【VOA慢速】博茨瓦纳开采出100年来最大钻石
Miners in Botswana recently unearthed what officials say is the second largest diamond in mining history.
博茨瓦纳的矿工最近开采出一块钻石，官员称它是采矿史上第二大钻石。
The country's president Mokgweetsi Masisi presented the large stone to the public at a ceremony last week.
该国总统莫格韦茨·马西西上周在一次仪式上向公众展示了这块大钻石。
The 2,492-carat gem is the biggest diamond to be discovered since 1905.
这颗2492克拉的钻石是自1905年以来发现的最大的钻石。
The diamond weighs around a half-kilogram.
这颗钻石重约半公斤。
Masisi was one of the first people to get to hold it.
马西西是第一批拿着它的人之一。
He expressed surprise at the diamond's heaviness and told the gathering, "I am lucky to have seen it in my time."
他对这颗钻石的重量表示惊讶，并告诉与会者：“我很幸运能在我的时代看到它。”
Lucara Diamond, a Canadian mining company, found the stone.
加拿大矿业公司卢卡拉钻石公司发现了这块石头。
Company officials said it was too early to value the gem or decide how it would be sold.
公司官员表示，现在对这颗宝石进行估值或决定如何出售还为时过早。
A smaller uncut diamond from the same mine in Botswana sold for a record 63 million dollars in 2016.
2016年，来自博茨瓦纳同一矿的一颗较小的未切割钻石以创纪录的6300万美元售出。
Naseem Lahri is a director with Lucara's Botswana team.
纳西姆·拉赫里是卢卡拉博茨瓦纳团队的总监。
"This is history in the making," she said of the new find.
“这是在创造历史，”她谈到这个新发现时说。
"I am very proud. It is a product of Botswana."
“我非常自豪。它是博茨瓦纳的产品。”
Lucara said in a statement last week that the company recovered what it called an "exceptional" diamond from Karowe Mine in central Botswana.
卢卡拉上周在一份声明中表示，该公司从博茨瓦纳中部的卡罗韦矿回收了一颗所谓的“罕见的”钻石。
Company miners used X-ray technology that is designed to find large, high-value diamonds.
公司矿工使用X射线技术来寻找大型、高价值的钻石。
"We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond," Lucara President and chief William Lamb said in a statement.
卢卡拉钻石公司总裁兼首席执行官威廉·兰姆在一份声明中说：“开采出这颗重达2492克拉的钻石，我们欣喜若狂。”
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years.
其重量将使其成为119年来发现的最大钻石。
It also is the second-largest diamond ever mined, after the Cullinan Diamond.
它也是有史以来开采的第二大钻石，仅次于库里南钻石。
That 3,106-carat stone was unearthed in South Africa in 1905.
这块重达3106克拉的钻石于1905年在南非出土。
The Cullinan was the source of several famous cut gems, including some among the British Crown Jewels.
库里南是几颗著名切割宝石的产地，包括英国皇冠上的一些宝石。
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of natural diamonds behind Russia.
博茨瓦纳是非洲南部一个拥有260万人口的国家，是仅次于俄罗斯的第二大天然钻石生产国。
The Karowe Mine has produced four other diamonds over 1,000 carats in the last decade.
卡罗韦矿在过去十年中还开采了另外4颗超过1000克拉的钻石。
Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe Mine in 2019
在此发现之前，2019年在卡罗韦矿场发现的塞维洛钻石，
was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats.
被公认为世界上开采的第二大钻石，重1758克拉。
French fashion business Louis Vuitton bought the diamond.
法国时尚企业路易威登购买了这颗钻石。
The sale price was not publicized.
售价并未公布。
A British jeweler bought the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from Botswana's Karowe Mine, for 53 million dollars in 2017.
2017年，一位英国珠宝商以5300万美元的价格购买了同样来自博茨瓦纳卡罗韦矿场的1111克拉拉罗娜钻石。
A Karowe diamond named The Constellation is the holder of the record 63 million dollars sales price.
一颗名为“星座”的卡罗韦钻石创下了6300万美元的销售价格纪录。
Diamonds form when carbon atoms are pushed close together by intense pressure conditions deep underground.
当碳原子在地下深处的高压条件下被挤在一起时，钻石就形成了。
Scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old and some of them more than 3 billion years old.
科学家表示，大多数钻石至少有10亿年的历史，其中一些超过30亿年的历史。
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