科学美国人60秒 SSS 研究证实维京人最早横渡大西洋

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

Exactly 1,000 years ago, in the year 1021, a Viking or two or three likely wandered around the very northern tip of Newfoundland, cutting down trees ...

整整1000年前的1021年，一两个或三个海盗可能在纽芬兰的最北端游荡，砍伐树木……

... for clearing a particular spot or for gathering¹ wood that might have been used as timber for construction or for boat repair.

…… 用于清出一块特定的地方，或收集可能用作建筑木材或修理船只的木材。

They were very careful to make sure their ships were seaworthy.

他们小心翼翼地确保他们的船只适合航海。

Michael Dee is a geoscientist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

迈克尔·迪伊是荷兰格罗宁根大学的一位地球科学家。

He says it's not news that the Vikings made it to North America around this time.

他说，维京人在这个时候到达北美并不是什么新闻。

Scientists and scholars have surmised² as much from archaeological remains³ in Newfoundland and by scrutinizing⁴ ancient texts like the Icelandic sagas⁵.

科学家和学者们从纽芬兰的考古遗迹中，通过仔细研究像冰岛传说这样的古代文本，已经做出了同样多的推测。

One is not really sure how literal one can take the Icelandic sagas.

人们并不确定可以从字面上理解冰岛的传奇故事。

They contain a lot of not only inaccuracies, a lot of things that are obviously fantastical—things like dead people speaking to them, and so on.

它们不仅有很多不准确的地方，还有很多明显很奇异的事情——比如死人对它们说话等等。

But now Dee and his colleagues have been able to come up with a precise date—the year 1021—based on evidence these Norse visitors left behind: specifically, a stump⁶, a log and a branch.

但现在，迪伊和他的同事们已经能够根据这些挪威游客留下的证据得出一个确切的日期——1021年:具体来说，就是一个树桩、一根圆木和一根树枝。

Wood anatomists have determined⁷ that certain surfaces of that wood must have been cut by metal blades—a Viking technology the local Indigenous⁸ people are not known to have shared.

木材解剖学家已经确定，木材的某些表面一定是用金属刀片切割的——据了解，当地土著居民并不使用维京人的技术。

And Dee’s team was able to use a cosmic occurrence—an extraordinary shower of high-energy particles from space around the year 993—to date the felling of the trees.

迪伊的团队能够利用一次宇宙事件-993年左右来自太空的一场非同寻常的高能粒子阵雨-来确定树木被砍伐的日期。

You see, that shower of cosmic rays created an abundance of radiocarbon.

你看，那阵雨的宇宙射线产生了大量的放射性碳。

When taken up by trees, it left a lasting⁹ signature in tree rings—giving the scientists a key to pinpoint¹⁰ the year 993 in the three wood samples using radiocarbon dating.

当它被树木吸收后，它会在树木的年轮上留下持久的印记——这给科学家们提供了利用放射性碳年代测定法确定这三个木材样本中的993年的关键。

And then you see what we have to do is count the rings from there to the edge.

然后我们要做的就是数从这里到边缘的环。

You have to know where the edge is, the bark edge.

你必须知道边缘在哪里，树皮的边缘。

And then you’ll know that was the last growth year of the tree, or the felling date of the tree.

然后你就会知道那是这棵树的最后一个生长年份，或者说是这棵树的砍伐日期。

And it just so happened in all three cases it was exactly the same year: 1021 A.D.

这三种情况都发生在同一年份:公元1021年

The details are in the journal Nature.

详情发表在《自然》杂志上。

The year 1021 therefore marks the first time we know of that Europeans set foot in the Americas.

因此，1021年标志着我们第一次知道欧洲人踏足美洲。

But as the authors write, it also marks “the earliest known year by which human migration¹¹ had encircled the planet.”

但正如作者所写，它也标志着“已知人类迁徙环绕地球的最早年份”。

Ever since moving out of Africa through Europe and Asia and across the Americas, nobody had got across the Atlantic Ocean, so by this date, we know the Atlantic Ocean was crossed for the first time.

自从人们离开非洲，穿过欧洲和亚洲，穿过美洲，就没有人横渡过大西洋，所以到这个时候，我们知道人们第一次横渡大西洋。

But—as we know—it wouldn’t be the last.

但正如我们所知，这不会是最后一次。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 surmised   

v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想

参考例句：

• From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument. 看他们的脸色，我猜想他们之间发生了争执。
• From his letter I surmised that he was unhappy. 我从他的信中推测他并不快乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 scrutinizing   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His grandfather's stern eyes were scrutinizing him, and Chueh-hui felt his face reddening. 祖父的严厉的眼光射在他的脸上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The machine hushed, extraction and injection nozzles poised, scrutinizing its targets. 机器“嘘”地一声静了下来，输入输出管道各就各位，检查着它的目标。 来自互联网

5 sagas   

n.萨迦（尤指古代挪威或冰岛讲述冒险经历和英雄业绩的长篇故事）( saga的名词复数 )；（讲述许多年间发生的事情的）长篇故事；一连串的事件（或经历）；一连串经历的讲述（或记述）

参考例句：

• Artwork depicted the historical sagas and biblical tales for the illiterate faithful. 墙上的插图为不识字的信徒描绘了历史传说和圣经故事。 来自互联网
• It will complete one of the most remarkable transfer sagas in English football. 到时候，英格兰史上最有名的转会传奇故事之一将落下帷幕。 来自互联网

6 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

9 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

10 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

11 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。