万物简史 第295期:地下的烈火(3)

 　　"The article called the site a ‘Pompeii of prehistoric¹ animals,' " he told me, “文章把这个地方称之为‘史前动物的庞贝城’，”他对我说，

　　"which was unfortunate because just afterward² we realized that the animals hadn't died suddenly at all. “这是很不幸的，因为过不多久我们就发现动物们根本不是突然死去的。

　　They were all suffering from something called hypertrophic pulmonary osteodystrophy, 它们都患了一种名叫‘肺骨营养不良’的毛病。

　　which is what you would get if you were breathing a lot of abrasive³ ash, 吸入大量有腐蚀作用的灰末，就会得这种毛病，

　　and they must have been breathing a lot of it because the ash was feet thick for hundreds of miles." 它们肯定吸入了大量的这类灰末，因为几米厚的灰末绵延数公里。”

　　He picked up a chunk⁴ of grayish, claylike dirt and crumbled⁵ it into my hand. 他拾起一团灰白色的、黏土似的泥土，研碎了放到我的手里。

　　It was powdery but slightly gritty. 土是粉末状的，但有点儿像砂。

　　"Nasty stuff to have to breathe," he went on, "because it's very fine but also quite sharp. “吸入这玩意儿是很难受的，”他接着说，“它又细又很锋利。

　　So anyway they came here to this watering hole, presumably seeking relief, and died in some misery⁶. 反正它们来到这个水坑，很可能是想要歇息片刻，结果在痛苦中死去。

　　The ash would have ruined everything. 这种灰末能毁灭一切。

　　It would have buried all the grass and coated every leaf and turned the water into an undrinkable gray sludge. 它会淹没野草，牢牢地粘在叶子上，把水变成一种不宜饮用的灰色稀泥。

　　It couldn't have been very agreeable at all." 喝了肯定是会很不舒服的。”

　　The BBC documentary had suggested that the existence of so much ash in Nebraska was a surprise. 那部《地平线》记录片指出，在内布拉斯加存在这么多的灰末是一件想不到的事。

　　In fact, Nebraska's huge ash deposits had been known about for a long time. 实际上，很久以来，人们就知道内布拉斯加沉积着大量的灰末。

　　For almost a century they had been mined to make household cleaning powders like Comet and Ajax. 差不多有一个世纪时间，灰末被开采出来用做原料，制造像彗星牌和埃阿斯牌这样的家用去污粉。

　　But curiously⁷ no one had ever thought to wonder where all the ash came from. 但是，有意思的是，谁也没有想到去考虑一下这么多的灰末是从哪里来的。

　　"I'm a little embarrassed to tell you," Voorhies said, smiling briefly⁸, “说来有点难为情，”沃里斯微微一笑说，

　　"that the first I thought about it was when an editor at the National Geographic⁹ asked me the source of all the ash  “倒是《国家地理杂志》的一位编辑问我，这么多的灰末是从哪儿来的？我不得不承认，我不知道。也没有人知道。

　　and I had to confess that I didn't know. Nobody knew." 这时候，我才想到了这个问题。”

1 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

2 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 abrasive   

adj.使表面磨损的；粗糙的；恼人的

参考例句：

• His abrasive manner has won him an unenviable notoriety.他生硬粗暴的态度让他声名狼藉。
• She had abrasions to her wrists where the abrasive rope had scraped her.她的手腕有多出磨伤，那是被粗糙的绳子擦伤的。

4 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

5 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

6 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

7 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

8 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

9 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法