纪录片《地球劫难日》 第05期 二叠纪生物大灭绝(2)（在线收听）

Never in the history of the planet was there a catastrophe that was so widespread, so devastating and so all-inclusive.

地球历史上还从未出现过如此大规模，如此严重，如此彻底的灾难。

The Permian mass extinction was far more terrible than the later extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.

二叠纪生物大灭绝远比后来出现的恐龙灭绝事件可怕得多。

The dinosaurs extinction that happened 65 million years ago,

恐龙灭绝发生在6500万年前，

killed off maybe 60% of most of the species on the planet.

大概消灭了地球上65%的物种。

There's still plenty of life around.

仍然有不少生物还活着。

But I get the sense that were one to go back to the Permian extinction right afterward

我觉得要是你再回头看看二叠纪生物大灭绝，

you would see virtually nothing of life.

你基本上看不到什么生物。

At the end of the Permian era, 95% of all life died.

二叠纪晚期95%的生物遭到了毁灭。

It was the biggest reverse in the forward march of evolution ever recorded.

这是进化史上记载的最大的一次倒退。

Yet, until recently, almost nothing was known about this extraordinary event.

然而直到今天，我们仍然对这次重大事件所知甚少。

Nobody could explain why it had happened or even whether it would happen again.

谁都无法解释它为什么会发生，或是预言它是否还会再次发生。