中英對照讀新聞》Woman walking on California beach finds ancient mastodon tooth 漫步加州海灘的女子發現古乳齒象牙齒

舒赫提供的古乳齒象牙齒照片。乳齒象是距今至少5000年前的物種。（美聯社）

◎魏國金

A woman taking a stroll on a California beach found something unusual sticking out of the sand: a tooth from an ancient mastodon.

一名在加州一處海灘散步的女子發現砂土中露出一個不尋常的東西：一顆古乳齒象牙齒。

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But then the fossil vanished, and it took a media blitz and a kind-hearted jogger to find it again.

但之後，該化石突然不見，透過媒體熱烈報導以及一名善心慢跑者的協助再度找到它。

Jennifer Schuh found the foot-long tooth sticking out of the sand on Friday at the mouth of Aptos Creek on Rio Del Mar State Beach.

珍妮佛‧舒赫週五在里約德馬州立海灘的阿普托斯溪口處發現這顆從砂土中冒出的1英尺長牙齒。

“I was on one side of the creek and this lady was talking to me on the other side and she said what’s that at your feet,” Schuh recounted. “It looked kind of weird, like burnt almost.”

「我在溪的一邊，而這位女士在另一邊跟我說話，她說，你腳邊是什麼，」舒赫回憶說。「它看起來有點怪異，幾乎像是燒焦」。

The answer came from Wayne Thompson, paleontology advisor for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. He determined that the object was a worn molar from an adult Pacific mastodon, an extinct elephant-like species.

答案來自聖塔克魯茲自然史博物館的古生物學顧問韋恩‧湯普森。他確定此物是一頭成年太平洋乳齒象磨損的臼齒，這是已滅絕的象類物種。

新聞辭典

take a stroll：散步、漫步、閒逛。例句：After a heavy meal, we took a stroll around the park.（吃了一頓大餐後，我們在公園裡四處走走。）

stick out：突出、露出、顯眼。例句：He quite sticks out in a crowd. （他在群眾中相當突出。）

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