（双语文稿）矿工发现猛犸象

The first person who saw it was working overnight. The worker, a shovel operator, saw something white as he placed a large amount of dirt into the back of a truck.
第一个看到它的人正在通宵工作，这名工人是一名铲车工，当他把大量的泥土倒进一辆卡车的后部时，他看到了一个白色的东西。
The driver of the truck put the dirt in the road. Another worker operating a bulldozer was ready to flatten it. But the worker stopped for a closer look when he, too, saw a piece of white.
卡车司机把泥土倒在路上。另一名操作推土机的工人正准备把它压平，但他停下来仔细看了看，也看到了一块白色的东西。
Only then did the mining workers realize they had found something special: a 2-meter-long mammoth tusk that had been buried for thousands of years.
直到那时，矿工们才意识到他们发现了一件特别的东西:一根两米长、被埋了几千年的猛犸象牙。
A mammoth is a kind of animal that lived in ancient times and had very long tusks. The animal went extinct, or disappeared, about 10,000 years ago in what is now the American state of North Dakota.
猛犸象是一种生活在古代的动物，长着很长的象牙。大约1万年前，这种动物在现在的美国北达科他州灭绝或消失了。
The miners unearthed the tusk at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, North Dakota. The mine produces up to 14.5 metric tons of coal each year.
矿工们在北达科他州比乌拉附近的自由矿发现了这根象牙。该矿每年生产14.5公吨煤。
"We were very fortunate, lucky to find what we found," said David Straley. He is an executive of North American Coal, which owns the mine.
“我们非常幸运，能够找到我们所发现的东西，”大卫•斯特雷利说。他是拥有这座煤矿的北美煤炭公司的高管。
After finding the tusk, the workers stopped digging in the area and called in experts. The experts estimated the tusk to be anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 years old.
在发现象牙后，工人们停止了在该地区的挖掘，并请来了专家。专家们估计这颗象牙的年龄在1万到10万年之间。
Jeff Person is a paleontologist with the North Dakota Geologic Survey. A paleontologist is an expert on ancient remains. Person was one of the experts that examined the tusk. He said it was "miraculous" that the tusk had not been more damaged, considering the large equipment that miners use at the site.
杰夫•珀森(Jeff Person)是北达科他州地质调查局的古生物学家。古生物学家是研究古代遗骸的专家。珀森是检查象牙的专家之一。他说，考虑到矿工在现场使用的大型设备，象牙没有受到更大的破坏，这是个“奇迹”。
Another dig at the discovery site found more bones. Experts found more than 20 bones. It is likely the most complete mammoth found in North Dakota, where it is more common to find one mammoth bone, tooth or piece of a tusk.
在发现地点的另一次挖掘发现了更多的骨头。专家们发现了20多块骨头。这可能是在北达科他州发现的最完整的猛犸象，在那里通常是发现一根猛犸象骨头、一颗牙齿或一根象牙。
Person said it is not a lot of bones compared to how many make up the animal's skeleton. But he said, "...it's a lot more than we've ever found of one animal together."
珀森说，与构成动物骨骼的数量相比，这些骨头并不多，但他说:“……这比我们曾经发现的一只动物的所有骨骼要多得多。”
Mammoths once were found across parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Paul Ullmann, a University of North Dakota paleontologist, said mammoth remains have been found throughout the United States and Canada.
猛犸象曾在非洲、亚洲、欧洲和北美的部分地区被发现。北达科他州大学的古生物学家保罗•乌尔曼说，在美国和加拿大各地都发现了猛犸象的遗骸。
The discovery at the mine is somewhat rare in North Dakota and in the area. Many remains of the animals alive during the last Ice Age were destroyed by movements of ice sheets, Ullmann said.
该矿的发现在北达科他州和该地区有些罕见。乌尔曼说，许多在上一个冰河时期存活的动物遗骸被冰盖的运动摧毁了。
Other areas have produced more mammoth remains, such as in Texas and South Dakota. People have even found frozen mammoth bodies in Canada and Russia, Ullmann added.
其他地区发现了更多的猛犸象遗骸，比如德克萨斯州和南达科他州。乌尔曼补充说，人们甚至在加拿大和俄罗斯发现了冷冻的猛犸象尸体。
The tusk weighs more than 22.6 kilograms and can break easily. Experts covered the tusk in plastic in order to control how fast the tusk loses water. If it loses water too quickly, the bone could break apart, Person said.
象牙重达22.6公斤，很容易折断。为了控制象牙失水的速度，专家们将象牙用塑料包裹起来。珀森说，如果流失水分太快，骨头可能会断裂。
The experts covered the other bones in plastic and stored them. The bones will remain in plastic for at least several months until the scientists can get the water out safely. The paleontologists will identify what kind of mammoth the tusk came from later, Person said.
专家们将其它骨头用塑料包裹并储存起来。这些骨头将在塑料中保存至少几个月，直到科学家们能安全地把水取出来。珀森说，古生物学家稍后将确定这颗象牙来自哪一种猛犸象。
The mining company plans to donate the bones to the state for educational purposes.
这家矿业公司计划将这些骨头捐赠给国家，用于教育目的。
"Our goal is to give it to the kids," Straley said.
斯特雷利说：“我们的目标是把它带给孩子们。” 
I'm Gregory Stachel.