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The Continental Plates 盘古大陆，板块迁移

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課文中英文講解

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Whenever you look at a world map, doesn’t it look like a big jigsaw puzzle? If you think the continents were once a single ___1___ one, you are right. For the last 200 million years, they have slowly separated, ___2___ the globe’s surface as we know it today.

当你看着世界地图时，会不会觉得它很像一块大拼图？如果你认为世界各大洲曾是一整块巨大的陆地，那么你的想法是正确的。两亿年以来，陆地渐渐分裂，创造出我们今日所知的地球表面。

In 1912, Alfred Wegener contended that the great continent he called Pangaea, ___3___ “all land” in Greek, began to split apart 200 million years ago. He coined the phrase “Continental Drift” to describe his idea. Today, we have ___4___ supporting the theory. Identical fossils have been found in West Africa and eastern South America, and rock layers form a continuous line on these ___5___ continents. There are also tropical plant fossils in Antarctica, leading experts to believe that this frozen continent was ___6___ located in tropical waters.

1912年，韦格纳主张这块他称为「盘古（Pangaea）」的大陆在两亿年前开始分裂，Pangaea在希腊文中意为「所有的陆地」。他创造出「大陆漂移」这个名词来描述他的概念。如今，我们有证据可支持这项理论：在西非和南美东部发现相同的化石，且在这两个分开大陆的岩层形成了一条连线；在南极洲也有热带植物的化石，让专家相信这块冰冻陆地曾经位于热带海洋中。

The mechanism that causes continental drift is now understood. According to the theory of platetectonics, the continents are actually plates that float atop the earth’s mantle, which is made of ___7___ rock known as lava. The inner mantle is heated by the earth’s core and it rises. As the mantle spreads, the plates are ___8___ along with it. When they collide, one continent is forced up, creating mountains, ___9___ the other is forced down, returning to the inner earth. The areas where these plates meet have a high ___10__ of earthquakes. So next time you feel like you’re on solid ground, remember that you’re really floating on a continent!

造成大陆漂移的机制现已为人所知。根据板块运动理论，陆地其实是漂浮在地幔上的板块，而地幔的成份是熔化的岩石，即岩浆。地幔内部被地核加热开始上升。地幔扩张，大陆板块也随之移动。当板块碰撞时，其中一个板块受力上升形成山脉，另一个则受力下降回到地球内部，板块交界带发生地震的频率很高。所以，下次你觉得自己像踩在坚固的地面上时，别忘了你其实是在陆地上漂浮着！

−by Howard Weston

Vocabulary

contend [kənˋtɛnd] v. 坚决主张，声称

core [kor] n. 核心

collide [kəˋlaɪd]v. 碰撞；相撞

More Information

jigsaw [ˋdʒɪg͵sɔ] n. 拼图玩具

globe [glob] n. 地球

Pangaea [pænˈdʒɪə] n. 盘古大陆

split [splɪt] v. 分裂

coin [kɔɪn] v. 创造﹐杜撰〔新字等〕

continuous [kənˋtɪnjʊəs] adj. 连续的

Antarctica [ænˋtɑrktɪkə] n. 南极洲

mechanism [ˋmɛkə͵nɪzəm] n. 机制

tectonics [tɛkˋtɑnɪks] n. 构造学,构造地质学,大地构造学

atop [əˋtɑp] prep. 在…上面

mantle [ˋmænt!] n. 【地】地幔

lava [ˋlɑvə] n.【地】熔岩

molten [ˋmoltən] adj. 熔化的

Answer