊丽莎白・纽森教授也单纯从体型大小的角度诠释了恐龙对儿童的吸引力。“孩子们经常说他们喜欢庞大的动物，如大象和恐龙。这些动物似乎代表着一种神奇的混合体：既邪恶，又亲切，又可怕，但它们还拥有肥胖结实的体型，给人以安全感，就像祖父母或者守护者一样。”赫特福德郡大学的心理学家戴维・梅瑟博士则倾向于以幻想与现实的对照来解释这一现象。“恐龙曾真实存在过，但现在又像童话故事中的龙一样是一种假想的动物，现实与幻想之间就有了一种张力，”他指出，“鉴于此，不管是对孩子还是对成年人，它们都有着令人无法抗拒的魅力。”

的确，许多成年人似乎都保留着这种童年时对恐龙的迷恋。20世纪50年代，还是个小孩的迈克・豪盖特偶然从一盒麦片的盒底得到了生平第一只塑料三角龙，从那时起，他就一直在搜集恐龙纪念品。他的家位于伦敦北部的伍德格林区，在他家前屋里，他还经营着最近刚刚成立的恐龙收藏爱好者俱乐部。“恐龙已经紧紧抓住了我的心，”他坦言，“它们简直太怪异了，身上满是鳞甲和尖刺，比公共汽车还要高三倍。想到它们曾真实地活在世上，还曾把足迹留在萨里郡和怀特岛郡，那种感觉真是太神奇了。”他认为，就在20世纪70年代，许多成年人开始对恐龙产生了兴趣，那时恐龙是生态灾难的不幸受害者这一说法刚刚开始流行。

1. Tyrannosaurus rex： 常简写为T. rex，指霸王龙。霸王龙是已知的最著名的恐龙之一，是食肉恐龙中出现最晚，也是最大型、最孔武有力的品种，身长约13米，肩高约5米，平均体重约9吨，生存于白垩纪末期的最后300万年，距今约6850～6550万年。

2. engulf [?n??lf] vt. 吞没，淹没

3. heaving [?hi?v??] adj. 非常拥挤的

4. pack out： 把……挤满；把……填满

5. snake [sne?k] vi. 蛇行；曲折前进

6. harassed [?h?r?st] adj. 疲惫的

7. juggle [?d??l] vi. 试图维稳（或接稳）；力图保持平衡

8. stampede [st?m?pi?d] n. （人群的）蜂拥

9. let-up： 减弱；停止

10. dinomania [?da?n???me?n??] n. 对恐龙的狂热

11. unleash [?n?li??] vt. 发出；发动

12. merchandising [?m??t??nda?z??] n. （与某一流行电影、人物或事件相关的）衍生产品

13. bandwagon [?b?ndw??n] n. 浪潮；时尚；拥有大批追随者的事物

14. roll [r??l] vi. 进行；进展，发展

15. brontosaurus [?br?nt??s??r?s] n. 【古生】迷惑龙

16. rest on one's laurels： 满足于既得荣誉，固步自封

17. screw up one's face： 把脸皱成一团

18. bellow [?bel??] vt. 大声喊出

19. stegosaurus [?ste??s??r?s] n. 【古生】剑龙

20. megalosaurus [?me?l??s??r?s] n. 【古生】斑龙

21. Nintendo： 任天堂，日本最著名的游戏开发公司。超级玛丽（Super Mario Bros.）就是任天堂开发的风靡全球的游戏之一。

22. dart [d?t] vi. 猛冲，飞奔

23. jabber [?d??b?（r）] n. 唧唧喳喳的叫声

24. wedge [wed?] vt. 挤入

25. goggle [??l] vi. （由于惊奇、惊恐等）瞪大眼睛看

26. animatronic

[??n?m??tr?n?k] adj. 电子动画的

27. diplodocus [d??pl?d?k?s] n. 【古生】梁龙

28. awestruck [???str?k] adj. 充满敬畏（或畏怯、惊奇）之心的

29. sheer [???（r）] adj. 完全的

30. cosy [?k??zi] adj. 亲如家人的

31. memorabilia

[?mem?r??b?li?] n. 值得纪念的事物；纪念品

32. triceratops [tra??ser?t?ps] n. 【古生】三角龙

33. Shreddies： 一种早餐麦片的品牌