万物简史 第304期:地下的烈火(12)

 　　And what causes these massive intraplate rupturings? 这种跨板块大地震是怎么发生的？

　　Something deep within the Earth. 原因在地球深处。

　　More than that we don't know. 更多的情况我们就不知道了。

　　By the 1960s scientists had grown sufficiently¹ frustrated² by how little they understood of the Earth's interior that they decided³ to try to do something about it. 到20世纪60年代，科学家们对地球内部的事儿了解得太少，觉得很伤心，因此决心要采取一点措施。

　　Specifically, they got the idea to drill through the ocean floor (the continental⁴ crust was too thick) 具体来说，他们想在海床上（大陆上的地壳太厚）钻个孔，

　　to the Moho discontinuity and to extract a piece of the Earth's mantle⁵ for examination at leisure. 一直钻到莫霍面，取出一块地幔样品来慢慢研究。

　　The thinking was that if they could understand the nature of the rocks inside the Earth, 他们认为，只要能搞清地球内部岩石的性质，

　　they might begin to understand how they interacted, and thus possibly be able to predict earthquakes and other unwelcome events. 也许就能开始了解它们的相互作用，从而能预测地震和其他不受欢迎的事件。

　　The project became known, all but inevitably⁶, as the Mohole and it was pretty well disastrous⁷. 这个项目几乎肯定会被命名为“莫霍钻探”，它简直是灾难性的。

　　The hope was to lower a drill through 14,000 feet of Pacific Ocean water off the coast of Mexico 他们希望把钻头伸进墨西哥近海4000多米深的太平洋海水，

　　and drill some 17,000 feet through relatively⁸ thin crustal rock. 然后再往下钻5000多米，穿透比较薄的地壳岩石。

　　Drilling from a ship in open waters is, in the words of one oceanographer, 从外海的一条船上搞钻探，用一位海洋学家的话来说，

　　"like trying to drill a hole in the sidewalks of New York from atop the Empire State Building using a strand⁹ of spaghetti." “就像试图从帝国大厦顶上用一根意大利式细面条在纽约的人行道上钻个孔”。

　　Every attempt ended in failure. 一切努力都以失败告终。

　　The deepest they penetrated¹⁰ was only about 600 feet. 他们充其量只深入到大约180米的地方。

　　The Mohole became known as the No Hole. 莫霍钻探最后被称之为“无法钻探”。

　　In 1966, exasperated¹¹ with ever-rising costs and no results, Congress killed the project. 1966年，由于成本不断上升，不见成果，国会又气又恼，取消了这个项目。

1 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 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。

5 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

6 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

7 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

10 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

11 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。