纪录片《恐龙灭绝真相》 第22期 木炭几乎不存在

Large pieces of charcoal¹ can't be transported great distances,

大块的木炭不可能移动很长的距离，

they can't be picked up and lofted² in smoke plumes³ or carried around the world

它们不存在于烟云中，也无法被分带到世界各处，

so therefore if we can find charcoal at each KT boundary location

所以如果我们能够在每个第三纪界线层中都找到木炭，

we can be sure that burning occurred at each site.

那么就可以断定森林大火遍及了地球的每个地方。

In 2003, Claire Belcher scoured⁴ North America looking for charcoal.

在2003年，Claire Belcher走遍了北美洲寻找木炭。

She collected samples from eight KT boundary sites, from New Mexico in the south right up into western Canada.

她从8个分布有第三纪界线层的地点采集样本，从南部的新墨西哥一直到加拿大西部。

In the lab she searched the samples for traces of charcoal, which show up white under the microscope.

在实验室里，她在样本中探寻着木炭的痕迹，可是样本在显微镜下却呈现出白色。

She was amazed at what she discovered... there was almost none.

她对自己的发现颇为吃惊，木炭几乎不存在。

What we did find however was a lot of this non charred⁵ plant material.

我们发现的是许多不曾烧焦的植物材料。

This was really surprising because it means that to have this amount of non charred plant material in the KT boundary rocks,

这一结果出人意料，因为它说明第三纪界线层中有大量未曾烧焦的植被，

there's no way that there can have been a globally extensive wild fire

那么也就根本不可能有全球范围内的自然大火，

because it just simply wouldn't have left so much non charred material on the rock record.

因为它不可能把这么多的未烧焦物质留在岩石档案中。

1 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

2 lofted   

击、踢、掷高弧球( loft的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was lofted to a new job. 他升迁到新职位。
• They measured and lofted the remainder of the crop. 他们把剩下的庄稼过了秤并贮藏在阁楼顶层。

3 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

4 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

5 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》