【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and parative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peatbogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the “改變歷史的進(jìn)程”，但從考古學(xué)的觀點(diǎn)來看，這同樣是難以捕捉的。可能更糟的是，多數(shù)有機(jī)物質(zhì)會(huì)腐爛。任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛發(fā)以及相似物質(zhì)做成的東西除非在一些非常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以后，會(huì)在塵土中腐爛并消失。在短時(shí)期內(nèi)，能留下考古記錄的東西也都會(huì)退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。然而，現(xiàn)代考古學(xué)通過運(yùn)用適當(dāng)?shù)募夹g(shù)和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運(yùn)發(fā)現(xiàn)的輔助下，能夠填充這個(gè)空缺的很大部分。新概念英語美文短文欣賞篇二A Rare Fossil Record罕見的化石記錄The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rate occurrence in the fossil tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to , their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid these factors, some areas have bee a treasury of wellpreserved ichthyosaur 。微小纖細(xì)的骨骼通常在石化前就被食腐肉的動(dòng)物拆散了，或者被風(fēng)化作用破壞掉了。魚龍比起陸地的動(dòng)物有更大的幾率被保存下來，因?yàn)樗鼈冏鳛楹Ｑ髣?dòng)物常生活在腐蝕性較小的環(huán)境中。但是它們的石化需要一系列因素：軟組織的腐爛速度緩慢，很少被其他動(dòng)物殘食，缺少混雜、沖走小骨頭的快速水流和波浪，以及相當(dāng)快地被掩埋。當(dāng)這些因素存在時(shí)，某些地區(qū)就會(huì)變成一個(gè)充滿保存完好的魚龍化石的寶庫。The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over embryos are quite advanced in their physical development。their paddles, for example, are already well specimen is even preserved in the birth addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches ，那兒的沉積物給人們提出了一個(gè)有趣的分析案例。人們在黑色的、含瀝青的海洋頁巖中發(fā)現(xiàn)了約19，000年前沉積下來的魚龍化石。幾年時(shí)間內(nèi)，在這些巖石中取得了數(shù)以千計(jì)的海洋爬行動(dòng)物、魚類以及無脊椎動(dòng)物的標(biāo)本。它們的保存質(zhì)量非常的好，但更令人稱奇的是保存下來的育有胚胎的魚龍化石數(shù)目。在獲爾茲梅登附近一個(gè)小地區(qū)的六個(gè)不同的頁巖層中分別發(fā)現(xiàn)了育有胚胎的魚龍化石。這表明大量的魚龍經(jīng)年累月重復(fù)使用一個(gè)特定的地點(diǎn)。那些胚胎已經(jīng)發(fā)育得相當(dāng)完整了。比如，它們的蹼槳已經(jīng)完全形成了。有一個(gè)標(biāo)本甚至被保存在產(chǎn)道中。而且，那塊頁巖包含著很多在20到30英寸之間的新生幼體的化石。Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving ? 因?yàn)槠浔４尜|(zhì)量幾乎舉世無雙，采集工作的進(jìn)行一直是一絲不茍的。大家都認(rèn)識(shí)到這些化石的價(jià)值極其珍貴，但這些因素并不能解釋這個(gè)有趣的問題：為什么在一個(gè)特定的地點(diǎn)會(huì)如此集中地出現(xiàn)即將臨產(chǎn)的懷孕魚龍群呢?新概念英語美文短文欣賞篇三The Nobel Academy諾貝爾委員會(huì)For the last 82 years, Sweden39。s Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the today the Academy is ing under heavy criticism both from the without and from ，瑞典的諾貝爾委員會(huì)決定了誰將獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)，因此也就決定了誰將從偉大或近乎偉大榮升為不朽。但在今天，該委員會(huì)卻遭到了評(píng)選委員會(huì)內(nèi)外的猛烈批評(píng)。Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden to Ingmar Bjorksten, the cultural editor for one of the country39。s two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent “what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes”.批評(píng)者們爭論說