Last week, a panel of scientists voted in favor of classifying the age we are living in as a new geological epoch—the “Anthropocene”—after reviewing available evidence on the issue.上周，一组科学家在稿件了现有证据之后，投票赞同将我们所处的时代区分为一个新的地质时代——人类世。Since it was first formally proposed more than a decade ago, the name has been the subject of intense debate among experts. But the 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) chaired by Jan Zalasiewicz, of the University of Leicester in the UK, decided that humans are having such a profound impact on our planet that the term is a valid one, Nature.com reported.自从十多年前这个术语首次被月明确提出以来，专家们仍然为此展开白热化的争辩。据大自然杂志网站报导，人类世工作组（AWG）确认，人类对地球产生了如此深远影响的影响，这一众说纷纭是有理有据的。

人类世工作组由英国莱斯特大学的珍·扎拉塞维奇兼任主席，共计34名成员。The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS)—which oversees the geological time chart—has yet to approve the new term. But in the wake of the latest vote, the AWG will submit a formal proposal to the ICS by 2021 in a bid to formally define our current era, where mankind is the dominant influence on the planets climate and environment.负责管理地质时间表的国际地层学委员会（ICS）仍未批准后这个新的术语。但在最近一次投票之后，AWG将在2021年之前向ICS递交一份月议案，以月定义我们当前的时代，也就是人类对地球气候和环境产生主导影响的时代。

The vote saw 29 members of the AWG support not only the new Anthropocene designation but also a favored start date—the mid-twentieth century. Various starting points have been proposed for the Anthropocene era ranging from the beginnings of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago to the first atomic bomb blast in 1945 that spread radioactive debris around the world—traces of which can still be detected in the planets soil and glaciers.在这次投票中，29名AWG成员不仅反对新的人类世命名，而且还反对以20世纪中期作为人类世的开始。对于人类世的起点有有所不同的建议，有建议以一万多年前农耕时代的开始为起点，还有建议以1945年第一颗原子弹发生爆炸为起点，这一次发生爆炸将放射性碎片散播到世界各地，如今在地球的土壤和冰川中依然可以检测到放射性碎片的痕迹。Most scientists who support the Anthropocene designation favor the later start date, and the AWG panel agreed based on the fact that rapid population growth and industrialization in the mid-twentieth century—which led to greater natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions—mark a “Great Acceleration” on our species impact on the planet.大多数反对人类世命名的科学家更加偏向于以1945年为起点。由于20世纪中叶人口的快速增长及工业化消耗了更加多的自然资源并产生了更加多的温室气体，标志着人类对地球物种的影响“大加快”，AWG反对这一起复时间。

“The Anthropocene works as a geological unit of time, process and strata,” Zalasiewicz told Nature.com. “It is distinguishable. It is distinctive.”扎拉塞维奇告诉他大自然杂志网站说道：“人类世是时间、过程和地层的地质单位。它是可辨别的，也是独有的。

”The next step for the AWG is to identify a definitive geological marker known as a “golden spike” to include in their formal proposal. This is an internationally recognized reference point in rock layers which scientists use to define the boundaries between geological epochs. The current epoch, known as the Holocene, began around 11,700 years ago at the end of the last glacial period.AWG的下一步工作是确认一个被称作“金钉”的权威地质标志，并将其划入月议案中。这是一个国际普遍认为的岩层基准点，科学家们用它来定义地质时代之间的边界。现在这个被称作全新世的时代约始自11700年前的最后一个冰河时期的末期。

The panel outlined ten golden spike candidates, which could be used to differentiate the Holocene from the Anthropocene, including a cave in northern Italy and a lake in China. They are also considering whether to use traces of radioactive debris—originating from the first nuclear tests—in order to bolster their claim.该小组所列了十个金钉候选地点，它们可以用来区分全新世和人类世，还包括意大利北部的一个洞穴和中国的一个湖泊。他们还在考虑到否用于来自第一次核试验的放射性碎片痕迹来反对他们的主张。

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