新奇事件簿 世界上最古老的颜色（在线收听）

Most of us might think that the world's oldest colour is black or dark grey. However, scientists have found out that bright pink is the oldest known colour. Researchers looked at 1.1-billion-year-old rocks deep beneath the Sahara Desert. They crushed the rocks into powder and found the bright pink colouring in them. This means that pink is the oldest colour on geological record. Dr. Nur Gueneli from the Australia National University led the research. She made the discovery in a lab in Australia. Dr. Gueneli said the colour was produced by ancient organisms that lived in the oceans. She added that the oceans are so old they no longer exist. At that time, tiny organisms were the largest life forms on Earth.

多数人或许认为世界上最古老的颜色是黑色或深灰色。但是，科学家发现亮粉色才是世界上最古老的已知颜色。研究人员观察了撒哈拉沙漠深处的一些11亿年前的岩石。他们将岩石碎成粉末并发现其中含有亮粉色。这意味着粉红色是地质记录中最古老的颜色。澳大利亚国立大学的努尔·盖内利教授领导此次研究。她在澳大利亚的一间实验室中进行了研究。盖内利教授表示这种颜色是由居住在海洋中的古生物体所创造的。她还补充道，海洋十分古老，因此它们不复存在。那时，微小的生物体是地球上最大的生命形式。

Dr. Gueneli said her first reaction was "sheer amazement". She said her team thought the rock powder might turn black when they were doing their experiments on it. Instead, it turned pink. Another researcher said: "I remember I heard this screaming in the lab. Dr. Gueneli came running into my office and said, 'look at this,' and she had this bright pink stuff…It turned out to be real colour, 1.1 billion years old." The rocks could contain other colours, from a blood red to a deep purple. Gueneli explained how important her find was. She said: "Imagine you could find a fossilized dinosaur skin that still has its original colour - green or blue. That is exactly the type of discovery that we've made."

盖内利教授表示她的第一个反应是“完全的震惊”。她说在进行实验时，她的团队认为岩石粉末或许会变成黑色。但是结果却是粉红色。另一名研究人员说：“我记得听到了实验室里的尖叫声。盖内利教授跑到我的办公室并说，‘快看啊’，她拿着这个亮粉色的东西...结果证明这是真实的颜色，已经有11亿年了。”岩石中可能含有其他颜色，比如血红或深紫色。盖内利解释了这个发现的重要性。她说：“想象一下你能找到化石恐龙的皮肤，它们还保留着原来的颜色—绿色或蓝色。我们所得到的就是这种类型的发现。”