囧研究 你喝的每一杯水都是恐龙尿

 　　The next time you reach for a glass of water, remember this; you could be about to sip¹ on dinosaur² pee.

　　记住，下次你拿起一杯水时，你可能正要喝下恐龙尿。

　　This is according to science YouTube channel, Curious Minds, which explains that the amount of water on the Earth has remained roughly the same for millions of years.

　　这一观点来自Youtube科学频道《奇思妙想》(Curious Minds)。节目中解释道，地球上的水量数百万年来都没怎么变过。

　　Around 121,000 cubic miles of water falls on the Earth in the form of precipitation every year, meaning this water has moved around the planet.

　　每年，大约121000立方英里的水通过降水来到地面，意味着这些水已经在地球上循环过。

　　The Mesozoic era, the reign³ of the dinosaurs⁴, lasted around 186 million years.

　　恐龙统治的中生代延续了大约一亿八千六百万年。

　　'That gave them time to drink a lot of water,' the video explains.

　　视频中谈到：“这让恐龙们有时间喝了大量的水。”

　　By contrast, humans have only been living on Earth for 200,000 years.

　　与之相反，人类刚刚在地球上存在了二十万年。

　　Charles Fishman says in in his book, 'The Big Thirst' that the molecules⁵ that make up water are so resilient, they could be millions of years old.

　　查尔斯·费舍曼在《大干旱》一书中指出，水分子非常稳定，能够存在数百万年。

　　A member of Curious Minds added: 'Most of the water molecules have never been drunk by another human, but almost every single one has been drunk by a dinosaur.'

　　《奇思妙想》频道成员补充道：“大多数水分子都没有被第二个人喝到过，但几乎每个水分子都被恐龙喝过。”

　　'This means that in every glass of water you drink, there is a lot of water which has already passed through a dinosaur and come out the other end.'

　　“这意味着你喝的每杯水里都有不少是恐龙喝下去又排出来的。”

　　The book 'The Future of Water: A Startling Look Ahead,' by Steve Maxwell and Scott Yates comes to a similar conclusion.

　　《水资源的未来：惊人预测》一书中，作者史蒂夫·马克斯韦尔和斯科特·耶茨得出了类似的结论。

　　'The water that dinosaurs drank is the same water we drink today, and the amount of water in the world is the same, too,' the authors write.

　　他们写道：“我们今天喝的水和恐龙喝过的水是一回事，地球上水的总量也没有变过。”

　　'Fossil fuels get burned and are gone forever. Water remains⁶.'

　　“化石燃料燃烧后就永远消失。而水却一直存在。”

1 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

2 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

3 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

4 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》

5 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。