GWD2 Q6~Q9中文翻譯

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GWD2 Q6~Q9 (Answers: BCDA)

Scientists generally credit
violent collisions between
tectonic plates, the mobile
fragments of Earth’s rocky
(5) outer shell, with sculpting
the planet’s surface, as, for
example, when what is now
the Indian subcontinent col-
lided with Asia, producing
(10) the Himalayan Mountains.
科學家普遍認為地殼板塊
(遊移的地球表面石塊)間的碰撞
構成了地球表面風貌，舉例來說，
現在所謂的亞洲印度次大陸，
產生了喜瑪拉雅山。
However, plate tectonics
cannot fully explain certain
massive surface features,
such as the “superswell”
(15) of southern Africa, a vast
plateau over 1,000 miles
across and nearly a mile
high.
然而地殼板塊碰撞仍不足以解釋
一些巨大的地表特徵，例如南非的
「Superswell」，這是一個廣闊的高原
1000miles寬，將近1mile高。
Geologic evidence
shows that southern African
(20) has been slowly rising for
the past 100 million years,
yet it has not experienced
a tectonic collision for
nearly 400 million years.
地質證據指出南非大陸在過去的
一億年呈現換慢的上升，然而這
片大陸已經有四億年沒有發生地殼碰撞了。
(25) The explanation may be in
Earth’s mantle, the layer of
rock underlying the tectonic
plates and extending down
over 1,800 miles to the outer
(30) edge of Earth’s iron core.
透過地幔也許能找出解釋，
地幔事在地殼下的岩石層，
往下擴展超過1,800英哩，
直到地核外核鐵晶體的部分。
Since the early twentieth
century, geophysicists have
understood that the mantle
churns and roils like a thick
(35) soup. The relative low
density of the hottest rock
makes that material buoyant,
so it slowly ascends, while
cooler, denser rock sinks
(40) until heat escaping the mol-
ten core warms it enough to
make it rise again.
二十世紀初開始地質學家就知道
地幔像一碗濃湯般地攪拌著。
密度低的石塊緩慢上升，當冷卻時，
密度高的石塊下沉；
直到熔岩的地核將溫度升高，
讓石塊再上升。
While this process of convection
was known to enable the
(45) horizontal movement of tec-
tonic plates, until recently
geophysicists were skeptical
of its ability to lift or lower the
planet’s surface vertically.
這個已知的對流過程使得地殼能水平運動，
直到最近地質學家開始質疑，
地殼上升及下沉的垂直運動，
是否也能透過對流來解釋。
(50) However, recent technolog-
ical advances have allowed
geophysicists to make three-
dimensional “snapshots”
of the mantle by measuring
(55) vibrations, or seismic waves,
set in motion by earthquakes
originating in the planet’s
outer shell and recording
the time it takes for them to
(60) travel from an earthquake’s
epicenter to a particular
recording station at the
surface.
然而，近期的科技進步得以讓地質學家
為地幔的運動拍「快照」，透過測量震動，
或者是由地震導致在地球外殼的震波，
紀錄震央抵達地表特定基地台的動態。
Because geo-
physicists know that seismic
(65) waves become sluggish in
hot, low-density rock, and
speed up in colder, denser
regions, they can now infer
the temperatures and den-
(70) sities in a given segment of
the interior.
因為地理學家已經知道震波在高熱
低密度的石塊中傳遞較慢，在冰冷
密度高的石塊區域傳遞較快，
因此他們可以對內部的溫度和密度做推斷。
By compiling
a map of seismic velocities
from thousands of earth-
quakes across the globe,
(75) they can also begin to map
temperatures and densities
throughout the mantle. These
methods have revealed some
unexpectedly immense for-
(80) mations in the deepest parts
of the mantle; the largest
of these is a buoyant mass
of hot rock directly below
Africa’s southern tip.
彙整全球數以千計的震波速率，
地質學家便可以勾勒地幔的溫度與密度。
這個方法無預期地揭發了
地幔最深處驚奇的結構；
南非洲的下方有著許多上升的熱石塊，
佔了地幔的大部分。
Dis-
(85) pelling researchers’ initial
doubts, computer models
have confirmed that this
formation is buoyant enough
to rise slowly within the mantle
(90) and strong enough to push
Africa upward as it rises.
研究人員因此豁然開朗，
電腦模擬顯示這結構活動到
足以藉著地幔緩慢提升，
並且夠堅固能讓非洲大陸上升。