Scientists have discovered what they say are the world’s oldest surviving biological colours, from ancient rocks beneath the Sahara desert.

　　科学家们从撒哈拉沙漠下面的古老岩石中发现了被称为世界上现存最古老的生物颜色。

　　The 1.1 billion-year-old pigments have a bright pink hue, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form.

　　这个有着11亿年历史的亮粉色颜料，在浓缩状态下呈血红色到深紫色。

　　The pigments are fossilised molecules of chlorophyll produced by sea organisms, Australian scientists said.

　　澳大利亚科学家说，这些颜料是由海洋生物产生的叶绿素分子化石。

　　Researchers ground shale rocks into powder to extract the pigment.

　　研究人员将这些岩石粉碎成粉末提取出颜料。

　　"Imagine you could find a fossilised dinosaur skin that still has its original colour, green or blue... that is exactly the type of discovery that we’ve made," Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University (ANU) told the BBC.

　　澳洲国立大学副教授约亨·布洛克斯副教授在接受BBC采访时说：“想象一下，你可以找到一个恐龙皮肤的化石，仍保有它最初的颜色，绿色或者蓝色……这正是我们的这种发现。”

　　"These are actual molecules, the oldest coloured molecules in the world.

　　“这些是真正的分子，世上最古老的有色分子。”

　　"When held against the sunlight, they are actually a neon pink."

　　“在阳光的照射下，它们实际上是一种霓虹般的粉红色。”

　　ANU PhD student, Dr Nur Gueneli, discovered the pigments after running an organic solvent through the powdered rock. Mr Brocks said the extraction process was "similar to a coffee machine".

　　澳洲国立大学博士生努尔·盖内利在将有机溶剂融入岩石粉末后发现了这些色素。布罗克斯表示，提取过程“类似于咖啡机”。

　　"I heard her screaming in the lab when it came out, and she ran into my office," Asst Prof Brocks said.

　　布罗克斯教授说，“当结果出来时，我听到了她在实验室里的尖叫，她跑进我的办公室。”

　　"At first I thought it had been contaminated. It is just amazing that something with a biological colour can survive for such a long time."

　　“一开始我以为它被污染了。有生物颜色的东西能存活如此之久真的很令人惊讶。”

　　"Life only became bigger about 600 million years ago because before that there was no sufficient food source."

　　“生物最早在6亿年前多才出现，因为此前没有足够的食物来源。”

　　The research, which also involved scientists in the US and Japan, has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.

　　美国和日本的科学家也参与了这项研究，结果发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。