英语听力：自然百科 永恒的钻石（二）

 "The secret of the diamond lies in the carbon bond. Carbon is one of the most plentiful¹ substances known to science. We find carbon in plants, animals and our bodies. Carbon everywhere. And yet diamonds are some of the rarest, most beautiful of all substances. What's the link? The link is the extremely rare environmental conditions that take ordinary carbon--coal, for example--and turn it into diamonds. We’re talking about deep inside the earth crust. We have the pressures, the temperatures, sufficient to distort the bonding angles of the carbon atoms."

 

Diamonds are not forged in the earth crust, where most other rocks are made. They come from much deeper, from a hundred miles within the earth's interior. And occasionally in bursts of intense violence, this buried treasure rockets to the surface, carried by special high-speed volcanoes.

 

To geologist² Larry Taylor at the University of Tennessee, diamonds are a treasure trove³, but not because of their beauty.

 

"This is the only hard samples we have of the deep interior of the earth. The diamonds are telling us something. They are telling us a story. So it's understanding the story that's being told by these minerals which is at the key to all understanding of our knowledge of the earth.

 

"We consider ourselves to be geologic⁴ detectives. We try to recreate the crime after the fact. We look at the diamonds and we try to figure out exactly how they formed, where they formed, why they formed."

 

But the diamonds themselves reveal very little. Even their age has been a source of scientific controversy⁵. Most rocks and minerals can be dated because they contain certain radioactive atoms. As these atoms decay, they reveal their age. But diamonds never decay. Their chemistry is so stable, their internal bonds so tight, nothing inside the diamond changes. A diamond never grows old. 

 

Inside a diamond, the bonds between atoms of carbon are the strongest known. This makes diamonds not only the world's hardest substance, but four times harder than the next hardest material.

 

Like amber⁶ encasing an insect, diamonds sometimes capture bits of surrounding minerals. Geologists⁷ call these fragments “inclusions”.

 

"The inclusion occurs inside the diamond. Everything around the diamond has changed its complete integrity. It’s changed everything about it, its chemistry, but the little inclusion inside has remained pristine⁸ and virginal to this day. And this is the little piece of material that we are looking for."

 

Using high-resolution X-ray tomography, a technique similar to a CAT scan, Taylor and his team create a three-dimensional map of the volcanic⁹ rock, the diamonds and the inclusions inside. They may contain garnets, or sulfide minerals and other substances that can only be formed at hundreds of thousands of atmospheres. Analyzing¹⁰ these minerals reveals one of diamonds' astonishing secrets.

 

"It’s best we can tell, the inclusions that are inside a diamond date the diamond as being approximately somewhere between two and three billion years old."

 

At three billion years old, diamonds are among the earth's oldest creations. They are time capsules, carrying information and mystery. To Taylor, a diamond's true value is in what it can tell us about the distant past and the inner workings of the planet.

 

1 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

2 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。

3 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

4 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

7 geologists   

地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geologists uncovered the hidden riches. 地质学家发现了地下的宝藏。
• Geologists study the structure of the rocks. 地质学家研究岩石结构。

8 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

9 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

10 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句