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万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第605期:冰河时代(2)

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Spring never came and summer never warmed: 1816 became known as the year without summer. Crops everywhere failed to grow. In Ireland a famine and associated typhoid epidemic killed sixty-five thousand people. In New England, the year became popularly known as Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death. Morning frosts continued until June and almost no planted seed would grow. Short of fodder, livestock died or had to be prematurely slaughtered. In every way it was a dreadful year—almost certainly the worst for farmers in modern times. Yet globally the temperature fell by only about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Earth's natural thermostat, as scientists would learn, is an exceedingly delicate instrument.

春天停止了她的脚步,夏天也不再温暖,1816年成了“没有夏天”的一年。到处庄稼歉收。在爱尔兰,饥荒及斑疹伤寒的肆虐致使65000人死亡。在美国新英格兰地区,那年教人们称为“19世纪冻死年”。霜冻一直持续到6月,种到地里的种子根本不会发芽。由于缺少饲料,牲畜大批死亡,或者被提前宰杀。无论从哪个角度来看,1816年都是可怕的一年——这几乎可以肯定是现代农场主所遭受的一场最为严重的灾难。然而从全球来看,气温仅仅下降了不足1摄氏度。科学家们将从中了解到,地球上大自然的恒温系统是如此的脆弱。
冰川

The nineteenth century was already a chilly time. For two hundred years Europe and North America in particular had experienced a Little Ice Age, as it has become known, which permitted all kinds of wintry events—frost fairs on the Thames, ice-skating races along Dutch canals—that are mostly impossible now. It was a period, in other words, when frigidity was much on people's minds. So we may perhaps excuse nineteenth-century geologists for being slow to realize that the world they lived in was in fact balmy compared with former epochs, and that much of the land around them had been shaped by crushing glaciers and cold that would wreck even a frost fair.

19世纪已经不算是一个很冷的时期。在此前的200年时间里,正如我们现在所知道的,欧洲和北美洲经历厂一个小冰河时代,这使得各种各样的冰上活动成为可能——人们每年都要在泰晤士河上举办冰雪节,或者沿荷兰的运河举办溜冰比赛——所有这些对于现在的人来说已经不太可能。换句话说,那是一个人们对寒冷习以为常的时代。因此,我们也就不难理解,为什么19世纪的地质学家迟迟没有认识到:比起以往任何时代,他们所处的是一个相对温和的世界;他们身边的大片土地是威力无比的冰川和足以使任何冰雪节销声匿迹的寒冷所形成的。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
delicate ['delikit]

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n. 精美的东西
adj. 精美的,微妙的,美

 
fell [fel]

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动词fall的过去式
n. 兽皮
v

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epidemic [.epi'demik]

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n. 传染病,流行病
adj. 流行的,传染性

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temperature ['tempritʃə(r)]

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n. 温度,气温,体温,发烧

 
frigidity [fri'dʒiditi]

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n. 寒冷,冷淡,性冷淡

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impossible [im'pɔsəbl]

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adj. 不可能的,做不到的
adj.

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permitted

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adj. 被允许的 v. 允许(permit的过去分词)

 
instrument ['instrumənt]

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n. 乐器,工具,仪器,器械

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balmy ['bɑ:mi]

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adj. 芳香的,温和的,疯狂的,古怪的

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prematurely

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adv. 过早地;早熟地

 

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