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Three long, slow phases, sprawled over at least 80,000 years,
3個漫長緩慢的過程總共延續了8萬年之久，
very different from how the meteor theorists had seen it.
與先前的天體碰撞論大相徑庭。
Yet Wignall was still no closer to understanding why it had happened or what the killer was, but he had found a clue.
然而Wignall仍舊無從得知事情發生的原因以及殺手的真實身份，不過他找到了線索。
Analysis of the rock showed that just after the marine extinction,
巖石的分析結果表明，就在海洋生物大滅絕剛剛結束，
but before the final death of everything on the land,
陸地生物的最后大滅絕即將開始之前，
there was a mysterious increase in a form of carbon, called carbon 12.
碳元素的一種同位素碳-12，出現奇怪的數量激增現象。
This is normally produced by rotting plant and animal matter,
它通常產生自腐爛的動植物，
but this was a huge increase, too big to be explained by that alone.
不過此次激增數量巨大，單憑這一點并不足以解釋。
Wignall realized that here was a fresh piece of evidence,
Wignall意識到這是一條新的證據，
something that, if he could understand it might provide the key to the Permian riddle.
如果能對此作出解答，或許就能獲得解開二疊紀之謎的密鑰。
The carbon 12 increase is clearly telling us something.
碳-12的猛增顯然包含了一些事實。
It's a clue to the nature of the Permian extinction.
它是了解二疊紀生物大滅絕真相的線索。
There's something mysterious going on at this time, but exactly what it is not immediately apparent.
這段時期發生了一些神秘的事，但它們究竟是什么并不是一眼就能看出來的。
