每日英語跟讀 Ep.954: Woolly mammoth skeleton found in lake in Russia’s Arctic
Russian scientists are poring over the stunningly well-preserved bones of an adult woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth at least 10,000 years ago, after local inhabitants discovered its remains in the shallows of a north Siberian lake.
俄國科學家近日埋首挖掘一頭真猛瑪象的成象骸骨，其保存狀況良好得讓人吃驚。遠在一萬年前，這頭真猛瑪象曾經漫步於地球上，而這次出土的骨骸是當地居民在西伯利亞北部一座湖邊的淺灘所發現。
Part of its skull, several ribs and foreleg bones, some with soft tissue still attached to them, were retrieved from Russia’s remote Yamal peninsula above the Arctic Circle on July 23. Scientists are still searching the site for other bones.
這隻真猛瑪象的部分頭蓋骨、數根肋骨和前腿骨，在七月二十三日出土於俄羅斯位於北極圈內偏遠的亞馬爾半島，其中一些骸骨仍有軟組織附著在上面。科學家目前仍然在該地持續搜尋其他骸骨。
Similar finds in Russia’s vast Siberian region have happened with increasing regularity as climate change warming the Arctic at a faster pace than the rest of the world has thawed the ground in some areas long locked in permafrost.
在俄羅斯廣闊的西伯利亞地區，類似的考古發現愈趨頻繁，這是因為氣候變遷暖化北極圈的速度，比世界其他地方還來得快。某些長久以來鎖在永凍土層的地區，地面已經解凍。
Scientists circulated images in December of a prehistoric puppy, thought to be 18,000 years old, that was found in the permafrost region of Russia’s Far East in 2018.
去年十二月，科學家間流傳著一隻史前時代幼犬的照片，是二○一八年在俄羅斯遠東地區的永凍土區域發現的，推測年代為一萬八千年前。
The mammoth remains are at least 10,000 years old, although researchers don’t yet know exactly when it walked the earth or how old it was when it died, said Dmitry Frolov, director of the Scientific Centre for Arctic studies. Researchers have found mammoth fossils dating from up to 30,000 years ago in Russia, he said.
俄羅斯北極研究中心主任狄米崔‧伏羅洛夫表示，雖然研究人員還不知道這隻猛瑪象漫步在地球上的確切時代，或是牠過世的年紀，但是這具遺骸起碼有一萬年的歷史。他說，研究人員曾經在俄羅斯發現過可追溯到三萬年前的猛瑪象化石。
Yevgeniya Khozyainova, a scientist from a local museum, said it was unusual to find so many bones belonging to a single species and to know where they came from. “Of course, we’d like to find the remaining parts, to understand how complete a find it is. Whenever there is soft tissue left behind, it is valuable material to study,” she said.
當地博物館的科學家葉芙金妮雅‧霍奇艾諾娃指出，能夠發現許多同屬於單一物種的骨頭是相當少見的，也不容易知道它們來自何處。她說：「當然，我們希望能找到剩下的部位，想要了解這次發現的完整程度。只要有軟組織殘留下來，都會是珍貴的研究材料。」
Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/08/02/2003740962
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