纪录片《地球劫难日》 第14期 陨石大冲撞

It's like a giant tape measure, dividing an entire mountain into a series of 23,000 year divisions.

整座山峰宛若巨大的卷尺，每个岩层刻度代表了2.3万年的时光。

Rampino then fitted the layer of rock containing the evidence of the extinction¹ into this pattern of cycles.

接着Rampino将保有大灭绝证据的岩层放到这类周期岩层中进行研究。

It covered less than half a cycle, 8,000-10,000 years, far faster than anyone had thought possible.

发现它的厚度连周期岩层的一半都不到，只有8000-10000年，比人们估计的快了许多。

What this tells me is that the mass extinction took place in an astonishingly short period of time,

这说明大灭绝只是发生在很短的一段时期内，

less than 10,000 years and possibly instantaneously.

还不到1万年，几乎就是一瞬间。

This means that that mass extinction was catastrophic.

也就是说这场大灭绝绝对是灾难性的。

To have destroyed so much of life so quickly, the killer² must have been extraordinarily³ violent.

能如此迅速地杀死这么多生物，这个杀手必然十分厉害。

Rampino could think of only one thing it could be.

Rampino认为事实只可能是一种情况。

A mass extinction that happens at less than 10,000 years is very abrupt⁴.

持续时间不到1万年的大灭绝事件是非常突然的。

It fits the picture of a large impact at the end of the Permian.

这说明二叠纪末期发生了一次陨石大冲撞。

Rampino was now convinced a huge meteor had slammed into the earth 250 million years ago.

Rampino认为，2亿5千万年前，一块巨大的陨石撞上了地球。

Shockwaves would have raced around the globe instantly killing⁵ everything within hundreds of miles.

冲击波席卷全球，瞬间杀死了数千英里范围内的所有生物。

1 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。

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 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

4 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。