纪录片《地球劫难日》 第21期 寻找可信的证据

No traces of iridium dust and not much shattered quartz¹. It didn't add up.

既没有铱元素的踪迹，也没有多少破碎石英。这完全说不通。

For a meteor to kill 95% of all life on earth, it should have been the size of Manhattan.

既然能杀死地球上95%的生物，这颗小行星必须得有曼哈顿那么大。

Yet the evidence suggested that if there had been a meteor at the end of the Permian era,

然而证据显示，即使二叠纪晚期发生过天体碰撞，

it had been far too small to destroy the world.

那场碰撞的规模也不算大，并不足以摧毁世界。

The Permian killer² had, once again, eluded³ scientists.

这个二叠纪杀手又一次躲开了科学家们的视线。

Paul Wignall, a geologist⁴ at the University of Leeds, had always been doubtful about the meteor theory.

利兹大学的地质学家Paul Wignall一直对天体碰撞论持怀疑态度。

It's a nice theory, it nicely explains the end of the dinosaurs⁵ in the later extinction⁶ event,

这种理论非常适于解释后来发生的恐龙灭绝事件，

but for this particular extinction, I just don't think there's any convincing.

但对于这场特殊的大灭绝事件，我认为没有什么可信的证据。

Wignall suspected all the explanations for the extinction had been based on insufficient⁷ data.

Wignall怀疑所有有关大灭绝的解释都是基于相当不足的数据。

He also knew there was one place he might find more, Greenland.

他知道有个地方或许能找到更多资料，格陵兰。

1 quartz   

n.石英

参考例句：

• There is a great deal quartz in those mountains.那些山里蕴藏着大量石英。
• The quartz watch keeps good time.石英表走时准。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 eluded   

v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到

参考例句：

• The sly fox nimbly eluded the dogs. 那只狡猾的狐狸灵活地躲避开那群狗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The criminal eluded the police. 那个罪犯甩掉了警察的追捕。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 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。

5 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。