纪录片《地球劫难日》 第10期 升温现象

It seemed as though Courtillot must have found the cause of the extinction¹.

由此看来，Courtillot已找到了引起大灭绝的原因。

Here was a truly massive destructive event that had happened at exactly the right time.

这里的确发生过毁灭性的事件，而且几乎就在当时。

Yet the evidence was not as straight forward as it appeared.

然而这些证据看来并不直接。

In America, geologist³ Peter Ward² was alos looking at the evidence.

在美国，地质学家Peter Ward也在研究这些证据。

He knew that to do so much damage the change in world temperatures would have had to have been rapid and dramatic.

他认为要造成如此大的灾难气温就必须急剧上升，

You have to have a very sudden, but very large increase in temperature

必须是非常突然和非常剧烈的升温现象，

to have done the mayhem and the destruction that is this mass extinction.

才能造成生物大灭绝这样的灾难和破坏。

Ward looked more closely at the data from the Siberian Traps.

Ward更加仔细地研究了西伯利亚地盾的数据。

He estimated the amount of lava⁴ they'd produced

他估算了火山爆发产生的熔岩量，

and used this to calculate how much carbon dioxide they would have emitted.

并依此算出这些熔岩所能释放出的二氧化碳总量。

He then calculated what this would have done to world temperatures.

接着他又算出它们将对全球温度造成多大影响。

We've looked at the Traps, the Siberian Traps,

我们研究了西伯利亚地盾，我

we've tried to estimate how much gas would have come out of them and how much warming would that have done

们推算熔岩会产生多少气体以及它们会使地球气温升高多少度，

and it turns out that in the worst case scenario⁵, and of course for the world it was a worst case,

结果，在假想的最差情况下，当然，这也是对地球来说已经是最差的情况了，

they may have raised the temperature of the earth about 5 ℃.

它们能使地球温度升高5℃。

1 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

2 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

3 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

4 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。