万物简史 第292期:砰!(27)

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　　It would certainly be the most interesting few months in the history of the world. 这肯定会是世界史上最有意思的几个星期。

　　And imagine the party if it passed safely. 想像一下，要是它平安无事地过去了，我们会举行多么盛大的庆祝会啊。

　　So how often does something like the Manson impact happen? “那么，像曼森撞击这样的事件会多长时间发生一次？”

　　I asked Anderson and Witzke before leaving. 我离开之前问安德森和威策克。

　　Oh, about once every million years on average, said Witzke. “哦，平均每100万年发生一次。”威策克说。

　　And remember, added Anderson, "this was a relatively³ minor⁴ event. “记住，”安德森接着说，“这还是个区区的小事件。

　　Do you know how many extinctions were associated with the Manson impact?" No idea, I replied. 你知不知道有多少种生物的灭绝与曼森撞击有关系？”“不知道。”我回答说。

　　None, he said, with a strange air of satisfaction. "Not one." “一种也没有，”他露出一种古怪的满意神色说，“一种也没有灭绝。”

　　Of course, Witzke and Anderson added hastily and more or less in unison⁵, there would have been terrible devastation⁶ across much of the Earth, 当然，威策克和安德森连忙——一定程度上是异口同声地——补充说，地球上很多地方都受到了严重的破坏，

　　as just described, and complete annihilation for hundreds of miles around ground zero. 就像刚刚描述的那样，方圆几百公里的地方被化为乌有。

　　But life is hardy⁷, and when the smoke cleared there were enough lucky survivors⁸ from every species that none permanently⁹ perished. 但是，生命是倔强的。烟消云散以后，每个物种都有足够的幸存者，哪个物种也没有永远毁灭。

　　The good news, it appears, is that it takes an awful lot to extinguish a species. 灭绝一个物种极不容易，这似乎是个好的消息。

　　The bad news is that the good news can never be counted on. 坏的消息是，这个好消息是绝对靠不住的。

　　Worse still, it isn't actually necessary to look to space for petrifying¹⁰ danger. 更糟糕的是，你其实不必凝视着太空来寻找令人震惊的危险。

　　As we are about to see, Earth can provide plenty of danger of its own. 你马上就会知道，地球本身就是个很危险的地方。

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