小行星撞地球

论文的联合作者、布里斯托大学德MikeBenton教授告诉BBC：“全球气候一直在变冷，恐龙适合在温暖的气候条件下生存，而哺乳动物更好地适应了寒冷的气候。因此，无论是否有小行星撞地球，最终哺乳动物都会取代恐龙。”

Co-author Prof Mike Benton of Bristol University , told BBC News : " World climates were getting cooler all the time . Dinosaurs rely on quite warm climates and mammals are better adapted to the cold . So there might have been a switch over in any case without the asteroid impact . "

英国雷丁大学古生物学家ManabuSakamoto博士主导这项研究，他说：“我们没料到是这样的结果。尽管恐龙是由于小行星撞地球而灭绝，但在这之前，即距今约5000万年前，恐龙已经开始走向衰落。”

Dr Manabu Sakamoto , a palaeontologist from the University of Reading , who led the research , said : " We were not expecting this result . Even though they were wiped out ultimately by the impact of the asteroid , they were actually already on their way out around 50 million years before the asteroid hit . "

我肯定知道我不会死于小行星撞地球。

I do know that it won 't be from an asteroid strike .

如果真有小行星撞地球，那你不也会死吗？

I-If there was an asteroid strike , wouldn 't you die , too ?

小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但依然存在这样的危险。

It 's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists .

人们普遍认为，小行星撞地球为哺乳动物的翻身铺平了道路。

The asteroid impact is commonly thought to have paved the way for mammals to take over .

Venditti博士认为，恐龙在5000万年前数量的减少导致它们更易受到小行星撞地球过后的环境大灾难影响。

Dr Venditti believes that the dinosaurs ' 50 million year decline rendered them even more susceptible to the environmental catastrophe that followed the asteroid impact .

所以尽管我们还不知道怎么应对小行星撞地球这种几率较小但理论上可能的情况，我们现在已经知道遇到僵尸攻击的时候该做什么了。

So , while we still don 't know what to do if a deadly asteroid takes aim at Earth , an unlikely but technically possible situation , we now know what to do in case of a zombie attack .

如果足够大的小行星撞上地球会造成严重的伤害。

Asteroids that are big enough to cause serious damage if they hit the Earth .