This incredible picture shows tiny insects that were preserved in precious amber stones 20 million years ago. The tiny creatures are believed to have roamed the earth alongside dinosaurs and before the ice age three million years ago.
在這張令人難以置信的照片中，可見到很小的昆蟲保存在2000萬年前珍貴的琥珀寶石中（見圖／法新社）。這些微小的動物據信在300萬年前冰河時期之前，和恐龍一起在地球上漫遊。
Specimens from the period are rare and the scientists who were studying the landscape were not expecting to find the insects. But they were amazed when they unearthed the almost perfectly preserved creepy-crawlies in northern Peru. They were found inside small chunks or precious amber rock in a 20 million year old reservoir in Chiclayo, northern Peru.
冰河時期的標本很罕見，研究當時地貌的科學家根本沒想到能找到昆蟲。當他們在秘魯北部發掘幾乎保存完好的爬蟲時不免喜出望外。他們是在秘魯北部奇克拉約有2千萬年歷史的水庫出土的小塊珍貴琥珀岩石中發現這些爬蟲。
Amber fossils form when insects become trapped inside the sticky sap that forms on trees. The more they try to free themselves, the deeper inside the sap they sink. Eventually the tree dies and over millions of years sinks into the coal bed. During this period the tree's sap hardens and forms amber stones.
當昆蟲被困在樹上所形成的黏稠汁液中時，就會形成琥珀化石。這些昆蟲愈想脫身，會在樹液中越陷愈深。最後當樹死了，並經過數百萬年沉陷到煤層中，在這段期間，樹液變硬，就形成琥珀石。
The earth's surface may be eroded, or humans may excavate layers of soil, until they one day find the precious amber stone containing the insects. Amazingly, insects, spiders, and even small lizard have been found preserved in amber. The stones may be made into expensive jewelry.
地球表面可能受到侵蝕，或因人類可能挖掘土壤層，直到有一天，他們發現珍貴的琥珀寶石中竟有昆蟲。令人驚訝的是，昆蟲、蜘蛛，甚至小蜥蜴已被人發現保存在琥珀中，這些寶石可以製成昂貴的首飾。
Honningen Klaus, who led the research team, said: “The pieces of amber contains insects Psocoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and spiders, as well as spores and pollen fossils, and even a drop of blood and remains of hair from a mammal rodent.” The insects were among several other examples of animals and plants fossilized in amber at the 20 million year old reservoir.
領導這個研究小組的克勞斯說：「這些琥珀裡的昆蟲包括囓蟲目、雙翅目、鞘翅目、半翅目和蜘蛛，以及孢子和花粉的化石，甚至哺乳類嚙齒動物的一滴血和殘留的皮毛。」這些昆蟲是在有2000萬年歷史的水庫中所出土的其他幾個動植物的琥珀化石裡發現。
Amber is fossilized tree resin, known in rocks from recent times back to the Carboniferous Period more than 300 million years ago. However, most amber is found in rocks younger than Jurassic （about 140 million years old）. Major deposits occur on the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea and the Dominican Republic, and this is where most rock-shop and jewelry specimens come from. Many other places have amber, including New Jersey and Arkansas, northern Russia, Lebanon, Sicily, Myanmar and Colombia. Amber is considered a sign of ancient tropical forests.
琥珀是樹脂的化石，已知存在最近到3億年前石炭紀的岩石中，但大多數琥珀在侏羅紀（約1億4千萬年前）之後的岩石中發現。主要礦藏在波羅的海南部和東部海岸及多明尼加共和國，大部分琥珀商店和寶石樣本也來自這些地方。還有很多其他地方都發現琥珀，包括美國新澤西州和阿肯色州，俄羅斯北部、黎巴嫩、西西里島、緬甸和哥倫比亞。琥珀被視為古老熱帶林的象徵。
Insects were the first creatures to take to the air, and their rare fossils date back to the Devonian, about 400 million years ago. The Wikipedia article on insect evolution suggests that the first winged insects arose with the first forests, which would make their association with amber even more intimate.
昆蟲是最早在空中飛翔的物種，其稀有的化石可以上溯到約4億年前的泥盆紀。維基百科有關昆蟲進化的文章指出，第一隻有翅膀的昆蟲幾乎跟第一個森林同時出現，這使牠們跟琥珀的關聯更近。
Amber is the popular name for fossilized resin. The word amber also denotes a golden color that amber predominately reflects. In fact, amber reflects many frequencies of light, including red, green and blue that together constitutes the entire visible spectrum. Archeological findings show that amber was one of the first materials prehistoric humans used for ornamentation, with instances dating back as far as 30,000 years. Use of fossil resin for jewelry and other decoration continues unabated, and amber is often considered as a gemstone.
琥珀是樹脂化石的俗稱，「琥珀」這個詞也泛指琥珀主要反射的金黃色。其實琥珀可反射多種頻率的光，包括紅、綠、藍，一起構成整個可見的光譜。考古發現，琥珀是史前人類首批使用的裝飾材料之一，實例可追溯到距今3萬年前。使用化石樹脂當首飾和其他飾品，至今仍有增無減，琥珀往往被視為寶石。
Amber is also valued for its botanical and animal inclusions that are trapped by the sticky resin as it flows as sap. Of course, other life is captured including microscopic bacteria that often produce gas bubbles, and various fungi. Both the botanical and animal inclusions not only add beauty, but also are of potential scientific value in the study of taxonomy and evolution. Animal inclusions are usually invertebrates, specifically arthropods, and only extremely rarely a vertebrate such as a tiny lizard. Fossil resin inclusions are predominately insects, which should be no surprise since botanical resin is an evolutionary adaptation of plants that is, in part, for protection against insects.
琥珀也因被樹液流動所形成的黏稠樹脂所困的動植物而倍加珍貴。當然，其他生物也被捕獲，包括顯微鏡下才可見的極微小細菌，它們往往會產生氣泡及各種真菌。琥珀內所含的動植物不僅增加美觀，在研究分類學和進化時也具有潛在的科學價值。琥珀內的動物通常是無脊椎動物，尤其是節肢動物，只有極少數情況下會出現脊椎動物，像小蜥蜴。樹脂包裹的化石以昆蟲為主，這也不令人意外，因為植物樹脂是植物進化時的一種演變，部分是為了保護樹木不受昆蟲侵害。
Diamonds （and most mineral based gems） are forever, but fossil resin （amber）is not. As an unstable organic polymer, amber is biodegradable, just like a plastic milk jug or fiberglass boat. Its many weak covalent bonds and weaker hydrogen bonds are easily broken, a process that is accelerated by electromagnetic radiation of all frequencies and heat; ultraviolet is especially damaging （do not expose amber to sunlight）. Thus, while amber is, in a sense, the perfect preservative of fossils, once removed from the environment in which it formed, it is destined to crumble into dust; the time is long compared to the human lifespan, but essentially instantaneous on a geological timespan.
鑽石（及大部分礦物寶石）永留傳，樹脂化石（琥珀）則否。作為一個不穩定的有機聚合物，琥珀就像塑料奶罐或玻璃纖維船是可生物分解的。琥珀許多共價鍵很弱，氫鍵更弱易碎，會因所有頻率的電磁輻射和高熱而加速其崩解過程；紫外線殺傷力尤大（琥珀最好不要暴露在陽光下）。因此，雖然從某種意義上說，琥珀是完美的化石保存劑，但一旦從它所形成的環境中移除，就注定要崩壞成塵埃，其所花的時間跟人類的壽命相比，固然很長遠，但就地質上的時程來說，幾乎就是一瞬間的事。