VOA慢速英语听力：欧洲早期人类可能因寒冷天气而灭绝 Early Humans in Europe Likely Wiped Out by Cold Weather

VOA慢速英语听力：欧洲早期人类可能因寒冷天气而灭绝 Early Humans in Europe Likely Wiped Out by Cold Weather.

Scientists say that an early human species that settled in what is now Europe was wiped out by a long ice age over 1 million years ago.

科学家表示，早期定居在现今欧洲的一种早期人类物种在100多万年前被长时间的冰河时代所灭绝。

The scientists say Homo erectus, considered the first member of the human family tree to have moved out of Africa, was not able to survive a cold period that lasted 4,000 years. They published the research in early August in the journal Science.

科学家表示，直立人被认为是人类家族树中第一个迁出非洲的成员，但他们无法在持续了4000年的寒冷时期中生存下来。他们于8月初在《科学》杂志上发表了这项研究。

Chris Stringer is an anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London. He was one of the study’s writers. Stringer and his co-writers say they studied fossils and stone tools found in Europe. The fossils showed a gap in the timeline of about 200,000 years.

克里斯·斯特林格是伦敦自然历史博物馆的人类学家，他是这项研究的作者之一。斯特林格和他的合著者表示，他们研究了在欧洲发现的化石和石器工具。化石显示出大约20万年的时间线间隔。

"There was probably a complete interruption in the early human occupation of Europe,” Stringer said.

“早期人类在欧洲的定居可能完全中断了，”斯特林格说道。

The researchers say early human species likely did not know how to make warm clothing or find ways to make fire in cold places. The cold weather froze the ground and prevented them from gathering food and hunting animals.

研究人员表示，早期人类物种可能不知道如何制作保暖的衣物，也找不到在寒冷地区生火的方法。寒冷的天气使地面冻结，阻止了他们采集食物和捕猎动物。

The scientists used ancient organic compounds left by algae and pollen off Portugal’s coast to learn about climate change over 1 million years ago. The study showed the average air temperature dropped by 4.5 degrees Celsius.

科学家们利用葡萄牙海岸附近藻类和花粉留下的古代有机化合物来了解100多万年前的气候变化。研究表明，平均气温下降了4.5摄氏度。

Axel Timmermann is a climate physicist at Pusan National University in South Korea. He said the study shows that human occupation of Europe was not continuous but was interrupted by at least one “climate-induced extinction.”

阿克塞尔·蒂默曼是韩国釜山国立大学的气候物理学家。他说，这项研究表明，人类对欧洲的占领并不是持续不断的，而是至少发生了一次“气候引发的灭绝”。

It is not clear how many early humans died off during this cold period, the researchers said. “Probably at best in the tens of thousands in Europe,” Stringer said of the population at the time.

研究人员表示，在这个寒冷时期有多少早期人类灭绝尚不清楚。“可能在欧洲最多也就有数万人，”斯特林格谈到当时的人口数量。

Another study writer was Chronis Tzedakis, a physical geography teacher at University College London. He said humans probably returned to Europe about 900,000 years ago after “evolutionary or behavioral changes” that permitted them to survive in cold conditions.

另一位研究的作者是Chronis Tzedakis，他是伦敦大学学院的一名地理学教师。他表示，大约在90万年前，人类可能在“进化或行为上的变化”之后返回到欧洲，在这些变化下，他们能够在寒冷条件下生存。

Scientists have records of human-like species in Spain and Germany from 800,000 to 600,000 years ago. Homo sapiens are known in Africa from 300,000 years ago and may have briefly come to Europe more than 200,000 years ago. But the main movement of humans into Europe came only 60,000 years ago.

科学家们在西班牙和德国发现了约80万至60万年前的人类物种的记录。智人在非洲已经有30万年的历史，可能在20多万年前曾短暂地来到过欧洲。但人类主要进入欧洲的运动直到6万年前才开始。

I’m Dan Friedell.

我是丹·弗里德尔。
Words in This Story

species –n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus

wipe out –v. to eliminate completely

fossil –n. something (such as a leaf, skeleton, or footprint) that is from a plant or animal which lived in ancient times and that you can see in some rocks

interruption –n. a situation where something stops for a period of time

algae –n. simple plants that have no leaves or stems and that grow in or near water

pollen –n. the very fine usually yellow dust that is produced by a plant and that is carried to other plants of the same kind usually by wind or insects so that the plants can produce seeds

induce –v. to cause something to happen

extinction –n. when something stops living or dies out

evolutionary –adj. having to do with the way something changes over time

behavioral –adj. having to do with the way someone or something acts