恐龍滅絕有關(guān)石油危機(jī)?
恐龍是距今1億3千萬(wàn)年前地球上爬行動(dòng)物的總稱(chēng)。它們的種類(lèi)很多,身體大小、形狀、生活習(xí)性各不相同,陸地、海洋、空中都是恐龍類(lèi)爬行動(dòng)物的活動(dòng)場(chǎng)所。最早出現(xiàn)在約2億4千萬(wàn)年前的三疊紀(jì),滅亡于約6500萬(wàn)年前的白堊紀(jì)所發(fā)生的白堊紀(jì)末滅絕事件,最終滅絕于6300萬(wàn)年前的新生代第三紀(jì)古新世,普遍被認(rèn)可的是隕石撞擊說(shuō)。
w:What killed the dinosaurs?
m:She is again?I mean have we done this one like a hundred times。A giantmeteor smashed into the Earth and blocked out the sun,so the dinosaurs had nothing to eat and died。
W:But not all scientists agree with that theory. There’s some evidence that a giant oil fire might have had something to do with the dinosaurs’ demise.
m:Oh,OK,sorry.
W:No problem,because you are right。Scientists still agree that around sixty-five million years ago, a meteor or comet or something was the instigator. But it’s not clear that the impact alone would have been enough to end the reign of the dinosaurs. So one theory is that the explosion started global forest fires. All that fire shot so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that the planet heated up like an oven and baked the dinos to death.
m:I heard that theory but problem is that there isn’t as much charred plant debris as you’d expect if there really were such giant fires.
W:Right,so what sparked a new theory was the discovery of tiny carbon spheres at dozens of dinosaur dig sites around the world. The spheres are created from burning fossil fuels like oil. So maybe the meteor exploded in the midst of a huge oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. First it would have vaporized the oil, then ignited it in the atmosphere, creating a huge, sky-bound fireball. The combination of fire, soot and global warming may have been enough to kill the dinosaurs.
m:Wow,and we think we've got an oil crisis。
譯文:
w:什么讓恐龍滅絕的?
m:怎么又是這個(gè)問(wèn)題?我的意思是我們已經(jīng)討論過(guò)上百次啦。一巨型行星撞擊地球,遮擋了陽(yáng)光,恐龍賴(lài)以生存的食物無(wú)法生長(zhǎng),由此恐龍便走向衰亡。
w:但并不是所有的科學(xué)家都同意這種觀點(diǎn),相關(guān)證據(jù)表明一場(chǎng)巨大的石油火災(zāi)可能與恐龍的滅絕有關(guān)聯(lián)。
m:好吧,是我錯(cuò)了。
w:你也沒(méi)有說(shuō)錯(cuò)??茖W(xué)家依舊認(rèn)為約六千五百萬(wàn)年前撞擊地球的行星抑或彗星是始作俑者,只是不確信其影響是否足以導(dǎo)致恐龍時(shí)代結(jié)束。于是另外一種理論稱(chēng)其始于一場(chǎng)全球森林火災(zāi)。這場(chǎng)火向大氣釋放大量的二氧化碳,地球溫度升高,熱得像一個(gè)烤爐,恐龍被炙烤至死。
m:我聽(tīng)過(guò)這種理論。問(wèn)題是如你所說(shuō)有一場(chǎng)巨大的火災(zāi),但并沒(méi)有像你期望的那么多的燒焦植物碎片發(fā)現(xiàn)。
w:這個(gè)理論源于在世界各地很多恐龍挖掘地址所發(fā)現(xiàn)的微小碳球。這些碳球是由類(lèi)似石油的化石燃料燃燒而產(chǎn)生的??赡苄行窃谀鞲鐬骋痪薮笥吞镏胁勘?,石油蒸發(fā),并在大氣中著火,形成巨大的火球駛向天空?;馂?zāi),煙霧以及全球變暖共同導(dǎo)致了恐龍的滅絕。
m:噢,我們已經(jīng)遭遇了石油危機(jī)。