VOA慢速英语2016 我们已经进入一个新的地质年代了吗？

AS IT IS 2016-08-31 Have We Entered a New Geological Period? 我们已经进入一个新的地质年代了吗？

This is What’s Trending Today…

现在是《正在发生》节目。

For almost 12,000 years, Planet Earth has been in what is called the Holocene Epoch¹. This geological era started after the last ice age. Human civilizations developed during this warm period.

地球处于全新世已经大约12000年了。这一地质年代开始于上个冰河时代。自从这个温暖一些的时代开始之后，人类文明也开始发展了。

But, geology experts now say the Holocene period is over.

但是，地理专家现在说全新世已经结束了。

We are in a new geological era, they say, and have been since around 1950. This era is marked by the huge effects humans have had on the planet.

他们说，我们现在进入了一个新的地质时期，这一地质时期开始于1950年前后。这一时期的标志是人们对地球的巨大影响。

Scientists have been calling this new era the Anthropocene Epoch. The prefix² anthro comes from the Greek word anthropos, which means human.

科学家们一直称这个新的时期为“人类世”。“anthro”这个前缀来自于希腊语里的“anthropos”，是“人类”的意思。

A group of experts at the International Geological Congress presented a report on the Anthropocene era this week in Cape³ Town, South Africa. They recommended officially declaring a new geological era.

国际地质大会的一群科学家本周在南非开普敦作了关于人类世的报告。他们正式建议宣布新地质时期的到来。

Their statements quickly became a trending topic on social media.

他们的声明迅速成了社交媒体上的热门话题。

The group ClimateMama posted on Facebook, "We have entered Anthropocene, the age of man’s dominance over our planet...Can we learn to be thoughtful caretakers?"

ClimateMama这个团体在脸书网上写道，“我们已经进入了人类世，一个人类主宰地球的时代……我们能学着做考虑周到的看护人吗？”

Some called it "terrifying" that humans have so strongly affected⁴ the planet.

一些人觉得人类对地球的影响非常之大，是很吓人的。

Twitter user Lexie described the change as "incredible and terrifying at the same time."

推特用户Lexie称这个改变同时是“既不可思议又吓人”的。

Many others on social media and beyond shared those thoughts.

社交媒体内外的很多人也参与了讨论。

Words in This Story

era - n. a period of time that is associated with a particular quality, event, person, etc.

prefix - n. a letter or group of letters that is added at the beginning of a word to change its meaning?

dominance - n. power and influence over something or someone

incredible - adj. difficult or impossible to believe?

1 epoch   

n.(新)时代；历元

参考例句：

• The epoch of revolution creates great figures.革命时代造就伟大的人物。
• We're at the end of the historical epoch,and at the dawn of another.我们正处在一个历史时代的末期，另一个历史时代的开端。

2 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。