在一名年輕男子死於維蘇威火山噴發近 2000 年後，科學傢們發現他的大腦被溫度極高的火山灰雲變成瞭玻璃並保存瞭下來。
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.
一個人類大腦被火山變成瞭玻璃，這聽上去像是一部糟糕的科幻作品。當考古學傢們起初發現瞭意大利赫庫蘭尼姆古城中一個頭骨內的玻璃碎片時，他們感到十分困惑。考古學傢推斷，這些豌豆大小的黑色玻璃塊是一名二十歲左右男子的變成化石的大腦殘骸。這名男子死於維蘇威火山的一次劇烈噴發，這次噴發掩埋瞭他所在的城市以及其姊妹城龐貝。但專傢們曾一度不清楚這名男子柔軟的大腦如何被轉變為瞭玻璃。
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.
現在，來自羅馬第三大學的科學傢們表示，一片巨大的火山灰雲從山上直瀉而下包圍瞭這名犧牲者。這片火山灰雲把他大腦的溫度加熱到至少 510 攝氏度後又令其迅速下降。這一過程創造出瞭來自該男子的一塊獨特的碎片，他雖然不幸地死於非命，但也留下瞭一份不可思議的科學證據來見證一次蔚為壯觀的火山噴發。
詞匯表
archaeologists 考古學傢
fragments 碎片，片段
skull 頭骨
deduced 推斷
chunks 碎塊，塊狀物
fossilised 變成化石的
eruption 噴發
transformed 轉變，變化
ash cloud 火山灰雲
enveloping 包圍
聽力練習
一、聽第一遍音頻，回答問題。
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、用一分鐘閱讀下列問題，然後聽第二遍音頻並回答問題。
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、聽第三遍音頻，將句子補充完整。（提示：可以反復聽，直到聽清楚每一個詞）
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、聽第一遍音頻，回答問題。
1. What is this article mainly about?
b. What happened to a man’s body 2,000 years ago.
二、用一分鐘閱讀下列問題，然後聽第二遍音頻並回答問題。
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、聽第三遍音頻，將句子補充完整。（提示：可以反復聽，直到聽清楚每一個詞）
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.
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