Biblical plagues really happened say scientists
2010 04 05
By Richard Gray Telegraph.co.uk
"The Biblical plagues that devastated Ancient Egypt in the Old Testament were the result of global warming and a volcanic eruption, scientists have claimed."
“聖經的瘟疫在舊約中蹂躪古埃及，是全球變暖和火山爆發導致的，科學家宣稱。”
Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.
研究人員相信他們已經找到證據關於，真正的自然災害在其上埃及的10種瘟疫建基，導致聖經出埃及記中摩西從奴役釋放以色列人。
But rather than explaining them as the wrathful act of a vengeful God, the scientists claim the plagues can be attributed to a chain of natural phenomena triggered by changes in the climate and environmental disasters that happened hundreds of miles away.
但不是解釋它們作為一個復仇上帝的憤怒行為，科學家聲稱瘟疫可以歸因於一條鏈的自然現象，由在數百英里遠外發生的氣候變化和環境災害所引發。
They have compiled compelling evidence that offers new explanations for the Biblical plagues, which will be outlined in a new series to be broadcast on the National Geographical Channel on Easter Sunday.
他們已編制令人信服的證據，為聖經的瘟疫提供新解釋，它在復活節的星期日，在國家地理頻道播出的一個新系列中概述。
Archaeologists now widely believe the plagues occurred at an ancient city of Pi-Rameses on the Nile Delta, which was the capital of Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses the Second, who ruled between 1279BC and 1213BC.
考古學家現在廣泛相信，瘟疫發生在尼羅河三角洲的一個古代城市丕拉美西斯，在法老拉美西斯第二統治期間它是埃及的首都，他統治於1213BC 至1279BC之間。
The city appears to have been abandoned around 3,000 years ago and scientists claim the plagues could offer an explanation.
大約三千年前那城市似乎已被放棄，和科學家聲稱瘟疫能提供一個解釋。
Climatologists studying the ancient climate at the time have discovered a dramatic shift in the climate in the area occurred towards the end of Rameses the Second’s reign.
氣候學家研究當時古氣候，發現該地區氣候的一次戲劇性轉變，發生在趨近拉美西斯第二的統治結束時。
By studying stalagmites in Egyptian caves they have been able to rebuild a record of the weather patterns using traces of radioactive elements contained within the rock.
通過研究埃及人的洞穴，他們能夠重組一個氣候模式的記錄，使用在岩石中的放射性元素痕跡。
They found that Rameses reign coincided with a warm, wet climate, but then the climate switched to a dry period.
他們發現，拉美西斯統治恰逢一個溫暖、潮濕的氣候，但隨後氣候轉向一乾涸的時期。
Professor Augusto Magini, a paleoclimatologist at Heidelberg University’s institute for environmental physics, said: "Pharaoh Rameses II reigned during a very favourable climatic period.
在海德堡大學環境物理研究所的古氣候教授奧古斯托馬吉尼說：“法老拉美西斯二世统治期間，有一很討人喜歡的氣候時期。
"There was plenty of rain and his country flourished. However, this wet period only lasted a few decades. After Rameses’ reign, the climate curve goes sharply downwards.
“有大量的雨水和他的國家蓬勃發展，然而這豐水期只持續幾十年。在拉美西斯'統治後，氣候曲線急速向下。
"There is a dry period which would certainly have had serious consequences."
“有一個乾燥的時期，它無疑有嚴重的後果。”
The scientists believe this switch in the climate was the trigger for the first of the plagues.
科學家相信這氣候的轉向，是第一個瘟疫的觸發。
The rising temperatures could have caused the river Nile to dry up, turning the fast flowing river that was Egypt’s lifeline into a slow moving and muddy watercourse.
上升的氣溫可能已導致尼羅河乾涸，改變快速流動的河流，那是埃及的生命線，成為一緩慢移動和泥濘的水道。
These conditions would have been perfect for the arrival of the first plague, which in the Bible is described as the Nile turning to blood.
Dr Stephan Pflugmacher, a biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Water Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, believes this description could have been the result of a toxic fresh water algae.
這些為第一次瘟疫的來臨創做完美的條件，那在聖經中被描述為尼羅河轉為血河。
在萊布尼茨水生態研究所和在柏林內陸漁業的一位生物學家，史蒂芬普夫盧格馬赫爾博士認為，這形容可能是有毒淡水藻類的結果。
He said the bacterium, known as Burgundy Blood algae or Oscillatoria rubescens, is known to have existed 3,000 years ago and still causes similar effects today.
他說被稱為勃艮第血液顫藻或冬凌草的細菌，是知道3000年前已存在，和在今天仍然導致類似的效果。
He said: "It multiplies massively in slow-moving warm waters with high levels of nutrition. And as it dies, it stains the water red."
他說：“它在慢移的溫暖水域有高水平營養會大量繁殖；和當它死了，它污染水成紅色。”
The scientists also claim the arrival of this algae set in motion the events that led to the second, third and forth plagues – frogs, lice and flies.
科學家們亦聲稱，這種藻類的到臨，在過程中的事件導致第二、三、四種瘟疫 - 青蛙，蝨子，蒼蠅。
Frogs development from tadpoles into fully formed adults is governed by hormones that can speed up their development in times of stress.
青蛙從蝌蚪發展到完全形成的成年是取決於荷爾蒙，它在壓力的時候可以加快牠們的發展。
The arrival of the toxic algae would have triggered such a transformation and forced the frogs to leave the water where they lived.
有毒藻類的到臨會引發這種轉變，迫使青蛙離開牠們居住的水域。
But as the frogs died, it would have meant that mosquitoes, flies and other insects would have flourished without the predators to keep their numbers under control.
但當青蛙死亡，它將已意味，蚊子、蒼蠅和其它昆蟲會已蓬勃發展，因沒有天敵去保持它們的數量受到控制。
This, according to the scientists, could have led in turn to the fifth and sixth plagues – diseased livestock and boils
根據科學家，這可能已導致順序的第五和第六種瘟疫 - 牲畜和癤病
Professor Werner Kloas, a biologist at the Leibniz Institute, said: "We know insects often carry diseases like malaria, so the next step in the chain reaction is the outbreak of epidemics, causing the human population to fall ill."
Another major natural disaster more than 400 miles away is now also thought to be responsible for triggering the seventh, eighth and ninth plagues that bring hail, locusts and darkness to Egypt.
One of the biggest volcanic eruptions in human history occurred when Thera, a volcano that was part of the Mediterranean islands of Santorini, just north of Crete, exploded around 3,500 year ago, spewing billions of tons of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.
Nadine von Blohm, from the Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Germany, has been conducting experiments on how hailstorms form and believes that the volcanic ash could have clashed with thunderstorms above Egypt to produce dramatic hail storms.
Dr Siro Trevisanato, a Canadian biologist who has written a book about the plagues, said the locusts could also be explained by the volcanic fall out from the ash.
He said: "The ash fall out caused weather anomalies, which translates into higher precipitations, higher humidity. And that’s exactly what fosters the presence of the locusts."
The volcanic ash could also have blocked out the sunlight causing the stories of a plague of darkness.
Scientists have found pumice, stone made from cooled volcanic lava, during excavations of Egyptian ruins despite there not being any volcanoes in Egypt.
Analysis of the rock shows that it came from the Santorini volcano, providing physical evidence that the ash fallout from the eruption at Santorini reached Egyptian shores.
The cause of the final plague, the death of the first borns of Egypt, has been suggested as being caused by a fungus that may have poisoned the grain supplies, of which male first born would have had first pickings and so been first to fall victim.
But Dr Robert Miller, associate professor of the Old Testament, from the Catholic University of America, said: "I’m reluctant to come up with natural causes for all of the plagues.
The problem with the naturalistic explanations, is that they lose the whole point.
"And the whole point was that you didn’t come out of Egypt by natural causes, you came out by the hand of God."
Plague Of Fire from ’The Ten Plagues of the Bible - National Geographic TV
火災來自'聖經的十災 - 國家地理頻道
Article from: Telegraph.co.uk
文章來自：英國電訊報
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The Science of the Ten Plagues (Part 2 of 2)
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