万物简史 第484期:多灾多难的生命进程(4)

 　　Throughout this greatly speeded-up day continents slide about and bang together at a clip that seems positively¹ reckless. 在这大大压缩的一天中，大陆到处移动，以似乎不顾一切的速度砰地撞在一起。

　　Mountains rise and melt away, ocean basins come and go, ice sheets advance and withdraw. 大山隆起又复平，海洋出现又消失，冰原前进又后退。

　　And throughout the whole, about three times every minute, 在整个这段时间里，每分钟大约三次，

　　somewhere on the planet there is a flashbulb pop of light marking the impact of a Manson-sized meteor or one even larger. 在这颗行星的某个地方亮起一道闪光，显示曼森尺度的或更大的陨石撞击了地球。

　　It's a wonder that anything at all can survive in such a pummeled and unsettled environment. 在陨石轰击、很不稳定的环境里，竟然还有东西能存活下来，这是令人惊叹的。

　　In fact, not many things do for long. 实际上。没有很多东西能挺过很长时间。

　　Perhaps an even more effective way of grasping our extreme recentness as a part of this 4.5-billion-year-old picture 要了解我们在这部45亿年长的电影里登场是极其微末的事，也许还有一种更有效的方法。

　　is to stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth. 你把两条手臂伸展到极限，然后想像那个宽度是整个地球史。

　　On this scale, according to John McPhee in Basin and Range, the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian. 按照这个比例，据约翰·麦克菲在《海洋和山脉》一书中说，一只手的指尖到另一只手的手腕之间的距离代表寒武纪以前的年代。

　　All of complex life is in one hand, "and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate² human history." 全部复杂生命都在一只手里，“你只要拿起一把中度粒面的指甲锉，一下子就可以锉掉人类历史”。

　　Fortunately, that moment hasn't happened, but the chances are good that it will. 幸亏那种事情没有发生，但将来很可能会发生。

　　I don't wish to interject a note of gloom just at this point, 我不想在这个时刻散布悲观论调，

　　but the fact is that there is one other extremely pertinent³ quality about life on Earth: it goes extinct. Quite regularly. 但地球上的生命有着另一个极其相似的特点：生命会灭绝。而且相当经常。

1 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

2 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

3 pertinent   

adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的

参考例句：

• The expert made some pertinent comments on the scheme.那专家对规划提出了一些中肯的意见。
• These should guide him to pertinent questions for further study.这些将有助于他进一步研究有关问题。