纪录片《地球劫难日》 第27期 解谜的密钥

The key to the puzzle would come from a totally unexpected quarter.

解谜的密钥来自一个出人意料的地方。

Gerry Dickens is a geologist¹ working on new sources of energy.

Gerry Dickens是一位研究能源开采的地质学家。

He had no special interest in the Permian extinction²,

他对二叠纪生物大灭绝没有太大兴趣，

but one evening, sitting in a bar, he ran into a friend.

一天晚上他在酒吧里遇到了一位朋友。

We were just sort of chatting about what we were working on for the summer,

我们谈论着我们整个夏天都在忙些什么，

and he was telling me that he was working on trying to understand how you could get massive of 12 carbon quickly

他告诉我，他正在研究碳-12的数量为什么会迅速增长，

because some signatures had been found in the rock records,

因为岩石记录中出现了这些标记，

and it was very difficult to explain, it didn't make any sense.

这很难解释，他感到莫名其妙。

Dickens was curious. Several years earlier, he'd spent time on a drilling rig in the Gulf³ of Mexico,

Dickens对此很好奇。多年前他曾去过墨西哥湾的一个钻井平台，

prospecting⁴ for a new source of energy called methane⁵ hydrate.

勘测一种新型能源叫做甲烷水合物。

It's a gas frozen in huge reservoirs just below the seabed.

这是一种大量封冻在海底的气体。

Dickens knew this methane contained massive quantities of carbon 12.

Dickens知道这些甲烷含有大量碳-12。

He also knew there were dozens of these methane hydrate reservoirs scattered⁶ around the world's coasts.

他也知道全世界沿岸地区都分布着这些甲烷水合物储层。

We find 'em for instance along the coast of south America, along central America,

我们可以在这些地方找到它们：南美洲，中美洲沿岸，

all along the western coast of the US and Canada, indications round Australia, Indonesia,

美国西海岸，加拿大沿岸，澳大利亚沿岸，印度尼西亚沿岸，

essentially⁷ anywhere along continental⁸ margins⁹ where you get a lot of organic matter that decays at the bottom and produces methane.

实际上所有大陆架边缘地带的海底都有大量腐烂的有机物在释放甲烷。

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 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 prospecting   

n.探矿

参考例句：

• The prospecting team ploughed their way through the snow. 探险队排雪前进。
• The prospecting team has traversed the length and breadth of the land. 勘探队踏遍了祖国的山山水水。

5 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

6 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

9 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。