"which was unfortunate because just afterward 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 abrasive 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 chunk of grayish, claylike dirt and crumbled 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 misery. 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 curiously 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 briefly, “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 Geographic 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。”