纪录片《地球劫难日》 第26期 同位素碳-12

Three long, slow phases, sprawled¹ over at least 80,000 years,

3个漫长缓慢的过程总共延续了8万年之久，

very different from how the meteor theorists had seen it.

与先前的天体碰撞论大相径庭。

Yet Wignall was still no closer to understanding why it had happened or what the killer² was, but he had found a clue.

然而Wignall仍旧无从得知事情发生的原因以及杀手的真实身份，不过他找到了线索。

Analysis of the rock showed that just after the marine³ extinction⁴,

岩石的分析结果表明，就在海洋生物大灭绝刚刚结束，

but before the final death of everything on the land,

陆地生物的最后大灭绝即将开始之前，

there was a mysterious increase in a form of carbon, called carbon 12.

碳元素的一种同位素碳-12，出现奇怪的数量激增现象。

This is normally produced by rotting plant and animal matter,

它通常产生自腐烂的动植物，

but this was a huge increase, too big to be explained by that alone.

不过此次激增数量巨大，单凭这一点并不足以解释。

Wignall realized that here was a fresh piece of evidence,

Wignall意识到这是一条新的证据，

something that, if he could understand it might provide the key to the Permian riddle⁵.

如果能对此作出解答，或许就能获得解开二叠纪之谜的密钥。

The carbon 12 increase is clearly telling us something.

碳-12的猛增显然包含了一些事实。

It's a clue to the nature of the Permian extinction.

它是了解二叠纪生物大灭绝真相的线索。

There's something mysterious going on at this time, but exactly what it is not immediately apparent.

这段时期发生了一些神秘的事，但它们究竟是什么并不是一眼就能看出来的。

1 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

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 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 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。

5 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。