2010年12月真题短文1(2/2)

In geological time, a million years is recent history. The proof, which was published last week in Science, comes from a team of scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden and California Institute of Technology who drill deep holes near the edge of the ice sheet. Within samples collected from the solid substances lying beneath the ice. They found fossils of microscopic marine plants which suggest that the region was once an open ocean not solid ice. As Herman Engleheart, a co-author from the California Institute of Technology says, ‘The West Antarctic ice sheet disappeared once and can disappear again.’

在地质方面的时间观念来看，一百万年是很短的时间。正如上周在科学杂志上公布的，来自瑞典的乌普瑞拉大学和加利福尼亚科学研究院的一组科学家在冰原上挖了很深的洞，在里面收集到了很多躺在冰原下的固体物质，他们发现了很多海洋微生物的化石，显示了这片区域曾经是开阔的海洋而不是冰层。正如来自加州研究所的赫尔曼所说，这片西部南极圈的冰层曾经消失过并且还会消失。