开创地球新纪元

英语自学网

20121026103326171_520_o18.jpg

概述：地质时期的更迭总是以全球性的剧变为标志，寒武纪、石炭纪、三叠纪、侏罗纪、白垩纪，都以亿年、百万年为单位，相比之下人类历史短暂得可怜。就凭这短短数千年甚至数百年，人类却要开创一个新的世代？
Hints:
Earth
Jurassic
Pleistocene
Anthropocene
Ice Ages
注意：文中有一处疑为口误，photograph应该是单数
主持：haifaforever
校对：早安Miki
翻译&注释：haifaforever   
答疑：tvxqshell
口语点评：Redrum2407
口语节目地址：http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/2120/item/683894/Over the aeons of geological time, layer after layer after layer of sediments have built up on the planet. As millions of years have gone by they've compressed to form solid rocks. These rocks are records of key points in the Earth's history when global events transformed the world's environment and pushed the planet from one geological time period to another. Most of these time zones were recognised by geologists of the 1800s, who gave them names like the Jurassic and the Pleistocene. But in the 21st century, many scientists proposed that we humans have single-handedly launched a new phase in the Earth's history. They're calling it the Anthropocene - the age of man.
"It's a very famous satellite-compositive photograph of the Earth at night, which is one of the most iconic images of the Anthropocene, which basically shows our lights at night on the planet, lit up almost entirely by fossil fuel combustion, showing, you know, where cities are, where roads are. If you were flying by in a spaceship, you would know something big is going on on this planet."
In the geological past, big events like the onset of Ice Ages or titanic volcanic eruptions and mass extinctions of animals and plants caused the planet to tip into new geological periods. All these upheavals left many traces in the rocks forming at the Earth's surfaces of those times. So are we leaving a similar trail of clues for posterity?历经沧海桑田数十亿年的地质时期，在我们星球表面上积累了一层一层又一层的沉积物。数百万年过去了，它们经过压缩，形成了坚固的岩石。这些岩石记录了地球历史上的重大时刻，全球性的大事件改变世界环境，推动地球从一个地质时期进入下一个。这些时间区间大多是在18世纪时为地质学家们所认识并得以命名的，比如侏罗纪、更新世。但到了21世纪，许多科学家们提议说，我们人类一手开创了地球史上的一个新纪元。他们称之为人类纪——人类的时代。
“这是一张著名的地球夜晚卫星合成照片，也是体现人类纪的代表性图片之一。大致来说，照片展示了行星进入黑夜时我们人类的灯光，这些灯光几乎全都是靠燃烧化石燃料点亮的，它们的所在就是城市之所在，公路之所在。如果你乘一艘太空飞船飞过地球，你一定会发现，这个星球上有什么大事正在发生。”
在过去的地质时期，冰河时期的降临抑或大型火山喷发，以及大量动植物的灭绝都是重大事件，它们令星球骤然进入新的地质时期。所有这些剧变都在当时地球表面的岩石构成上留下了许多印迹。那么我们是否也在为子孙后代留下类似的线索呢？