TUTOR: So, Rosie and Martin, let's look at what you've got for your presentation on woolly mammoths.

导师：那么，罗西和马丁，让我来看看你们为关于长毛猛犸象的展示做了哪些准备。

ROSIE: OK, we've got a short outline here.

罗西：好的，我们这儿有一个简短的大纲可以给您看看。

TUTOR: Thanks. So it's about a research project in North America?

导师：谢谢。所以这是在北美的一个研究项目？

MARTIN: Yes. But we thought we needed something general about woolly mammoths in our introduction, to establish that they were related to our modern elephant, and they lived thousands of years ago in the last ice age.

马丁：是的。但我们认为在引入部分中需要提到一些关于长毛猛犸象的简介，来构建一个它们与现代大象有关，且在数千年前的最后一个冰河时代生活过的概念。

ROSIE: Maybe we could show a video clip of a cartoon about mammoths.

罗西：也许我们可以放一段关于猛犸象的动画。

But that'd be a bit childish.

但这样可能有点幼稚。

Or we could have a diagram, it could be a timeline to show when they lived, with illustrations?

或者我们可以做一个带有插图的时间轴图表，来说明猛犸象生活的时代？

MARTIN: Or we could just show a drawing of them walking in the ice?

马丁：或者我们可以放一张猛犸象在冰上行走的图片？

No, let's go with your last suggestion.

不，就按你刚刚说的做吧。

TUTOR: Good. Then you're describing the discovery of the mammoth tooth on St Paul's Island in Alaska, and why it was significant.

导师：好的。接下来你们要讲到在阿拉斯加圣保罗岛上发现猛犸牙的事情，以及为什么这个发现很重要。

ROSIE: Yes. The tooth was found by a man called Russell Graham.

罗西：是的。这块牙齿是由一个名叫拉塞尔·格雷厄姆的人发现的。

He picked it up from under a rock in a cave.

他在山洞里的一块石头下捡到了它。

He knew it was special - for a start it was in really good condition, as if it had been just extracted from the animals jawbone.

他知道这颗牙齿非同寻常——首先它保存非常完好，就像刚从猛犸象的下颚骨中取下来一样。

Anyway, they found it was 6, 500 years old.

不管怎样，人们发现这块牙齿有6500年的历史了。

TUTOR: So why was that significant?

导师：那么这个发现为什么意义重大呢？

ROSIE: Well the mammoth bones previously found on the North American mainland were much less recent than that.

罗西：以前在北美大陆发现的猛犸象骨远没有这块牙齿的年代新。

So this was really amazing.

所以这真是太不可思议了。

MARTIN: Then we're making an animated diagram to show the geography of the area in prehistoric times.

马丁：接下来我们打算用一个动态图表来展示该地区在史前时代的地理位置。

So originally, St Paul's Island wasn't an island, it was connected to the mainland, and mammoths and other animals like bears were able to roam around the whole area.

所以一开始，圣保罗岛不是一个孤岛，它与大陆相连，猛犸象和熊等其他动物能够在整个地区自由行动。

ROSIE: Then the climate warmed up and the sea level began to rise, and the island got cut off from the mainland.

罗西：再然后气候变暖，海平面开始上升，圣保罗岛和大陆被海水隔开了。

So those mammoths on the island couldn't escape: they had to stay on the island.

所以岛上的那些猛犸象无法离开，只能留在岛上。

MARTIN: And in fact the species survived there for thousands of years after they'd become extinct on the mainland.

马丁：事实上，在大陆上的猛犸象灭绝后，岛上的猛犸象又存活了数千年。

TUTOR: So why do you think they died out on the mainland?

导师：那你为什么认为它们在大陆上灭绝了呢？

ROSIE: No one's sure.

罗西：没人能确定。

MARTIN: Anyway, next we'll explain how Graham and his team identified the date when the mammoths became extinct on the island.

马丁：不管怎样，接下来我们将解释，格雷厄姆和他的团队如何确定猛犸象在岛上灭绝的日期。

They concluded that the extinction happened 5,600 years ago, which is a very precise time for a prehistoric extinction.

他们的结论是灭绝发生在5600年前，对于史前的一次灭绝来说，这个时间非常精确。

It's based on samples they took from mud at the bottom of a lake on the island.

该结论是以他们从岛上的湖底泥浆中取出的样品为基础的。

They analysed it to find out what had fallen in over time - bits of plants, volcanic ash and even DNA from the mammoths themselves.

他们对样品进行了分析，以找出随时间的推移沉淀下来的东西——植物碎片、火山灰甚至是猛犸象本身的DNA。

It's standard procedure, but it took nearly two years to do.

这是分析样本的标准程序，但花了将近两年的时间来完成。