纪录片《地球劫难日》 第12期 二叠纪化石

In 1998, the search for clues took American geologist¹ Mike Rampino to the Alps.

1998年，美国地质学家Mike Rampino前往阿尔卑斯山寻找线索。

It's one of the only places in Europe where there are Permian fossils.

它是欧洲为数不多的拥有二叠纪化石的地区之一。

Rampino had been trying to understand the extinction² for some years,

Rampino多年来一直致力于研究生物大灭绝，

and thought one vital piece of information was missing.

他认为人们忽略了一个关键的信息。

Nobody knew with any certainty how long the extinction had taken.

谁都不知道这场大灭绝究竟持续了多久。

He believed that if he could find this out, he'd have a clue to its identity.

他认为如果了解了这一点，就有可能找出最后的真相。

Was he looking for a hit-and-run killer³ or something slower?

他寻找的究竟是瞬间的杀手呢，还是长年的凶煞呢？

One of the things we'd like to know about the Permian mass extinction was how rapid it was,

我们想知道的一个情况就是二叠纪生物大灭绝到底有多快，

how long did it take for those, all of those organisms to become extinct?

所有这些生物的灭绝持续了多长时间？

He planed to use a radically⁴ new dating system.

他计划使用最新的检测系统。

It's based on the fact that the fossil record charting the end of the Permian era is preserved in a thin layer of rock.

该系统的依据是二叠纪末期的化石记录保留在一个很薄的岩层中。

If it could work out how long it had taken for this rock to be deposited,

如果他能得知这个岩层堆积所需的时间，

he'd know how long the extinction had taken.

他也就能知道大灭绝持续了多久。

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。