在一名年轻男子死于维苏威火山喷发近 2000 年后，科学家们发现他的大脑被温度极高的火山灰云变成了玻璃并保存了下来。
A human brain turned to glass by a volcano… It sounds like bad science fiction. And when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified. They deduced that the pea-sized chunks of black glass were the fossilised remains of the brain of a man aged about twenty. He was killed by the massive Vesuvius eruption that buried his town and the sister city of Pompeii. But experts didn't understand how his soft brain, could have been transformed into glass.
一个人类大脑被火山变成了玻璃，这听上去像是一部糟糕的科幻作品。当考古学家们起初发现了意大利赫库兰尼姆古城中一个头骨内的玻璃碎片时，他们感到十分困惑。考古学家推断，这些豌豆大小的黑色玻璃块是一名二十岁左右男子的变成化石的大脑残骸。这名男子死于维苏威火山的一次剧烈喷发，这次喷发掩埋了他所在的城市以及其姊妹城庞贝。但专家们曾一度不清楚这名男子柔软的大脑如何被转变为了玻璃。
Now scientists from the University Roma Tre say that a huge ash cloud rushed down the mountain enveloping the victim. It heated up his brain to at least 510 degrees Celsius before rapidly cooling. It created unique fragments of a man who suffered a violent death but left behind incredible scientific evidence of a spectacular volcanic eruption.
现在，来自罗马第三大学的科学家们表示，一片巨大的火山灰云从山上直泻而下包围了这名牺牲者。这片火山灰云把他大脑的温度加热到至少 510 摄氏度后又令其迅速下降。这一过程创造出了来自该男子的一块独特的碎片，他虽然不幸地死于非命，但也留下了一份不可思议的科学证据来见证一次蔚为壮观的火山喷发。
词汇表
archaeologists 考古学家
fragments 碎片，片段
skull 头骨
deduced 推断
chunks 碎块，块状物
fossilised 变成化石的
eruption 喷发
transformed 转变，变化
ash cloud 火山灰云
enveloping 包围
听力练习
一、听第一遍音频，回答问题。
1. What is this article mainly about?
a. How a man died 2,000 years ago.
b. What happened to a man's body 2,000 years ago.
二、用一分钟阅读下列问题，然后听第二遍音频并回答问题。
1. Pieces of glass had formed inside the head of the man.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given
2. Where was the man found?
a. Pompeii
b. Herculaneum
c. Vesuvius
3. What did archaeologists find confusing?
a. How the man died.
b. What the pieces of glass were made from.
c. How his brain had been turned into glass.
4. Vesuvius' ash cloud was the hottest ever produced.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given
三、听第三遍音频，将句子补充完整。（提示：可以反复听，直到听清楚每一个词）
1. It sounds like bad science fiction and when archaeologists first found glass fragments ________________ ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified.
2. It heated up his brain ________________ 510 degrees Celsius before rapidly cooling.
答案
一、听第一遍音频，回答问题。
1. What is this article mainly about?
b. What happened to a man's body 2,000 years ago.
二、用一分钟阅读下列问题，然后听第二遍音频并回答问题。
1. a. True. It sounds like bad science fiction and when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified.
2. b. It sounds like bad science fiction and when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified.
3. c. But experts didn't understand how his soft brain, could've been transformed into glass.
4. c. Not given. The text doesn't say how Vesuvius compared to other volcanoes.
三、听第三遍音频，将句子补充完整。（提示：可以反复听，直到听清楚每一个词）
1. It sounds like bad science fiction and when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified.
2. It heated up his brain to at least 510 degrees Celsius before rapidly cooling.