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進入《中英對照讀新聞》Fossil found during New Mexico bachelor party is 10 million years old 在新墨西哥州一場單身漢派對中發現的化石有千萬年之久
◎魏國金
A fossil mastodon skull found by a group attending a bachelor party at a New Mexico lakeshore is more than 10 million years old and will take at least six months to clean, a museum paleontologist said on Friday.
由參加新墨西哥州一個湖畔單身漢派對的一群人發現的乳齒象頭骨化石，已超過1000萬年之久，並將耗費至少6個月清理，一名博物館古生物學家週五指出。
The partygoers stumbled across the skull this week, complete with its tusks, buried in sand at Elephant Butte Lake State Park.
這群派對咖本週偶然發現這塊連接象牙、埋於象峰湖國家公園沙土內的頭骨。
Gary Morgan, curator and head paleontologist at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, led a team that spent some six hours on Thursday carefully excavating the fossil, which was buried in about 1.2 meters of lake silt. When it emerged, it was found to measure approximately 1.5 by 1 meters and weighed more than 450 kg.
新墨西哥自然史與科學博物館館長兼首席古生物學家蓋瑞．摩根率領一支團隊，週四耗費6小時仔細挖掘這塊被埋在1.2米湖泥的化石。當它顯露出來，經測量約莫1.5x1公尺大小，而重逾450公斤。
"This mastodon find is older than the woolly mammoth that tread the Earth in the Ice Age. ... It probably died on a sandbar of the ancient Rio Grande River," Morgan said.
「這個乳齒象發現比冰河時期縱橫於地球的長毛象年代更久遠。牠可能死在古格蘭德河的河口沙洲上。」摩根說。
Mastodons migrated to North America some 15 million years ago. They ranged across the continent with saber tooth tigers, giant sloths and American camels before becoming extinct about 10,000 years ago.
乳齒象約1500萬年前遷徙至北美，在1萬年前滅絕之前，與劍齒虎、大樹懶、美洲駱駝廣佈在這塊大陸上。
Morgan said the unusual discovery came to light after some water was drained from the Elephant Butte Lake two weeks ago to provide irrigation for parts of southern New Mexico and Texas. （Reuters）
摩根說，這起不尋常的發現在兩週前象峰湖部份湖水被引流出，以供應南新墨西哥州與德州部份區域灌溉之用後而顯露出來。（路透）
新聞辭典
stumble （on, upon, across）：偶然遇到、碰巧找到。例句：Guess who I stumbled across yesterday? （猜猜我昨天巧遇誰？）
complete with：附帶的、兼有的。例句：I rented an apartment complete with furniture. （我租了一間附有家具的公寓。）
range：（動、植物）分佈，也有躋身、列入之意。例如：He ranges with great scientists.（他躋身於偉大科學家之列。）
