纪录片《地球劫难日》 第05期 二叠纪生物大灭绝(2)

Never in the history of the planet was there a catastrophe¹ that was so widespread, so devastating² 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 extinction³ was far more terrible than the later extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs⁴.

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 afterward⁵

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。

1 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

2 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

3 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

4 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。